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Background of eyewitness testimony reliability in the court of law ESSAY
Eyewitness testimony in the criminal justice system
Social issues in witch trials
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May it please the court, counsel, members of the jury, this is a case of fallacious allegations, witchcraft and murder. You are here because on January of 1962, Abigail Williams professed that she had been bewitched resulting in the death and imprisonment of more than 150 innocent lives. It is the burden of the prosecution to prove to you beyond a reasonable doubt that Abigail Williams is guilty of 20 counts of first degree murder, witchcraft, and perjury, but we are confident that the weight of the evidence we intend to present to you during the course of this trial will clearly establish the defendant's guilt.
The allegation occurred on January of 1962 on a clear day in the Salem Village of Massachusetts.
The first sign of Abigail William’s bewitchment
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Subsequently to the event of Abigail dancing in the woods, Abigail began behaving strangely at home and Betty Parris had lost mental consciousness. Due to this factor, Mr. Parris called for Doctor Griggs to visit his home and evaluate the complications occurring. Unable to identify a clear illness, Doctor Griggs suggested that witchcraft was a probable cause.
Following Doctor Grigg’s visit at the home, Betty Parris awakened and revealed that while in the woods, Abigail drank blood from the chicken they had “sacraficed” in order to get rid of Elizabeth Proctor in which she envied due to her affair with John Proctor. Abigail then threatened Betty Parris to, and I quote “shut it”, after she had proclaimed the truth. Williams then accused Mr.Parris’ slave Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osbourne, of holding supernatural powers attributed to witches. Williams accused these women of bewitching her and being the cause of her
However, she was not able to do this on her own; the community helped to hang nineteen innocent people. Her place in society, having an uncle for a reverend, placed her in good light. She would be able to escape most suspicion because of her position in the society. Furthermore, the Puritan people were easy to scare, and Abigail was well aware of the matter. If she could scare a few people into believing in witches, when rumors were already flowing, she would be able to divert attention from herself, while seeking revenge for Elizabeth as well. After the incident with Reverend Parris, she needed to find people to blame. Although, some people may say she should be pardoned for her past; she was an orphan from the beginning so she did not know better. “ABIGAIL: I saw Indians smash my dear parents’ heads on the pillow next to mine, and I have seen some reddish work done at night (Miller 19, act 1).” Her claimed true motives were because of her terrible start to life. Although she had an uncle, who was a villain himself, she was without parents and a true guide for the important lessons of proper humanities. She was also raised without love or nurturing, leading to the reason why she had an affair with an older man. Abigail was neither a victim nor did she act entirely on her own. Abigail found herself backed into a corner, use the societal Puritan
The Abigail Hobbs trial was one of many of the Salem Witch Trial. People often had to face the court for a crime they did not do commit. Fortunately enough Abigail Hobbs was one of the people accused who was somewhat educated. Her tone and behavior was calm and collected while facing the people who determined her faith. Some people who were charged with these crimes were uneducated and could not defend themselves. Abigail Hobbs went along with court when she was on trial she agreed with them to hopefully save her life.
Abigail Williams forms a continuous string of deceitful lies about the presence of witchcraft in Salem and her involvement with it, triggering the beginning of the trials and causing mayhem to permeate the town. Playwright Arthur Miller characterizes Abigail as "a strikingly beautiful girl, an orphan, with an endless capacity for dissembling"(8). Her fabrications induce calamity in Salem, and entangles many innocent people in her slanderous web of stories. In most cases, Abigail lies to evade discomfort or punishment. This pattern is first displayed when Reverend Hale interrogates Abigail:
Abigail Williams is manipulative and wants everything to go her way. She is the main character and causes trouble everywhere she goes. The Salem Witch Trials is about hearings and prosecutions of people who were accused of witchcraft. In The Crucible Abigail is a no good villain. Abigail first commits adultery with Elizabeth’s husband.
For instance, Parris, Abigail’s uncle and the main reverend of Salem, feels great at first when people started to get accused of being witches. He knows that witchery is unlikely in Salem because the girls admitted to just playing. However, when Parris claims that Abigail can see spirits, he saves his position in the church. It is only when he sees that he may lose his life due to this lie, that he wants to stop. Parris expresses this to the judges, “Tonight, when I open my door to leave my house—a dagger clattered down” (200). Parris starts to care when his life is at stake, but he was stress-free for a while. He foresaw positive effects of this lie, but he understands his mistake of letting the executions continue. Lastly, Proctor admits to the judge that he had an affair with Abigail because he wants this injustice to end. The judge takes Abigail’s side, but they still ask Elizabeth to confirm or deny Proctor’s confession because she is known for only telling the truth. The judge demands an
Abigail is wicked and confident and is not afraid to take control of situations. This is shown when she is with Parris, Abigail is respectful on the surface but she hides her resentment and disrespect. She talks back to defend her name and in Act One, she suggests to Parris," Uncle, the rumour of witchcraft is all about; I think you'd best go down and deny it yourself." She is also aggressive and forceful, the other girls are afraid of her. When Mary Warren suggested that they should confess to dancing in the woods. Abigail threatens them,."..I have seen some reddish work done at night and i can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down!"
In the Salem society, the role of the child is to be quiet, and stay out of the way. When Abigail is being considered a witch in the first moments of the story, Rev. Parris is very worried about how this will affect his image, and not of the fate of Abigail. It is this society where Abigail feels the need to break loose and to act the way a teenager should freely. This is the reason why she goes dancing in the forest. ‘We did dance, uncle, and when you leaped out of the bush so suddenly, Betty was frightened and then she fainted. And there’s the whole of it.’ This shows why there is a need for Abigail expressing her need to act her age and to break out of the restrictions of the law. Her struggle is to do what she wants in a society that believes in ordering her around.
The Salem Witch Trials took place in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692. At this time there appeared to be an outbreak of witches. This started when the children of the Goodwin family begin having mysterious fits. The doctors, not knowing what had happened to the children, blamed it on witchcraft. From that point on many people were accused of being a witch and were killed. This occurred for many different reasons; either they were hanged for their crimes, crushed by stones for refusing to stand trial on their cases, or from waiting in the jail for so long before their case came up. As people began to investigate the Salem Witch Trials further they came up with two explanations; either the people of Salem were begin acted through by the devil or
Abigail Williams in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is both the vehicle that drives the play as well as the antagonist. She points fingers, manipulates, and ends up being the fall of Salem all in her scheme to get rid of Goody Proctor and make John Proctor her own. Abigail’s motivation to be with Proctor reveals her true self: a vindictive, manipulative young woman rebelling against a restrictive Puritan society.
Reverend Parris’ fear of losing his job provokes him to cry witch. Reverend Parris’ daughter feigns to be in a coma. When the doctor bade Susanna tell Reverend Parris that he “might look to unnatural things for the cause of it” (9), he denies that possibility because he fears that rumors of witchcraft under his roof would help his “many enemies” (10) to drive him from his pulpit. Later, by supporting the Salem witch trials, Reverend Parris secures his position in the church. When John Proctor brings a deposition to court signed by Mary Warren that calls Abigail and her girls’ frauds, Reverend Parris urgently tells Judge Danforth that “they’ve come to overthrow the court” (88). When Mary Warren cannot faint in court, Reverend Parris accuses her of being “a trick to blind the court” (107). After Abigail pretends that Mary Warren is attacking her, Reverend Parris spurs on the accusations by telling her to “cast the Devil out” (118). Reverend Parris fears that if Abigail becomes exposed he will be punished for supporting an illegitimate court procedure. When execution day arrives, Reverend Parris fears that the “rebellion in Andover” (127) over hangings will occur similarly in Salem. Reverend Parris pleads to Hathorne that “. . . it were another sort that we hanged till now . . . these people have great weight yet in the town” (127). Reverend Parris’ last attempt at preserv...
To further complicate matters, John decides not to reveal to the court that Abigail has admitted to him in private that they were just sporting in the woods. Abigail spreads additional accusations and false rumors about her neighbors. These accusations have no basis in truth and their only purpose is for Abigail’s own benefit. Furthermore, Abigail is jealous of John’s wife, Elizabeth, and she schemes to get rid of her in order to take her place. Abigail’s plot is to accuse Elizabeth of witchcraft.
Some may be able to prove that Abigail Williams is innocent, however she is not because of blaming and “proving” in a certain way that those innocent people were using witchcraft. After she found out the people were hanged, she fled in terror without telling anyone where she was going and
In conclusion I ask this again: how can a girl who condemned seventy two to a death sentence and drank a charm to kill a man’s wife, a man she slept with on more than one occasion, be the victim? Abigail is truly a victim just as much as one of those she condemned to death, because of Salem’s judgemental, self-concerned and oppressive views and beliefs led her to it.
Abigail’s struggles come from many of her personal desires that are forbidden in her society, causing her to lie. However, this also creates further social problems, such as the initiation of the witch trials. After Betty is stuck in a coma, Reverend Parris questions Abigail about the night in the woods, because he is suspicious and she denies that it had anything to do with witchcraft. Abigail replies to Parris saying, “ We never conjured spirits” (24). Abigail lies to Parris, denies the statement that witchcraft ever occurred, and says that all they did was danced. Witchcraft and dancing both are sins in the society, and she knows that her reputation is at stake and finds the need to lie to look innocent. Parris wants to be sure and calls Reverend Hale to look further into the issue. Once Reverend Hale comes into town, he questions Abigail about the night, and she once again denies everything he asks her. Abigail is being questioned by Hale, and once Tituba enters she screams, “ She made me do it! She made Betty do it! She makes me drink blood!” (45). Abigail denies every...
One night the girls were caught dancing in the woods naked by Reverend Parris. Abigail threatened the other girls she would kill them if they ever said what they were actually doing, which was conjuring spirits. Abigail was the one who had done most of the wrong dong including drinking blood. Because of this event the start of the whole witch hunt and hysteria can be accredited to Abigail. Whenever she would be accused she would make up a lie, and threaten the other girls to say it was the truth.