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Historical analysis of the salem witch trials
Historical analysis of the salem witch trials
Historical analysis of the salem witch trials
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"Are you, are you, coming to the tree. Wear a necklace of rope, side by side with me. Strange things did happen here, no stranger would it be. If we met at midnight, in the hanging tree" (Hanging Tree Lyrics). It is incredible that these lyrics are able to help signify something that happened over four centuries ago. In the spring of 1692, the mass hysteria known as the Salem Witch Trials began. Eight girls began showing odd symptoms and acting peculiarly; they "dashed about, dove under furniture, contorted in pain, and complained of fever" (Linder par. 5). They began accusing those in their small town of Salem of being witches, claiming that these witches sent their spirits out and tortured them in an attempt to obtain the young girl's signatures …show more content…
If the extremity is not surgically detached, the infection will continue to spread throughout the body. Both are very dangerous situations and inevitable due to the poisoning. In some cases of the convulsive ergotism, additional symptoms can also include things such as muscle spasms but most significantly, hallucinations. Could this explain why these pre-teen girls believed they were being tormented by witches? In the play The Crucible, Abigail Williams and the other girls point up at the rafters and accuse Mary Warren of sending her spirit out to hurt them. Perhaps this is one of the many hallucinations the girls endured whilst being affected by the ergot. Ergotism is a sort of illness that is not contracted as something like the influenza or an emblematic cold would be. It can only be contracted by the consumption of it. When the young girls began to show symptoms of an unknown affliction, the others in Salem — though as uneducated and ignorant as they were — acquired enough common sense to conclude that most sicknesses are obtained from contact with those that were sickly. It was noticed however, that this was not the sort of disease that was normally passed around. They were not able to come to a more cogent explanation so they settled on that of
Linnda Caporael proposes a theory that Elizabeth and Abigail suffered from convulsive ergotism. Ergotism is a caused by ergot, a type of fungus, found in
At any rate, very few Indians were converted, and the Salem folk believed that the virgin forest was the Devil’s last preserve, his home base and the citadel of his final stand. To the best of their knowledge the American forest was the last place on earth that was not paying homage to God.” By this, the narrator is explaining to the audience why the forest was important to the people of Salem. The forest was considered an evil place, thus being the reason why the people of Salem reacted in a huge panic once they found out that the girls were actually dancing there. The situation gets worse once Abigail blames Tituba for alluring her to sin because this causes Tituba to admit that she has seen the Devil. After that, the town of Salem goes on a complete witch hunt from being so paranoid and concerned. They start to believe any false accusation and start pointing fingers. The same situation occurs after 9/11. During the time of the horrific event, safety for America became a big concern. Once again this demand for safety caused mass hysteria. People of America began to also accuse the innocent, in fear of their own safety. Back before 9/11, arrests were so aimless and random. However
“Whatever hysteria exists is inflamed by mystery, suspicion, and secrecy. Hard and exact facts will cool it.” – Elia Kazan. In the crucible, Arthur Miller describes the witch trials and the hysteria that was caused by it. The fear of the devil overwhelms reason and makes the town of Salem even more afraid. In the story, Marry Warren falls under hysteria and through her, Arthur Miller explains that fear causes people to leave behind all their logic and reason.
What is a hysteria? By definition, hysteria is a state of intense agitation, anxiety, or excitement, especially as manifested by large groups or segments of society. In a broader sense however, hysteria is a killer, the delitescent devil. Hysteria was the main cause of nineteen deaths in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Years later, hysteria was responsible for countless ruined reputations and lives during the era of Senator Joe McCarthy.
In Arthur Miller 's famous play The Crucible, innocent people are falsely accused of witchcraft and are killed as a result. Even the thought of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts in the late 1600s would put the whole village into mass hysteria. Mass hysteria refers to collective delusions of threats to society that spread rapidly through rumors and fear. This is the main cause of why so many people were arrested and killed for witchcraft. One way people could save themselves was by falsely confessing to have performed witchcraft. Many people did not do this though. This is because the townspeople were held to very strict moral values and must uphold their good name in society. They did not want a bad reputation. In The Crucible, by Arthur
The Crucible: Hysteria and Injustice Thesis Statement: The purpose is to educate and display to the reader the hysteria and injustice that can come from a group of people that thinks it's doing the "right" thing for society in relation to The Crucible by Arthur Miller. I. Introduction: The play is based on the real life witch hunts that occurred in the late 1600's in Salem, Massachusetts. It shows the people's fear of what they felt was the Devil's work and shows how a small group of powerful people wrongly accused and killed many people out of this fear and ignorance.
Ergotism, a condition resulting from the consumption of ergot germ infested rye, was the cause of the symptoms exhibited by the victims of witchcraft in 1692. From June to September of 1692, two young girls, Abigail Williams and Elizabeth Parris came down with a perplexing illness, one that the local doctor eventually diagnosed as bewitchment. [6] Linda Caporael asserts ...
This trial was held in Salem but people all around Salem who were accused of witchcraft were bought to Salem for trial. The Salem Witch Trial was a trial for people being accused of associating with witch craft. Over 100 men and women majority of them being women were in this trial. The trial had a 3 step process first was a confession then a testimony of two eyewitnesses to the act of witchcraft and a rare ‘’spectral evidence’’ where most of these witches didn’t make it too. A spectral evidence is when the accused person’s spirit or spectral appeared in a testimony dream when the accused witch was at another location. During a trial if you could recite the ‘’Lord’s prayer’’ you were not a witch and you could indeed be let go during trial just for reciting the prayer (Louis-Jacques, Lyonette. "Http://news.lib.uchicago.edu/blog/2012/10/29/the-salem-witch-trials-a-legal-bibliography-for-halloween/." The University of Chicago Library News. 29 Oct. 2012). The trial was during the Puritan times so people believe during trial, these witches could harm anyone in the court houses (Purdy, Sean. ‘’Conjuring History: The many interpretations of The Salem Witch Trials.’’ Reviver Academic Journal, vol. 3, no. 1, 2007, pp. 2.). At the end of the trial 19 men and women were hanged at Gallows
One night Ann saw the shape of a coffin from the egg trick, that's where it all started. Soon after that happened Ann Putman, Abigail Williams, and Betty Parris started acting weirdly. They started babbling, convulsing, or simply staring blankly. Once they were identified as victims of witchcraft they were asked to point out their tormentors. Ann pointed to Sarah Good and Sarah Osbourne. She also testified against Tibuta and said that the woman had tortured her grievously by pricking and pinching her dreadfully."(Yanak, T.,and Pam Cornelison, ...
The Salem Witch Trials were a time in history where people were wrongly accused of being witches. In the spring of 1692 the Salem witch trials began. During the trials women were wrongly accused of being witches. When accused of being a witch they were tortured, tested, put on trial, and most of the time executed if not put in jail. The townspeople tortured the accused witches in the most inhumane ways. This was a very dark and eerie time for the Puritans in Salem, Massachusetts (P., Shaunak).
Although witch trials were not uncommon in Puritanical New England, none had reached such epidemic proportions as Salem. In 1691 the mass hysteria began when several young girls dabbled in witchcraft and began acting strange. When villagers took notice the girls were seriously questioned and so they began naming people, mainly woman, who had supposedly bewitched them (Boyer, p66). Several other who had been accused were woman displayed ‘unfeminine’ behavior and those who
Hysteria, considered a “neurotic illness” (www.a2zpsychology.com/a2z%20guide/hysteria.htm) was considered a disorder in which a person, usually a woman, exhibited physical symptoms yet no physical cause could be found. Coming from the Greek for “uterus,” or “hysteria,” Hysteria was thought to be related to the uterus or an altered menstrual cycle.
The Salem Witch Trials occurred from 1692 to 1693. When two girls, aged 9 and 11, started having strange and peculiar fits, the Puritans believed that the cause of these actions was the work of the devil. The children accused three women of afflicting them: Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne. Tituba was a Caribbean slave owned by the Parris family. Sarah Good was a homeless woman. Sarah Osborne was a poor elderly woman. Sarah Osborne and Sarah Good pleaded innocent. Tituba admitted, “The Devil came to me and bid me serve him.” She described seeing red cats, yellow birds, black dogs, and a black man who asked her to sign his “book”. She confessed to signing the book. All three wo...
Although Arthur Miller’s The Crucible may seem to be a simple story, the inner workings of the time is something prevalent even today - mass hysteria. Although it may not be obvious until years after any given event, mass hysteria too often pushes society to its melting point - people’s need for a scapegoat leads them to frantically pursue something as a group (be it supposed witches or rumors of an outbreak of disease). Within this essay, the relation of mass hysteria to the Salem Witch Trials (through The Crucible) and its modern day influence is examined - which, though generally better contained, is still just as prevalent as it ever was before.
Hysteria is defined by dictionary.com as “Behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion, such as fear or panic.” This was a critical theme in the play in which it was tearing apart the community. Hysteria replaces logic and allows people to believe that their neighbors are committing some unbelievable crimes such as, communicating with the devil, killings babies, and so on.