In the small town of Salem, there came an uproar of people being witches and the practice of witchcraft among the people in the town. The town’s eyes were looking at Abigail Williams, Betty Paris, along with the other young girls that were dancing in the forest, making a love potion. To get the towns eyes off of them, they started pointing the finger at many others in the town who they didn’t like. The ‘afflicted’ girls blamed these people for possessing their bodies, forcing these girls to do the devilish acts that they were caught doing. Among the people they accused, there was a seventy-one year old woman named Rebecca (Towne) Nurse. Was Nurse really an innocent church goer, or was she really practicing witch craft forcing these girls to do things that they didn’t want to do, Nurse was just being blamed because of who she was and who her husband was. As a young child, Nurse was baptized on February 21, 1621. Her family and herself were very Christian. They were always in church they believed in the word of God. Nurse and her family were always in church. When nurse got older she married a man that others described him as a traymaker. Her husband worked in the countryside in Topsfield, her husband was highly respected by his neighbors. Many of the town’s people called her husband to settle disputes. Together Nurse and her husband had a total of eight children, four males and four females. Nurse had her children go to church, they were all very Christian. Not only nurse was a Christian her sisters Mary and Sarah also believed in the word of God. Mary and Sarah were also accused of witchcraft. Before the big uproar of people being witches and people practicing magic, Nurses mother was accused of witchcraft several years befor... ... middle of paper ... ...lse accusations. In the end nobody had to die. It was just all a misunderstanding that nobody cared to look deeper into what was happening. Everybody lost loved ones when they didn’t have too. The hangings could have been avoided if the girls just came forward and admitted what they were doing was wrong, they didn’t understand what they were doing. They help these people’s lives in the palm of their hand and they didn’t even care if they threw them away or let them live their life out. Works Cited The Examination of Rebecca Nurse (1692). Major Problems in America Colonial History in 1993. February12, 2014 Dana A. Wildes. Rebecca Nurse Homestead. Web. February 12, 2014 Matt Madden. Examination of Rebecca Nurse of Salem Village. 2001. University of Virginia. February 4, 2014. The Trial of Rebecca Nurse. Famous American Trials. February 4, 2014.
The Salem witchcraft trials of 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts can be considered a horrendous period in American history, yet is also viewed as the turning point in what was considered acceptable in a contemporary society. In a documentation of a trial against a woman named Sarah Good, the reader is able to see the way in which such an accusation was treated and how society as a whole reacted to such a claim. Sarah Good fell victim to the witchcraft hysteria because she was different, and that fear of her divergence from the Puritan lifestyle led to her eventual demise.
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.
Power is something that most people strive to attain in their lives. If not power, than money. But with the gain of power or wealth comes unexpected setbacks, especially in the case of Rachel Clinton, where growing up in a wealthy and influential family didn’t save her from being targeted during the infamous Salem Witch Trials. With that stated, if she had not been in such a position of wealth, could she have not been a target at all?
In the Town of Salem Massachusetts, 1692, a group of adolescents are caught dancing in the forest. Among the adolescents in The Crucible, Abigail Williams and Mary Warren. The girls are horrified that they have been caught dancing, a sinful act, therefore they devise a story to evade punishment: they claim to have been bewitched. The first person who they accuse of witchcraft is a the black maid, Tituba. This results in her jail sentence as well as fearful suspicion throughout the town. Arthur Miller demonstrates the impact of lying as the girls recognise and manipulate their power in the town. Lead by Abigail, they go further, claiming countless others guilty and dooming them to exile. Miller demonstrates that there power is so great that even when Mary attempts to stand against her friends, she is quickly overwhelmed and once again plays along with their trickery. As the girls’ conspiracy continues, controversy arise over their truthfulness; people choose sides often lying themselves to support their side, further altering the lives of all involved.
Hysteria took over the town and caused them to believe that their neighbors were practicing witchcraft. If there was a wind storm and a fence was knocked down, people believed that their neighbors used witchcraft to do it. Everyone from ordinary people to the governor’s wife was accused of witchcraft. Even a pregnant woman and the most perfect puritan woman were accused. No one in the small town was safe.
The term witchcraft is defines as the practice of magic intended to influence nature. It is believed that only people associated with the devil can perform such acts. The Salem Witch Trials was much more than just America’s history, it’s also part of the history of women. The story of witchcraft is first and foremost the story of women. Especially in its western life, Karlsen (1989) noted that “witchcraft challenges us with ideas about women, with fears about women, with the place of women in society and with women themselves”. Witchcraft also confronts us too with violence against women. Even through some men were executed as witches during the witch hunts, the numbers were far less then women. Witches were generally thought to be women and most of those who were accused and executed for being witches were women. Why were women there so many women accused of witchcraft compared to men? Were woman accused of witchcraft because men thought it was a way to control these women? It all happened in 1692, in an era where women were expected to behave a certain way, and women were punished if they threatened what was considered the right way of life. The emphasis of this paper is the explanation of Salem proceedings in view of the role and the position of women in Colonial America.
In the modern day it’s hard to believe there’s even still ‘’witch hunts’’ as you can say where a group of people are stereotyped as something without them doing the actual stereotypical thing. We live in a world where blacks are getting shot for no reason when they were just walking down the street unarmed and not harming anyone. Blacks and Latinos are always looked down upon in any shape or form. They could be driving a nice car they get pulled over for suspicion of a stolen car, they can get pulled over in an old broken car and they will get pulled over for suspicion of ‘’criminal activity’’. But if it’s a white person the cops will NOT bat a single eye at them despite being in the same situations as the black. And you know what the problem
Puritans believed in the devil and his role as strong as they believed in God and his role. For many centuries, Puritans had the idea that the weakest individuals in society often committed diabolical acts and sins. Furthermore, Satan selected the most vulnerable individuals to do his bidding, among these individuals, women were often held responsible for many sins, including witchcraft. (Godbeer 12). According to Richard Godbeer, in his book, The Salem Witch Hunt, “it was Eve who first gave away to Satan and seduced Adam.” (Godbeer 12). In 1692, witchcraft became a panic among Puritan society. Even though both men and women were accused of witchcraft, women were seventy-six percent more likely to be accused in Salem than men. (Godbeer 12). Puritan society was a male dominate society and men looked down upon women. There were two particular reasons to why women were often accused of being witches. The first reason, was in due to the Puritan belief that women were the source of evil. The second reason was because of certain events that associated with accusations. These events were being of relatively low social status and income, being rich or financially independent and being a midwife or nurse.
The Scottish witch-hunts of 1590 began in Tranent, a city just outside of Edinburgh, with the accusation of a maidservant named Geillis Duncane. Duncane was a kind hearted woman who used her vast knowledge of medicinal herbs and healing techniques to “[take] in hand all such as were troubled or grieved with anie kinde of sickness or infirmitie: and in short space did perfourme many matters most miraculous (sic).” Her ability to cure illness caused her master David Seaton, a deputy bailiff, to become suspicious of her. He was a callous and unsympathetic man who could not comprehend why someone would continuously go out of their way to help others. He was also wary of how a woman in such a humble position had acquired such an extensive knowledge of medicines and healing. Seaton’s suspicions seemed to be confirmed when he found Duncane sneaking out of the house late at night. When she was unable to answer where she was at night and how she gained her power to heal, she was immediately accused of consorting with the Devil. When she refused to confess to the crime of witchcraft, Seaton had her tortured.
The Salem Witch Trials took place in the summer and into the fall of the year 1692, and during this dark time of American history, over 200 people had been accused of witchcraft and put in jail. Twenty of these accused were executed; nineteen of them were found guilty and were put to death by hanging. One refused to plead guilty, so the villagers tortured him by pressing him with large stones until he died. The Salem Witch Trials was an infamous, scary time period in American history that exhibited the amount of fear people had of the devil and the supernatural; the people of this time period accused, arrested, and executed many innocent people because of this fear, and there are several theories as to why the trials happened (Brooks).
Often when looking at American history, people tend to lump all the characters and actors involved as similar. This is especially the case in regards to Early American Colonial history. Because the Puritan communities that grew rapidly after John Winthrop’s arrival in 1630 often overshadow the earlier colony at Plymouth, many are lead to assume that all settlers acted in similar ways with regard to land use, religion, and law. By analyzing the writings of William Bradford and John Winthrop, one begins to see differing pictures of colonization in New England.
One of the first people to be charged, was Rebecca Nurse, wife of Francis Nurse, a well-respected man of the community. This disturbance caused great anxiety amongst the people in Salem, as they would have least suspected Rebecca Nurse to be one to deal with the Devil. "If Rebecca Nurse be tainted, then nothing's left to stop the whole green world from burning." Goody Putnam was the one to accuse her of witchcraft, for the death of her seven babies, but even with no just proof, Rebecca Nurse is hanged for "sending her spirit out on them."
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”
In the winter of 1692 Betty Parris and her cousin Abigail Williams began to have fits. Minister John Hale described the fits saying that they were stronger than an epileptic fit and did not know of an illness that could cause such behavior. The girls would scream, make strange noises and throw things around among other peculiarities. They complained of being pricked with pins, as if they were being controlled by some type of voodoo. All of these signs automatically set off a scare among the inhabitants of Salem, a witchcraft scare. Dr. William Griggs could not find any physical evidence of a sickness furthering the suspicion of an evil presence in the young girls. Other young women in the village began to show similar behaviors leading to the decision that something paranormal was taking place. The first three people that were arrested were Sarah Osborne, Sarah Good and a slave woman named Tituba who confessed; they were accused by Ann. It was like the Hatfield and McCoy feud of their time; citizens would engage in arguments and even physical violence based on their opinions r...
“Miller tries both to offer a disclaimer about the imaginative aspects of his work, and to claim a higher level of veracity for the play’s authority.” (133)