Personal gain often formed the foundations for many of the accusations made during the trials, and often the townspeople believed them because they had no proof. A lack of evidence and growing hysteria, made it difficult to distinguish the truth from lies. Danforth describes the plight of the Salem courts explaining,
In an ordinary crime, how does one defend the accused? One calls up witnesses to prove his innocence. But witchcraft is ipso facto, on its face and by its nature, an invisible crime...Now we cannot hope the witch will accuse herself; granted? Therefore, we must rely upon her victims - and they do testify, the children certainly do testify. (100)
When the only existing proof is the testimony of a single person who strongly
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The court has no choice but to believe him, simply because there is no evidence. Another reason people accuse another for personal gain is to settle land disputes. Giles tells the court about a conversation his friend overheard between Thomas Putnam and his daughter Ruth that prompts him to tell the authorities, “‘If Jacobs hangs for a witch he forfeit up his property - that’s law! And there is none but Putnam with the coin to buy so great a piece. This man is killing his neighbors for their land!”’ (96). Thomas Putnam envies his neighbors and their land, so he commands his daughter to go to court and accuse them of witchcraft. Finally, the deadliest motive in The Crucible is that of revenge. During the trial, John admits his crime of lechery to the court as a last resort to stop her reign of terror. To Danforth he confesses, “‘She thinks to dance with me on my wife’s grave! And she might, for I thought of her softly. God help me, I lusted, and there is a promise in such sweat. But it is a whore’s vengeance, and you must see it…”’ (110). Abigail’s jealousy of John Proctor’s wife moves the entire plot along as she accuses Elizabeth of witchcraft, only to take her place as his wife. Though many of the accusations of the witch trials are ill founded on personal gains such as grudges, land disputes, and revenge, the majority of the population willingly believes them because of the hysteria, lack of evidence, and their religious beliefs. In short, petty arguments provide poor reasoning for killing a large portion of innocent people in the
This was a witch hunt that swept across the countryside, and many people were hanged for witchcraft. Most of the characters are based on real people. A few things have been changed to make the play more dramatic, such as the affair between John Proctor and Abigail Williams. However, many details, including names, are left the same. In the play, the people of
During the years of 1692 and 1693 there have been suspicions of witchcraft among our own people, few have said these statements are preposterous, but due to my findings through my research I have found the answers to the question many have been seeking. During the trial, many of our people testified against Abigail including the following: Tituba, Mary Warren, and John Proctor. While examining the testimonies, the prosecution was able to persuade these victims to divulge complete information on events involving Abigail. After attending the trial of the prosecution of Abigail Williams the jury ruled unanimously against for all accounts of first degree murder of John Proctor and 19 others, as well as attempted murder of Elizabeth Proctor.
Rosalyn Schanzer’s Witches! The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem, is a Short, breakneck paced book discussing what happened, and possibly why it happened, in the tragedy of 1692. Betty and Abigail, wife and niece of Samuel of Parris, fell ill experienced numerous convulsions. A doctor’s unvarnished diagnosis was that they were bewitched! A deluge of accused puritans surged into Salem Village and neighboring town.
Continuously throughout the play greed is a main cause of persecution. Putnam is a wealthy man with much land but wants more. George Jacobs happens to have a lot of land that Putnam wants, using his daughter Putnam gets Jacobs accused of witch craft and put to death. Jacobs death results in Putnam being able to buy his land. Giles knows the truth behind Jacobs being accused, he makes that clear when he exclaims “If Jacobs hangs for a witch he forfeits his property – that’s law!
Whenever someone accused of a crime goes to court they need evidence to prove if they're innocent or guilty. This occurs in The Crucible and with Good Night and Good Luck. Whenever someone is accused, there were different ways determining if they were guilty. In The Crucible, spectral evidence was used to convict witches. The only source of evidence they had was the claims of the girls.
Title Sometimes, it’s hard to see what someone’s intentions are. It may be especially hard to tell if a person in power is truly using their power to do good, or if they’re putting up a front in order to gain personal benefits. In The Crucible, Reverend Parris used his title and influence for personal gain. Things like this don’t just happen in literature. There are people in our world today using their status and influence to gain money or more power.
This quote effectively demonstrates how an individual, or multiple individuals for that matter, could end up being falsely accused of witchery merely because one girl felt obliged to accuse someone; Her accusations led to the eventual convictions of both of the people Betty accused. This example shows how a simple false accusation was able to turn the entire village of salem against these two people. Furthermore, personal rivalries also caused mass destruction and
This quote demonstrates how an individual could be reproached of something they did not commit and has not a single clue what a “witch” is, but still has what he or she has to say be eradicated from the situation. One recognizes how false accusations results in mob hysteria; furthermore, people fearing the trials in the judicial system, too, created such
In Document B, Demos presents that most of the accusers of witches were single females in their younger years of age. In the late 1600s, women were extremely dependent upon men for their financial stability, overall safety, and mental/emotional well being. In an interpretation of this document, it can be assumed that these younger female women were seeking family ties and protection in a harsher time period. On the same hand, Document C, a most likely extremely biased account, recounts the “bewitched actions” of Bridget Bishop, a witch, upon the afflicted. Samuel Parris, the examiner of Bishop, seems to shed a negative light on Bishop.
In The Crucible, the people of Salem had become caught up with everything that others had said, so they believed people were involved in witchcraft. Reverend Hale, for example was the “spiritual doctor” who wanted to make sure that he provided evidence before executing. If he defended anyone for not being bewitched he would be blamed. The people of Salem swamp him with accusations of witchcraft, making him take there side without investigating himself to see if there evidence is accurate. Danforth the deputy of Salem questions Hale, “What more may you ask for me?
The indictment of witchcraft are lies told in statements as if death is a game to play with. The whole conflicting trials in Salem, Massachusetts began with Abigail the deceiver of all the
Many of the accused however were simply unable to defend themselves because these charges were simply biased in nature and it was also very difficult to prove whether an individual was telling the truth or not. It was pathetic that the authorities went ahead to allow fake evidence such as foul gossips and other merely unsupported evidence and assertions. For example, dreams and visions by people believed to decode witchcraft would be used against people and victims and these sets of evidence in a modern day would not build any
Sadly, in even today's society people pay the price for something they didn’t do without proper evidence. Thirty-three men and women paid the ultimate price for being accused of witchcraft. The Salem Witch Trials are a famous mark on the history of the United States, which led to the conviction and execution of those accused of witchcraft in 1692 in Massachusetts. This time is history shows the human brutality and what extremes people will go to when face-to-face with fear. The terrifying Witch Trials that took place in Salem, Massachusetts during the Puritan Era were never fully resolved, since then many theories have evolved over time for the cause of them.
Proctor realized the truth behind everything and decided it was time to come forward and tell Danforth, “She thinks to dance with me on my wife's grave! And well she might, for I thought of her softly. God help me, I lusted, and there is a promise in such sweat. But it is a whore's vengeance, and you must see it now” (Miller ). John tries to reveal who Abigail really is but it does not help the lives of those who are to be hanged.
I am here today to defend my client, Thomas Putnam, who has allegedly been sending his daughter, Ruth, out to falsely accuse neighbors of witchcraft. The reason, as declared by Giles Corey, is to buy off his convicted neighbor’s land in order to expand his estate. However, I am here to refute these inadequate claims with the clear and defined truth. Nevertheless, I will not claim that my client, Mr. Putnam, is a complete saint as he (and with numerous others) has his flaws. Yet, with Mr. Corey raising these erroneous claims, I will not stand here and let his faulty and inaccurate logic falsely persuade the jury.