In the small town of Salem, Massachusetts the fear of devil worshipers and witchcraft spread through the town like wild fire. In the years of 1692 and 1963 men and women accused of witchcraft were gathered up and imprisoned or killed. 200 men, women, and children were accused of witchcraft and there were at least 20 deaths . The majority were hung but there was one man that was pressed to death, and four known deaths in prisons. The rest of the accused were thrown in jail for months with out trials .
As one can see, the chaotic Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692 were caused by superstition, the strict puritan lifestyle, religious beliefs, and hysteria. Puritan Lifestyle was one ... ... middle of paper ... ...in their family to become sick and possibly die. Many people were accused of witchcraft. More than twenty people died all together. One person was flattened to death because he was accused of witchcraft.
Fear of being arrested or put to death is the key motivation in turning others in as witches. From these three human flaws, the town of Salem falls into chaos with many innocent people paying the price. Vengeance plays a key role in causing the mass hysteria of the Salem Witch Trials. Abigail Williams, who?s probably most to blame for the trials, acts out of revenge. She and John Proctor have had an affair and when Elizabeth Proctor finds out, she throws Abigail out of their house.
Corey was sentenced to peine forte etdure, hard and forced punishment, and condemned to death. Although the extreme Salvationists were a part of the hysteria that was the Salem witch trials, the result was caused by a greed for more land ownership. In the winter of 1692 Betty Parris, daughter of the newly appointed minister started having Epileptic Fits, starting the hysteria that soon to follow with the other girls. Soon after the local town girls began to all show the same symptoms of flailing, screaming and screaming out strange sounds. Many of the locals associated this bizarre behavior with witch craft.
Assumptions were made hysteria had set in fear had begun to rise, blame was being placed, and the blackest most sinful secrets of the accused came alive and posted on the churches door for everybody to see. So, how does an un-yielding container that is able to heat substances to high temperatures relate to the Salem Witch trial? The witch hunt in many people’s opinions is a melting pot in which the lives of those who lived in Salem during the witch hunt started to melt into one large catastrophe because of the horror that was going on around them and the many people that the villagers knew that had been affected or the villagers that had been affected themselves during the hangings.
When these women of Salem Massachusetts started to do witchcraft and pass it on to other people they were put on trial for their actions, which at the time was, illegal. It had caught on all over England and was spreading fast. Arthur Miller made a play called the Crucible that was about the Salem witchcraft trials. Arthur miller took the historical accounts and changed them to be suitable for the play. The crucible had many alterations to the historical documents that took place in1962 which were in the characters, the historical differences, and why the theme of history was changed.
The symptoms that Mather described were the same symptoms the town seemed to be plagued with. This only added to the belief that the town had an outbreak of witches. Many of the doctors in the town started blaming illness that could not be diagnosed on witchcraft. In 1692, Williams and Elizabeth Parris began acting out of the ordinary by dashing around, complaining of strange pains, and jumping under things. They visited their local doctor and he told them they must be bewitched because there activities were so unexplainable.
Then Abigail confessed that she have seen the devil communicating with other town folks and then Betty start naming people that may be involve in witchcraft, which really made the whole town go crazy. While the witch trails and accusations were happening, Eliza... ... middle of paper ... ... as Mrs. Proctor. It got to the point to where Abigail turn into witchcraft to get what she want. So therefore, John’s first downfall is his lust and having an affair with Abigail that fueled Abigail’s motivation to destroy his marriage and make John marry her. The second downfall of John is pride, toward to the end when Mary, his servant, for being a witch, falsely accused him.
The Salem Witch Trials is a well-known topic taught in history classes and in English classes. It was a time in which numerous, innocent people (mostly women) were killed because they were believed to be partaking in witchcraft. There are many possible causes as to why the Salem Witch Trials occurred. These known causes stemmed from the belief that Satan is acting in the world whether it be through giving a disease or recruiting new witches to work for him, kids that were bored and brought it upon themselves to lie that they were witches to have fun, and confessions leading town officials to believe that their belief that witchcraft may exist is true since people are coming forward and confessing. Back in this time period, people were
After these late night sessions with Tituba the girls started to have weird fits. These fits were probably caused by the fear the girls gained while listening to her stories. Reverend Parris saw his daughter and niece having weird fits. He called in th... ... middle of paper ... ...ny innocent people were killed during the Salem witch trials. 140 people were accused, 19 people were hanged, 1 person was pressed to death, and 13 people died in prison.