The events that occurred in Essex County, Massachusetts during the year of 1692 will never have an entire recorded history that all historians agree on. It took two entire centuries before Marion Starkey wrote one of the first views on the crisis. After that, many other historians started debating, including, Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum, Carol F. Karlsen, and Mary Beth Norton, each with their own emphasis on a particular causation of the trials such as gender and social tensions. Every aspect the historians mention, all attempts to connect together to form a coherent story behind Salem, and yet not all of the arguments are plausible in the twenty-first century. Starkey, the first historian to publish an argument about Salem, uses a method …show more content…
These reasons are mainly rooted in the political affairs of the two communities as well as the wealth of certain accusers like the extremely wealthy Putnam family who was supportive towards Parris being in the pulpit. One of the larger points Boyer and Nissenbaum make about the trials is that many of the accused witches came from places outside of Salem Village, where the accusations came from in the beginning. Boyer and Nissenbaum carefully craft their argument using, and citing, many primary and secondary sources, performing numerous calculations on Parris supporters versus Anti-Parris supporters and townspeople’s wealth, as well as including many detailed maps that show the divide between the town and the village in accusation patterns and political views. These powerful pieces of evidence give this argument a tighter stand over Starkey as it is impossible to deny official maps and data collected from tax lists from the town. Yet, despite this strong stand, it still does not give any information about the events of the actual trials; it only discusses accusing patterns, and then stops. It does not place into account the huge role of gender in the trials as women …show more content…
This is especially important because the reader may expect an answer for the Salem Witchcraft Trials immediately. Unfortunately, as Starkey points out, there may not be a clear history of what happened, nor is it likely. This may frustrate the reader as the debate to the question ‘What happened in Salem the year 1692?’ continues to linger on into the present day. Given that, these arguments serve not to tell the complete story of the trials, rather they serve to make the reader come up with a conclusion themselves. The historians give the reader places to look for more information, as well as see their thought process through footnotes and prefaces, and the reader will, hopefully, use that to probe their own thinking and join in a considerable number of scholars, students, and curious intellects who continue to question these trials
The Witch Trials are a way to punish those whom do not abide by the religious orthodoxy in Salem, and ultimately “eliminate” the Devil’s influence in the community. Throughout the play, it is easy to realize the Trials are exploited,
Watters 1 One of the most incomprehensible events as well as one of the darkest times in history occurred in the colony of Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. The Salem Witch Trials occurred in seventeenth century New England, where people lived in a constant fear of the Devil which led to paranoia and illogical thinking. This fear led to many accusations and trials of innocent people and in the end, twenty people were killed, nineteen hung and one pressed to death. With the technology and knowledge we now have in the twenty-first century, it has become apparent that the behavior exhibited during the Salem Witch Trials (and other Witch Hunts around the world around this time) was not due to witches, as they do not exist. Although we can now conclude that this commotion was not caused by witches and magic, the question that still looms is what did cause this behavior in 1692?
The crazy events of the Salem Witch Trials The play the Crucible is about the crazy events and lies that took place in the colony town of Salem which lead them to believe that there were many witches apron them. So they call in a witch hunter from another town his name is Reverend Hale. Then they call in judges to listen to their hearings then decide whether there guilty or not they never found someone that was accused of witchcraft inasent they either confessed or hang if they confessed they would serve prison time put if they didn’t confessed they would hang them anyways. The Author’s purpose is to inform the audience about what happened during the Salem Witch Trials.
Paragraph 1- (Intro) The Salem Witch trials of 1692 were a dark and (prevalent) time for the people of Salem, Massachusetts. During this time, nearly 200-300 people were convicted of witchcraft, and over 60 were officially hanged by the government. This must all be looked at from the colonists’ point of view- they had come from a land where religion was the most important aspect of their everyday life, keeping beliefs close to heart. They took this aspect to the New World, the area inhabited with mysterious other people’s foreign to them, where fears of the devil replaced common fears of everyday life. The floodgates of scapegoating did not truly start, although, until Tituba, a young slave, confessed of witchcraft herself.
During the late 1691 several young girls began to suffer fits and nightmares, attributed by their elders to witchcraft (Foner 106). Tituba who was a slave from Barbados that lived with two of the girls that were having fits as a servant. The girls invited several friends to share this delicious, forbidden diversion. Tituba’s audience listened intently as she talked of telling the future. Villagers sat spellbound as Tituba spoke of black dogs, red cats, yellow birds, and a white-haired man who bade her sign the devil’s book.
In this essay, I will be talking about four memorable people during the Salem Witch Trials. These four people have their own reasons for what they did and did not do, and I will explain how their backgrounds had such a lasting impact in the Salem Witch Trials. Giles Corey was a very wealthy stranger who had arrived with his fourth wife, Martha. Feelings of hatred emerged with the Putnams after he unwittingly testified against his wife, who was sentenced to death.
For example, Annika L of the Salem Times states, “A fourth theory is that the girls behavior was caused by physical illness.” Despite the fact that such points could be defended with some logic, most of the support would be weak and loose. On the other hand, it can be concluded that the claim made by this essay is more logical and well supported if anything. All in all, it can be determined that the cause of the Salem Witch Trials was the attempt of Salem citizens to either defend or create family ties and enter or sustain continued community safety within the
Salem was a town divided into two sides, the west side being poor, and the east side being where wealthy people stayed. Document E shows that the accusers were mainly on the west side, and the accused witches were mostly on the east side, this showing that the poor were the ones mainly accusing the rich and wealthy. Document E’s evidence is backing up the theory that another cause of the Salem witch `trial hysteria was Salem being divided, with one side accusing the other. “Although” statement where you agree there might be other contributing causes. It is true that other causes may help explain the hysteria.
REVIEW OF LITRATURE A.) SUMMARY SOURCE A Although the whole book had information on the Salem witch trials. The introduction, chapter 1 and 2 and the conclusion had information regarding the research needed • Introduction: states what the Salem witch trials where and who they accused.
In Colonial Massachusetts, there were series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft between February 1692 and May1693 known as the Salem witch trials. The episode is one of the Colonial America’s most notorious cases of mass hysteria. The trials resulted in the executions of twenty people, fourteen of them women, and all but one by hanging. Five others, including two infant children died in prison.
In the book, The Witches: Salem 1692, the author Stacy Schiff attempts to condense a large volume of research into a cohesive narrative that tries to avoid to much speculation. There is some contention that the book does speculate into the motives of primary accusers that some reviewers have intimated are bordering on fiction. However, the author defends her arguments logically, and her inferences do seem to bridge the gaps effectively. One of the items that causes some confusion, to both the historically curious, and to the researcher is that the author has created a list of dramatis personae in which the historical figures are labeled as a cast of characters which might make the book seem fictional.
Today, Your Honour we are here to exonerate the wrongfully convicted men and women of the 1692 Salem Witch Trials of Massachusetts. Men and women were accused of witchcraft, 19 well respectable people were hung. As we know religion has no place in court, therefore eliminating the conclusion of witchcraft. Leaving us to look for other reasons and motives that appeal to human emotion such a s fear, greed and jealousy. Emotions like this led to the deaths in Salem.
The Salem Witch Trials; Madness or Logic In Stacey Schiff’s, List of 5 Possible Causes of the Salem Witch Trials and Shah Faiza’s, THE WITCHES OF SALEM; Diabolical doings in a Puritan village, discuss in their articles what has been debated by so many historians for years, the causes of the Salem Witch trials. Schiff and the Faiza, purpose is to argue the possible religious, scientific, communal, and sociological reasons on why the trials occurred. All while making word by word in the writer’s testimony as if they were there through emotion and just stating simply the facts and theories. They adopt the hectic tone in order to convey to the readers the significance, tragedy, logic, loss, and possible madness behind these life changing events,
Analyzing Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum's book, Salem Possessed leads to the exploration of the pre-existing social and economic divisions within the Salem Village community, as an entrance point to understanding the accusations of witchcraft in 1692. Salem Village and Salem Town were politically a single unit, but socially as well as economically the two were diverse and because of this, it caused a rivalry. Salem Village had a lot of farmland, poorer people and was more rural as well as conservative. ; the Village was led by the Putnam family. Salem Town was more sophisticated, nautical, and prosperous, with wealthier and more respected people; They were interested in the mercantile and political life of Salem Town and were led primarily
Much of what happens in Salem still resembles some things we see in society today. The word of one man can change people’s ideas and images of another without conclusive evidence. What people fear the most can sometimes bind us together, even if it is not