When in high power, it is hard to let that power go. Admitting you are wrong can shatter your reputation. The Theocracy in salem is no exception, the judges of the witch trials will do anything to save their reputation. The judges of Salem were easy to fool and were not going to let anything “hell like” be in the town, so believing Abigail's lie isn't hard to do. Once judges believed the lie their was a slim chance they were going say they were wrong. The Theocracy and stubbornness of the authorities was hard to get them to accept anything and sadly it caused innocent people to die. In Act 1 Betty wouldn't wake up the next morning after in the woods most likely to not get in trouble. Most people including the judges were fast to claim witches …show more content…
Even Hale was blind to the lies and wouldn’t help get justice until later. Faith at that time was very important and you always went to church. Witches were a serious discussion in the courtroom. The judges religious views made any accused witch accusation so serious it had to be true. Their high power and pride gave them the power to sentence any person to death and that power can make anyone feel important. In their important power they truly believed they were doing god's work. To accept that they were wrong about the girls would show that they are failing god's work and shatter their …show more content…
Reputation at that time was big, having power gave you many opportunities. After sentencing people to be hanged to find out they were lying would make them look like fools . They would be a laughing stock of Salem and might be put to trial themselves. Losing their power would let them have nothing and show that they are bad people no longer doing god's work. They started to realize they have been fooled after hearing that the girls were dancing in the woods naked. They didn't dare say they were wrong and ruin their career. In realising everyone would know they were fooled by children and already sent people to death. High power judges being fooled by children can make anyone want them to be no longer judges. Being laughed at and shunned by the town of Salem is something they definitely didn't want. They were respected nobody would want that taken away. In the end nineteen innocent people were executed to save the judges of Salems reputations. The mass hysteria that ensued is hard to believe was all a lie for them. The authorities were so resistent to believe that the girls were lying because they sent people to die on their hands. To know that was because they were unprofessional and couldn't tell a lie from a girl would make them go crazy. Judge Danforth and Hathorne are the real witches for letting innocent people die to save their
As once stated by Joseph R. McCarthy “I have here in my hand a list of two hundred and five people that were known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping the policy of the State Department” (Joseph). The red scare occurred in the 1950’s when United States senator Joseph McCarthy lied when accusing people for being communists. McCarthyism is the practice of making false accusation for the purpose of ruining the lives of innocent people. In the play, The Crucible by Arthur Miller, which takes place in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692 when the townspeople were accusing and being accused of witchcraft. Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible as a reference to the red scare because in 1692 and 1950’s, both societies were being watched closely, were restricted of certain opportunities, and in both there were false accusations. In The Crucible, Salem’s downfall was caused by theocracy because the church plays an enormous role in
The trials divided the community which increased the fear and anger of all the people involved. The trials had a huge effect on the community which made people do thing they wouldn't normally do. Abigail confirms, “ I saw Sarah Good with the devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the devil!. I saw Bridget Bishop with the devil!”(Miller 39). this quote shows that Abigail with her manipulative skills she managed to accuse innocent people of being with the devil, which created tension in the community. Moreover, According to Stanforth, ¨a person is either with the court or it must be counted against it”(Miller 76). this shows that the court is turning the community against each other. It can be concluded that, Fear and anger combined caused the community in Salem to be
First, the Puritan values and expectations were strict, and those who had defied their teachings would have been at a much higher chance of being accused as a witch. Second, economic struggles within Salem Town and Village had further divided the two, by crop failure and livestock death. Ultimately causing economic damages. Third, personal opinions and disputes had contributed to the trials and accusations. The law system was unfair during the trials, so when or if someone was accused the court would side with the accuser, unless of course, they were a witch themselves. In conclusion, the people who died and who were accused of witchcraft were not really witches, Salem and it’s inhabitants were under the influence of mass hysteria, personal beliefs and grudges that eventually became the chaos of the Salem witch hunts of
... truth, denying her involvement as a witch, but be hung anyway for "lying" under oath. On the other hand, an innocent victim could lie and confess her involvement as a witch, accuse another witch instead and be let "off the hook". However, if the innocent victim lied and confess, but wasn't willing to turn in another witch, she would be hung anyway. (Starkey, 17) This created quite an ironic situation coming from a Christian based community of purity and holiness.
Right when he finds them, Betty becomes sick and won't talk or open her eyes, about this time other people's daughters become sick too. Rumors spread that witch craft is involved in Betty's illness and the development of the plot begins. Important to the major development of the plot is the fact that in the forest, Abigail and the others were just playing like witches. But they were following Abigail because she wanted to try to put a curse on a lady named Elizabeth Proctor. Abigail was in love with Mrs. Proctor's husband, John Proctor, and she wanted to some how get rid of Elizabeth.
As we may already know, the town of Salem was subject to an epidemic of the accusations of witchcraft that lasted over ten months. Witchcraft of this time period was not taken lightly. In England alone over 40,000-60,000 people were killed after being found guilty of witchcraft. Needless to say the people found witchcraft as a virus that infected the town. The first cases started off with the daughters of Samuel Parris, the town minister, accusing his slave, Tituba, of being a witch. She claimed that she and others in the town were witches and there was even a wizard. The town broke out in hysteria in further months. Over 100 people were put in jail because of accusations. The council that were to find these people’s innocence or guilt were corrupted as well because to claim innocence meant you were guilty and if you were to claim guilt you could be redeemed. Many of the items found incriminating were pins and voodoo dolls. Many of these people faced the psychological terror of being pressured into claiming guilt to a crime, you didn’t commit in front of a committee and scared the community to death that they were going to be subjected to. Many of the witnesses to these trials were said to have undergone physical distress or act inhumanly. Many historians say to these records that since their body was put under so much strain and fear of the witchcraft that surrounded them all the time, their bodies going through strange changes such as paralysis or temporary blindness with no real cause rather than stress. But many historians also believe the witnesses were voluntarily acting and committing fraud against the others. But why was this such an enigma to understand why this small town in New England was all of a sudden becoming a cen...
In the end, the Salem Witch Trials didn’t have a very good effect on anyone in Salem. These trials also left a major imprint on Salem.
...ithout concrete evidence. Also, Abigail allows innocent people to be alleged and sometimes even hanged without a chance to defend themselves. Her main reason was to prove the hypocrisy within the town. “Let you beware, Mr. Danforth. Think you to be so mighty that the power of Hell may not turn your wits? Beware of it!” Abigail is hinting that no one especially Danforth, who is loaded with power and authority is able to escape the devil. She sees the trials as a game. Abigail wishes to punish Salem for its hypocritical values by falsely accusing women and men for their wrong doing. Danforth, with the abuse of his authority in a way represents the “Un- American activist committee,” by questioning as many “Communists” as they could. Abigail’s abuse of power represents how blame was thrown onto innocent people, for their lives to be taken if they didn’t “name names.”
Our American government made terrible mistakes back in the 1690's. All of the events that took place in Salem are examples of how our legal system reacted from fear and panic rather than from solid evidence. As the fear escalated, innocent individuals
The Salem Witch Trials occurred because “three women were out in jail, because of witchcraft, and then paranoia spread throughout Salem” (Blumberg). In the Salem Village, “Betty Paris became sick, on February of 1692, and she contorted in pain and complained of fever” (Linder). The conspiracy of “witchcraft increased when play mates of Betty, Ann Putnam, Mercy, and Mary began to exhibit the same unusual behavior” (Linder). “The first to be accused were Tituba, a Barbados slave who was thought to have cursed the girls, Sarah Good, a beggar and social misfit, and Sarah Osborn, an old lady that hadn’t attended church in a year” (Linder). According to Linder, Tituba was the first to admit to being a witch, saying that she signed Satan’s book to work for him. The judges, Jonathan Corwin and John Hathorne, “executed Giles Corey because he refused to stand trial and afterwards eight more people were executed and that ended the Witch Trials in Salem”
...y the accused there really was no hard evidence of witchcraft, the only reason anyone hanged was because the judges believed themselves so righteous that no one would dare lie in front of them, therefor the girls were telling the truth. I see no reasoning in the whole system they used to find witches back then in Salem.
The power of religion and fear is prominently displayed throughout The Crucible; the characters holding power of the court misuse it, and the motives of credible, honest, worthwhile characters are lost to lies and deceit. Out of all the characters in The Crucible, John Proctor and Reverend Hale are the most deserving of authority but receive very little, if any. The majority of the power is distributed between Danforth, Hathorne, Parris, and Abigail. The power and ability to decide innocence and guilt is given to those who can ask questions while evading answering any.
Salem 1692, two girls ,Betty Parris, age nine, and her eleven year old cousin Abigail Williams, had a dream. They wanted to be the best actors in the village. They worked very hard to do that and they got twenty people killed. Betty and Abigail were Puritans and they are not supposed to lie or they would end up with the devil in the afterlife, but it seemed like they didn’t care. That’s why we ask, why were people blaming the innocent for being witches in Salem, 1692? The Salem Witch Trials were caused by two poor, young girls who acted possessed. There were also other people who took the risk of lying and accused other people. Most of the accusers were under the age of twenty and woman. The little girls caused the Salem Witch Trials hysteria by pretending to be possessed. Most of the accusers were poor and lived in the western part of the town.
The justice system is designed to protect the people that it serves but during the trials the accused witch had two choices, death or imprisonment.
In this story there is no real crime. A few children fool around with something they know is wrong, they get caught, but are not brave enough to take the punishment, and so shovel the blame. Now this is where human nature is responsible. The adults of the town believe these children and set about punishing the accused, namely death. Now had these people had the character to think for themselves, to judge the situation for the evidence alone, nothing would have been worth writing about in Salem, 1692. Instead these people were weak, they thought only for themselves, and as a result, a tragedy that will go down in history occurred. Even when they are about to be hanged, they have been found guilty of a crime that has not been committed, the people are still squabbling over their own situations, they are all thinking about how they will benefit from the situation.