Examples Of Fear Of The Unknown In The Salem Witch Trials Of 1692

ESCAPING SALEM: The Other Witch Hunt of 1692 In Richard GodBeers novel “Escaping Salem: The Other Witch Hunt of 1692” he tells of a witch trial that took place in Stamford Connecticut in 1692. GodBeer starts readers off with the setting taking place in Daniel and Abigail Wescots household. He tells of a dilemma going on in the household pertaining to their servant; Katherine Branch. She was experiencing hallucinated fits that caused her to convulse and scream in pain.

These symptoms intensified when people became alarmed at the strange behavior of the girls, who then began to have visions of the witches” (Saari 43). These girls claimed to be possessed by the devil and accused three women as the witches, identified as Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne, whom were all “easy targets for the accusation of witchcraft” (Brooks). In fact whilst on trial, Tituba confessed that she was a witch working for the Devil.

As a result, the girls deny the accusations and begin to arise madness in the town by indicting innocent people of “being with the devil”. Salem’s poor judiciary system does not question the girl’s accusations because they take their word for it? No evidence just words? “She never knew no commandments, and they had her in a flat lie! / And so commend her?

Due to religion, lying, and health problems, it caused the Salem Witch Trial Hysteria of 1692 to occur. Religion was important to the Puritans in their daily life. They would take every word from God and turn them into action. Without religion in their life, then the Puritans would not have come to New England. Religion was an extensive impact on the repercussion of the Salem Witch Trial.

In 1692, the people in Salem, Massachusetts went on a hunt accusing people of being witches. This was a hysterical time in history known as the Salem Witch Trials. The Salem Witch Trials led to many distraught people and false accusations. The famous trials started with two sick children and then led to discrimination manly towards women of a lesser class. The accused people were tortured and eventually killed.

Witch hunts throughout history have similarly had common theme of being instances in history where extreme behavior where an “evil is constructed, identified, and persecuted”. Most importantly, the witch hunts were often carried out by formal authorities within and the society. In Salem the conditions of the Puritan society were ideal for and gave way to witch hunts; the society contained disease, hardship, and distal war threats. Many historians refer to the time period of the Salem Witch Trials as the “perfect storm”

The 1950s harbored one of the largest witch hunts in world history, the second Red Scare. This brutal political movement targeted Communists, Socialists, and members of subversive groups, physically and socially maiming those citizens. Led by Joseph McCarthy, innocent members of society were figuratively “burned at the stake” in public trials and accused them of Communism and espionage. McCarthy’s ruthless tactics sparked the development of “McCarthyism,” which today refers to any unfounded accusation of a person with immaterial evidence. The second Red Scare is comparable to Salem Village, Massachusetts where the original witch hunt began, based off of mass hysteria, just like the Red Scare.

In The Crucible the lies and deceit led to people being brainwashed and influenced by others thoughts and opinions. Arthur Miller shows us this in act II when Elizabeth Proctor is set up and arrested so that Abigail can have John to herself. Abigail setup Elizabeth by planting a bobby pin in the doll Mary Warren had made that day and gave to Elizabeth as a gift. Abigail later acted as if she got stabbed in the same place Mary had left the pin to make it look like Elizabeth sent out her spirit to harm her. “Abigail were stabbed tonight; a needle were found stuck into her belly”….(Hale

In 1692 the Salem witch trials were a big a deal keep reading reading to find out. Between June 10 - September 22 1692, 20 people were put to death in salem, massachusetts for witchcraft. It has long remained one of the more troubling events in American history. The Puritans were determined to farm on their new land. To guide them through this difficult life, Puritans had help - the word of God as spoken in the Bible.

The group of young girls affirmed to be controlled by the devil and accused other women in the town of witchcraft. In American history, these trials affect the modern idea about American

Fueled by fear, McCarthy’s false accusations affected Arthur Miller and had him blacklisted along with several artists like his friend Elia Kazan. Miller obtained plot ideas for the book from the Salem Witch trials and the era of Mccarthyism. Miller used Mccarthyism when Abigail and her friends were able to name people guilty just with their sole distorted statement. In the Crucible the character Abigail Williams a

Arthur Miller’s portrayal of a town in the midst of a downfall “The Crucible”, tells the story of how mob mentality and hysteria can significantly influence not only individuals but the whole town. This mob mentality leads to unthoughtful acts and false accusations. Two characters who demonstrate how mob mentality can lead to the demise of Salem are Abigail and Mary Warren. As Abigail begins to be accused she is pressured to deter from the truth. While Mary Warren gets pressured by Proctor to reveal the truth about Abigail, but the overwhelming pressure from the mob makes her turn from the truth.

Viewing The Crucible as a direct parallel to McCarthyism one could compare Abigail and Joseph McCarthy as similar factors. Abigail causes the town to turn against certain characters much like how McCarthy turns everyone against those 81 that he

In times in hysteria and crisis, people will do all they can do to redirect blame from themselves. This is exemplified in The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, and “Half Hanged Mary”, by Margaret Atwood. The Crucible is a story about a Puritan village that experiences a major crisis in which people, predominantly women, are believed to be witches. This causes a series of events in which people are hanged, simply for being alive. Half Hanged Mary is a poem about a woman who is hanged for being a witch, but does not die.

In Salem, a small town where it is believed that evil souls are roaming, teenage girls are given the authority to determine whether one is possessed with evil spirits. Not having any way of proving the accusations wrong the church heads are blinded into the girls’ trap. Abigail Williams, the main teenage accuser, turns to Reverend Parris to believe her every word; the only clear reason Abigail is trusted is due to the fatal connection to Reverend Parris and with them being related there would be no reason for her to lie… or so they think. This Puritan society is lead by Reverend Parris and Reverend Hale believing the wicked lies “I have seen too many frightful proofs in court—the Devil is alive in Salem, and we dare