Abellona And Alcina Trial Essay

The initial questions Tempel Anneke was asked pointed out the similarities between her and what were thought to be the characteristics of a witch. When the interrogator questioned her age and means of personal finance, she did not state her age but did say that she was a widow and lived with her son on his farm but did perform healings when needed. She was then questioned about her education and religious practices. She responded by saying she had learned how to heal people from observing her mother. Also, she testified that she knew the commandments but had not been to the table of the Lord or the Holy Communion in two years (15). It did not help that she was not looked up to in the community but was part of the lower class. According some of the testimony by her accusers, most people thought that Tempel Anneke was a crazy, old drunk.

Accused witches were forced to admit to various practices believed to be witchcraft. Details from the French Court of Rieux and the insanity that ensued are jaw dropping by today’s standards. Suzanne Gaudry’s judgement confession was no different, being forced and tortured into confessions including having given herself to the devil, renouncement of God, lent and Baptism. Moreover, Gaudry was also forced to confess that she had cohabited with the devil as well received the devil’s mark on her shoulder and being at dances. Of note however, the judgement confession seems to acknowledge Gaudry having technically only confessed to having had killed by poison, Philip Coine’s horse. Nevertheless, Gaudry’s confession was made

Sarah and her two sisters are put on trial for suspicion of witchcraft. While her sisters are burned at the stake, Sarah is sentenced to a prison term to be served in a box barely large enough for her to lie down in. She is in a house where there are other that are accused of other things, and they can’t go out. They treat them very bad. Sarah didn’t did anything to the girls, before the girls get the witchcraft thing she was sick and she didn’t get out of her house.

On January 20th, before the three women were accused, Abigail Williams and Betty Parris began to have fits, and complained that they were in pain (Source 2). In February, a doctor first examined the girls, ruled out that it was witchcraft, and then examined Tituba, who confessed to him that she was a witch (Source 2). As other girls began to show signs of affliction, the citizens of Salem began to fill with fear, and went to the court to get help. The court began the official trials, and worked alongside the afflicted girls to rule out who was evil, and who was good.

On February 29, 1692, under the guidance of magistrates Johnathan Corwin and John Hathorne, Ann, Elizabeth and Abagail accused three women for afflicting them: Tituba a slave girl from the Caribbean who was owned by the Parris’s; Sarah Good, a homeless beggar and Sarah Osborne, an elderly woman. All three women were brought to trial before the local magistrates and interrogated for days at a time, these interrogations began on March 1, 1692. Both Sarah Osborne and Sarah Good claimed to be innocent, but Tituba confessed, “The Devil came to me and bid me serve him” (Witch Hunt). Tituba states that she has seen images of huge black dogs, red cats and a huge black man who asked her to write her name in his book. She said that she indeed did sign the book along with several other witches who sought out to destroy the Puritans. The Puritans were eager to believe the confession from the slave girl. Tituba’s skin reminded them of the Indians they came to hate so much. She was a dark skinned woman from Barbados, Tituba was also known for speaking her native language and practicing her native religion. Since Tituba confessed, all three women were sent to jail.

Bridget was the first of six women hung the month alone, five others were hung in August, and eight more in September. And while awaiting their own public deaths seven already condemned witches died in jail. In all the chaos of the trials some warned against it such as Minister Cotton Mather who wasn’t sure of the credibility of the testimonies of dreams and visions. Mathers views were ignored throughout the trials until the Court of Oyer and Terminer was dissolved and later courts were not allowed to use spectral evidence to decide

Betty and Abigail asked a West Indian woman named Tituba to help them know their fortunes, a couple months later the little girl’s started showing different behavior, strange behavior. The girls then blamed 3 women for causing their suffering, one of which was Tituba, Tituba unlike the other accused confessed of practicing witchcraft, this saved her from being hung, Bridget Bishop was hung, and 5 others also suffered the same fate from the kids

(Pelka 1) This quote shows that she pleaded her innocence and that her conscience was clear. The people of Salem were very religious and they held a person to their religious standards, which means if someone didn’t act or speak a certain way, they simply didn’t belong. A group of girls had been accused in the beginning of the witch trials, as they began to experience fits that no one had ever seen before. When taken into custody, the girls had begun to be questioned.

(Topic Sentence) How the Trials came to be. In the late 1692s in the quiet town of Salem, Massachusetts, was where the first Americans were afflicted and of accused of witchcraft. This misfortune all began with Betty Parris and Abigail Williams. Nine-year old Betty Parris who obey anyone who spoke with conviction, including to her misfortune cousin Abigail Williams, feared God and even the Devil. Her fears were created because of her preacher father, who exposed her to the subjects. She was thought to felt less fear and more curiosity towards the devil and his disciples. Later on Abigail sought on more guidance from the slave in there Tituba. Soon Betty and Abigail became aware that they were trending on an evil subject beyond their religion and vowed to keep silent. Despite there vows, both the girls couldn’t keep it between them. Soon, they shared the secret with their friends and Tituba’s circle of girls began to grow. The girls who entered were Mary Walcott, Elizabeth Hubbard, Ann Putman, Susan Sheldon, Elizabeth Booth, Mercy Lewis, and finally Mary Warren. Soon afterwards, Betty and Abigail started to act

Witchcraft accusations in the sixteenth and seventeenth century saw a dramatic increase in the sheer amount of accused witches that were tried and executed. “Between about 1450 and 1750 maybe 40,000 of Europe’s inhabitants, most of them women, were executed, many of them by burning at the stake, as witches.” (Sharpe 65) The vulnerability of society to so blindly accuse others of witchcraft stemmed from not knowing about certain types of illnesses or why horrible things sometimes occurred. Some accusations were brought about for the social gain by the ‘bewitching’ of one’s child, such as in the case of Anne Gunter. Using the case of Anne Gunter, we can identify some of the reasons that the English people were accused of witchcraft.

To impose order throughout the Roman Empire a code known as the Carolina influenced witch trials (Morton, 2006). The Carolina was “developed by the medieval church from Roman origins” (Morton, 2006, XXX). Investigations required testimony from at least two reliable witnesses and then an interrogation of the accused (Morton, 2006). Stages of the Carolina include the initiation of an investigation, the collection of testimonies, and most importantly two confessions, one under torture if required and one without torture (Morton, 2006). While in the beginning, Tempel Anneke denied the use of witchcraft and a pact made with the Devil, she eventually gave the court both confessions. Folio 28 contains the first confession under torture where Anneke confesses to learning sorcery, making a pact with the “Evil Enemy” who “came as a middle-sized man, that is, the average man, who had black hair and wore a black coat,” and fornicating with the Devil (Morton, 2006, p.103). The confession received that was not under torture is discussed in Folio 29. In Folio 29 Anneke repeats the confession she gave under torture while also attempting to repent her sins (Morton, 2006). Her final confession is found in Folio 43 where she admits to renouncing God, learning sorcery, “visiting the Devil’s Dances”, fornicating with the Devil, and admitting guilt to the testimonies of Hans

Parris. [He is clearly agitated his voice rises.] What are you suggesting, that there’s no witchcraft involved and they made up the whole story? [As his voice continues to rise.] People are being sentenced to death Mr.

“But she had managed. And, of course the citizens of Mt. Harrison just couldn’t leave the old woman be. They thought it was bizarre. Her living out in the forest all by herself—that it wasn’t possible for a woman as old as Alcina was to still be able to do that. They thought that a woman of her age could only survive and thrive within the confines of the village. But the mere fact that she was surviving and doing just fine all by her lonesome in the forest, had some of the villagers on edge—thinking that she had gotten some sort of ungodly help out there. So, they had started calling her names like witch and sorceress and spreading rumors that she had sold her soul to the Morning Star—Satan—and was now forever married to the Devil.”

The sunset came forward as Young Goodman Brown arrived at Salem Village. There he saw his wife, Faith, whom he had only being married to for three months. Faith and Goodman Brown watched as the villagers tied up a so called “witch” to the stick. The villagers had accused the Indian woman of being a witch when she was seen dancing around. They had planned to get rid of the evil by burning her next morning. Tragically, in the old times this was a common practice. The people of the village considered themselves pure Christians. At least that is what Young Goodman Brown believed, till one night it he thought otherwise.

Abel has never had things easy, from the very beginning Abel was exiled because his father was not part of the tribe. Abel grew up in a tribe that did not accept him because of his mother’s actions. Tragically at the age of five Abel’s mother was taken from him. He was so young that he did not comprehend it. This tragic event in his life is one that he seemingly mentally blocks.