Causes Of The Salem Witch Trials

Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, focuses on the inconsistencies and injustice of the 1692 witch trials of Salem, Massachusetts. The restrictive Puritan society of Salem in the 17th century was based upon religious intolerance, where faith was demonstrated through physical labour and by strict adherence to religious doctrine. Material, physical and sexual desires were considered the Devil’s work and a threat to the very fabric of society. In summary, it is said that Puritanism discouraged individualism on all levels. The literal way in which the Bible was interpreted by the Puritans, provides a paradox within the play. This is because although the Bible says “thou shalt not kill,” the people of Salem are willing to sentence innocent

The Salem witch trials occurred in colonial Massachusetts between 1692 and 1693. More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft—the Devil’s magic—and 20 were executed. Eventually, the colony admitted the trials were a mistake and compensated the families of those convicted. Since then, the story of the trials has become synonymous with paranoia and injustice, and it continues to beguile the popular imagination more than 300 years later” (Blumberg). The period in which the Salem Witch Trials took place was a dark period in American history. America was a vast wilderness, unexplored, corrupted by an overzealous society. This group of people is known as the puritans. Their christian based faith was strict but their punishments were even stricter. Their actions and crimes they commited impacted generations after generations to come. A good example of this can be seen through Nathaniel Hawthorne's writings especially his best selling novel “The Scarlet Letter”. His novel is the tale of a young puritan girl, named Hester Prynne ,who is too harshly judged for her actions. Some might observe that these three things are connected. These observers are right. These three topics are all connected by the idea of women oppression and how the early puritans and the Salem Witch Trials were cancerous to american society. The Puritans beliefs and their involvement in the Salem Witch Trials, as proven by the writings of American author Nathaniel Hawthorne, is seen in the long run

Have you ever felt like you were among frauds and liars in a group supposedly full of devotees? The people living in late 1600s Salem were known as God-fearing, yet often projected their personal vendettas onto one another through the witchcraft trials. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller utilizes characterization, dramatic and verbal irony, and symbolism to the the convey the conflict of piety and corruption, therefore exposing the hypocrisy of a theocratic community.

The Salem Tragedy developed from a paradox. It is a paradox in whose grip we still live, and there is no prospect yet that we will discover its resolution. Simply, it was this: for good purposes, even high purposes, the people of Salem developed a theocracy, a combine of state and religious power whose function was to keep the community together, and to prevent any kind of disunity that might open it to destruction by material or ideological enemies. (Miller 6-7) This passage discusses to the audience the setting and views of Salem and its people during The Crucible.

The Salem Witch Trials remain as a main area of interest for colonial historians, for the very way that actual lives were taken for only the sake of internalized cultural normalities. In fact if one is to look at the way the trials were conducted, it could be said that they highlight the underlying fears and beliefs that the citizens of Massachusetts believed to be completely true. The irrational nature of the trials is best illustrated through the view of the accused witches, whose accusations follow a distinct pattern of having past conflict with their accusers. Overall there is also a repetition of external fears influencing these accusations which culminates in a complex belief of not only demonic powers at work, but present mortal threats being a part of these accused witches plan to bring destruction of the town. The perspective of the accused witches during the Salem Witch Trials, proves Salem was a town rooted in cultural anxiety and interpersonal conflict which eventually imploded into the uncontrollable.

The Salem Witch Trials were a very crazy, interesting time. From witches, liers, and even death,it was a very stressful and eventful period of time.

The book, Crucible is the source behind this essay based on the incidents which happened in the town of Salem in 1692. The happenings in this point of history is most popularly known as “The Salem Witch Trials.” The author of this book wrote this because of his involvement in the Cold War when he was accused of things he either did or did not do. What happened in his life during the Cold War is parallel to the characters in the town of Salem when they are accused and brought before a court to determine their innocence and interaction with the Devil. From observing the Crucible by Arthur Miller the cause of the Salem Witch Trials is stupidity and an insecurity to hold a good reputation; selfishness found on three accounts: the church/court, John Proctor, and Abigail.

The Crucible represents a broad array of actions that put Salem’s denizens under a test of faith and purity. As many were accused and killed, the theocratic control of the colony was diminished as the purity of some characters, such as Proctor were revealed. Miller shows how the interactions between the characters of the play affected the outcome of proceedings. The less-than-ideal circumstances that many were put in changed the course of history as the witchcraft hysteria spread and turned into new fears. A “crucible” is construed as a severe test or trial. The Crucible tells the story of the Salem witchcraft trials, a period in American history in which people who did not conform to the expectations and patterns of standard behavior in that

The Salem Witch Trials are a big part of history that is still hard to unravel today. These trials occurred in 1692, when a few teenage girls admitted to being possessed with the devil and blamed other local residents with committing Witchcraft (“Salem Witch Trials”). The accusations all started with a young girl named Abigail Williams. She believed that if she blamed other people, she would not be punished for the things she did. As a result, many other girls followed her lead and named innocent people, who they said did witchcraft. It is sad to say many people died due to false accusations and factious evidence. From this horrific event, Arthur Miller wrote a book called The Crucible.

There were a multitude of causes that led to the brewing of the Salem witch trials. Some of which were lack of education, superstition based on their religion. Also quarrels over land and power in the church and village politics.

Parris discovery the girls dancing in the woods was merely a tipping point not the true origin. The girls in Salem is what caused the witch hunt and allowed it to accelerate. and it causes hallucinations, so historically it could be a plausible explanation.

In the 17th century a group of Puritans migrated from England to America - the land of dreams - to escape persecution for their religious beliefs. Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is based on the real life witch hunts as well as his own experience with the anti-communist campaign in the United States during the 1950s. In the 1692 Salem, Massachusetts the superstition of the existence of witches existed and the inhabitants of the town were Puritans who followed the Bible in a very strictly. A small group of powerful people wrongly accused and killed many people out of their own fear, ignorance, jealousy, or vengeance is a main point in the play. An abundance of people in Salem believed or pretended to believe the show the girls put on from what they felt was the Devil’s work.The Salem witch hysteria would not have occurred if the people of the town did not follow the rules of their religion as severely as they did.

In Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible”, the Salem tragedy develops a paradox of the town itself in the corollary of paradoxes within many of characters revealed by their paradoxical actions. In the town of Salem, people who populated the area were Puritans who had left England to establish a perfect society followed by the principles of the Protestant Church. In Massachusetts during 1692, the town minister, Reverend Parris discovers his daughter Betty and niece Abigail dancing in the woods with their slave Tituba. Eventually, this leads to the widespread rumor of witchcraft. A mass hysteria occurs and soon a majority of the townspeople were accused of witchcraft. The people who were convicted either had two options: to confess and hang or to deny the accusers and face brutal consequences for not confessing. A local farmer named John Proctor, goes through a series of hellish calamity to end this fever and revive the true nature of a Puritan society. In “The Crucible”, John Proctor, Abigail Williams, and Danforth, in the Salem tragedy, teach us valuable lessons through their paradoxical behavior in human qualities that every generation contains along with societal paradoxes that is exemplified in both the Puritan and contemporary society.

The witch trials in Early Modern Europe were a widespread moral panic, suggesting that Satanic witches were working as a threat towards the Christian Faith during the 16th to 18th centuries. Those accused of witchcraft were portrayed as being worshippers of the devil, who took part in acts such as sorcery at gatherings known as Witches’ Sabbaths. Many people were accused of being witches, and were put on trial for the crime, with punishments varying from time period to region.

The Salem Witch trials where for the right reason, but had the wrong way of going about it.