Character Analysis: The Salem Witch Trials

The Salem Witch Trials were a time of paranoia and mass hysteria. In this small town of Massachusetts hundreds were accused of witchcraft and 19 people were executed. Salem was home to very devout Puritans. The worries arrived when young girls would become sick with no explanation or cure. The doctors not knowing what the cause of the illness was, quickly pronounce the girls bewitched. It spread terror through the town. The girls, as well as other residents, started accusing others of witchery. Many accusations were because of vengeance or self-interest. There were rivalries between families over land or wealth. Neighbors started accusing each other in order to gain their land. The religious community had an intensified sense of fear that the Devil was walking among them. They believed witches were out to destroy the Puritans. In order to purify the village of evil they had trials for the accused.

The Salem Witch Trials was from 1692-1693, in the town of Salem, Massachusetts. There was a circle of girls who wanted to have a little fun so they got involved in the sport of witchcraft. They went to the minister’s house every day to visit Tituba, the Caribbean slave, to join her for palm and tea leaf reading. The girls took it too far though. They pretended to have fits and started accusing people of being witches. They went so far that people started to be hung for being witches but they weren’t. The girls didn’t understand that what they were doing was wrong. But then it got worse… the girls started to believe their own lies. Salem was doomed… after the girls began to think that what they said was true…

The Salem Witch Trials began in 1692 and became one of the most infamous witchcraft episodes in United States history. It all started in the small Puritan village of Salem when little Betty Parris and Abigail Williams become ill and did not show any sign of improvement. This is when Reverend Parris, Betty’s father, called in the village doctor William Griggs. His diagnosis of bewitchment had the village overtaken with mass hysteria that would continue to plague them long after the May 1693 end. During the trials one hundred and fifty six people were accused of witchcraft: fifty four of which confessed, nineteen of which were hanged, four of which died in jail, and one whom was pressed to death.

The Salem Witch Trials took place in 1692 (Miller, 1124). The witchcraft hysteria was started by teenage girls dancing in the woods (Miller, 1124). Many innocent people died due to old grudges and jealousy (Miller, 1127). The condemned were accused of casting spells and dealing with the devil (Miller,

Salem, Massachusetts 1692 a small village where people turned on each other, and blamed hundreds of their own, nut mostly certain neighbors with witchcraft. From June to September, individuals were unjustifiably killed after trials discovered them “guilty” of witchcraft. Religions, imperatives, money, beliefs and types of conflicts caused these absurd witch trials.

The well-known Salem witch trials began during the spring of 1692, after a set of young girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts, claimed to be possessed

In January of 1692, two girls became ill, the daughter and niece of Reverend Samuel Parris. When their state did not improve the doctor, William Griggs, was called in to help. In June of 1692, the special court of Oyer and Terminer sat in Salem to hear the cases of witchcraft. Presided over by Chief Justice William Stoughton, the court was made up of magistrates and jurors.

The Salem Witch Trials took place in early 1692. During these trials around 150 people were accused of being witches by a group of young girls. The girls claimed that these “witches” had the power to harm them as a result of giving their loyalty to the devil. The Puritans strict culture and previous tension due to the fear of native american attacks bordering the village made it more susceptible to falling victim of the widespread chaos known as the Salem Witch Trials.

The Salem witch trails were in an age of superstition. There were great tensions with the fact that some individuals were changing religions, or they were leaving to gain different religious opinions. Although the Massachusetts colony was under a lot of stress and tension that did not give them the right to hang or burn individuals because they were witches. Now, some of the members of this colony that participated in the Salem witch trial might have had a psychological and issues, but that still did not give them the right to hang innocent people.

Salem Witch Trials: The witch trials were a series of hearings, and prosecutions of people being accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692, through May 1693. The primary source of the trials is unknown, but it was most recognized when a group of young girls, from the village Salem, started to speak of the devil invading their home and try to take over through his “minions” that he persuaded to write in his book. This group of girls accused over 200 people for working for the devil, or being witches, and

The Salem Witch Trials were begun during the spring of 1692. It all started when one night, a group of girls were accused of dancing in the woods in Salem, Massachusetts. They claimed to be processed by the devil. After everyone found out, there was a ton of hysteria roaming the air of the small village. But, there were also other things that played a role in the deaths of those people. Pride, greed, and vengeance all had to do with the start of the trials. There were many dark forces that played a role in the outcome of the trials.

== = The Salem Witchcraft trials started in 1692 resulting in 19 executions and 150 accusations of witchcraft. This was the biggest outbreak of witchcraft hysteria in colonial New England. The trials began because three young girls, Betty Parris, Abigail Williams and Ann Putnam began having hysterical fits, convulsions and terrifying visions after being caught engaging in forbidden fortune telling[1].

Whewwww! The wind whistles along Gallows Hill waiting for its next victim that will be condemned as a servant of the Devil. This was the Salem Witch trials, which happened in 1692 through 1693, were a series of court trials and executions of people that were thought to be practicing witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts. These trials were very tragic and most often an innocent person was accused of the crime. The Salem Witch Trials included a cause that started it, different ways that people were convicted, specific women who were accused, and finally it ended in 1693. Most people think the Salem Witch Trials were just another event that happened in history. But what really happened during the Salem Witch Trials?

During the time of the Salem Witch Trials, many women and even a few men were accused of witchery. There have been many theories as to why the residents of Salem were being accused of witchcraft including mental illnesses, spiritual ideas, and the influence of the society. The most popular theory was spiritual ideas, which spread throughout the community. Some believed the hallucinations and strange actions were all caused by the devil and medicine could not cure it. The doctors believed the girls were “under an Evil Hand” (Carlson, 1999---page 10). People in Salem at the time thought one little mishap was the work of the devil and only the church could cure the person. Also, the people believed they could do all this because they had traded

In 1692, 19 women were hung and 200 more were accused of witchcraft. All because of the strange actions of 8 young girls. These 8 girls showed signs of being possessed by the Devil. They had seizures, trances, delusions and extreme illness unexpectedly. Fear of being killed by the Indians and worry that there was not enough food and water put the level of tension at a new high for the villages, spread this hysteria faster than wildfire.