Harriet In The Screwball

All the horrified villagers and upperclassmen saw the witches in action they saw the monstrous effect that black magic was apparently having on poor little child Abigail and twelve year old Ann Putnam Jr., a spell bounded choreography of outburst and spasms. “Look to her! She will have a fit presently,” one girl would cry out, pointing to another, who would promptly commence convulsing. “At other times they warned, ‘We shall all fall!’ and about seven girls would pass out, babbling to the floor. The head of the courtroom on that day was Thomas Danforth, deputy governor of Massachusetts and Harvard’s longtime treasurer, one of the several senior colonial officials . Betty's father called in more authorities to decide if witchcraft was the reason for the girl’s illness. Seeing that nothing was working not the praying or the vigils nor the sermons. Reverend decided to call in the doctors. Being puritan they did not believe in science but there were no options left. Betty was sent away, and did not participate in the trials; the other girls were joined by other young women in staging publicly putting on displays of their distress when in the presence of accused

In such a field, the lesser agents of misfortune, the witches could flourish” (Ashforth, p. 102). Furthermore, with high unemployment rates and pervasive poverty, jealousy was seen as the principle motivator for the practice of witchcraft. In the same interview, Madumo continues, “It’s also about jobs. It’s the lack of jobs that’s contributed to the high volume of witchcraft. Because if someone is having a job, then his neighbors become jealous and will witch him so as to make him lose that job” (Ashforth, p. 102). Madumo cites these societal circumstances as a sociological causation for the rise of purported witchcraft.

During this time the Parrises sent their daughter Betty to Salem Town to live with their in laws. Soon after being seperated from the other children who were afflicted by witchcraft, all her symptoms disappeared. “And if some of the other parents and guardians of Salem Village had thought more of their children’s well-being and less of contesting property rights and boundaries, they might have taken measures to separate the girls long enough to see whether the fits might subside” (Rice 44). Rather than separating the girls, they were allowed to keep meeting. And the accusations

Most observers now agree that witches in the villages and towns of the late Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century New England tended to be poor. They were usually not the poorest women in the community, but the moderately poor. Karlsen tries to show that a woman who was vulnerable was most likely to be accused of being a witch. Even women who had gained wealth because of the death of a husband were prime candidates.

Reverend Parris’ fear of losing his job provokes him to cry witch. Reverend Parris’ daughter feigns to be in a coma. When the doctor bade Susanna tell Reverend Parris that he “might look to unnatural things for the cause of it” (9), he denies that possibility because he fears that rumors of witchcraft under his roof would help his “many enemies” (10) to drive him from his

That Little Betty Parris was sick, and that the Dr. Griggs (who was too proud to say that he could not diagnose Little Betty illness) claimed she was bewitched (Richardson 7), were enough reasons for court authorities to suspect witchcraft was the cause of the illness. In addition, several young girls in the village had participated in 弎lack magic?experiments ?harmless adolescent games ?in the company of Tituba, Reverend Parris slave. The restless young girls allegedly met in Parris shed, and created and listened to Tituba incredible tales of sorcery and black arts, which were doubtless an outlet for their repressed feelings. Soon, faulty cause-and-effect relationships sparked delirium.

PARRIS: 'And what shall I say to them? That my daughter and my niece I

‘“Rumor of witchcraft is all about….”’ (Applebee et al. 170). During this time, the rumor of witchcraft was a huge complication for the people in Salem during the late 1600’s. The rumor spread like a wildfire throughout Salem.. ‘“Uncle, we did dance; let you tell them I confessed it-and I’ll be whipped if I must.”’ (Applebee et al. 170). Abigail and a group of girls had been caught by Abigail's uncle, Reverend Parris, dancing in the woods while singing around a big black kettle. Reverend Parris could not unintelligibly think why this group of smart, young girls, would be dancing and singing in the woods. They were all Christian girls and they had no cause to be doing the devil’s

More and more girls in town started having the same symptoms. People immediately assumed some devil’s work was going on, and they needed to point fingers at someone. The first person they accused was a woman named Tituba who was the slave of Samuel Parris. They also accused a homeless woman named Sara Good and a widow and an outspoken woman named Sarah Osborne. “As the witch hysteria spread, there were numerous other young women who claimed to be afflicted” says the

People lose their senses and blamed everything on witchcraft. For example,in the first scene when Betty got sick, she laid on the bed and could not move for days. Every now and then she would even call her dead mom. Seeing that, Putman concluded, “ She cannot bear to hear Lord’s name Mr. Hale; that’s a sure sign of witchcraft” (Miller 41). With little knowledge in illnesses during that time, many died from a common cold or fever that could be easily treated nowadays. Betty, who might have caught a cold or she might have been feeling sorrow over her dead mom. Instead of using their logic to cure the illness,people assumed Betty’s illness has something to

Anyone could have walked by another’s house and seem them putting needles into a pincushion and claimed it was a doll. In the writings of a woman in the village, she claimed that George Burrough, “asked my very much to set my hand to his book or else he sayed he would kill me… tortoring me much to biting and pinching sqezing my body [and] runing pins into me.” However, there was no hard evidence to prove that sticking pins into a doll actually had an effect on the individual. Nevertheless, some would have “pins in themselves and claiming that witches put them there, and in one case a person observed that happening, although even without such observation either the accusers put pins in themselves, associates did it, or witches did it.” Once again, there was no way to know for sure if they really were victims of witches. The women wanted their story to be believable, so they would take extreme measures to ensure so. Ironically, not long after they got what they wanted, they were able to, “recover quickly and be active and healthy without periods of recuperation.” There were numerous signs that they were lying, but they still got away with it. If they had had productive and fun things to do at home, then they would not have had the time to continuously make up stories.

Charges against Martha Corey,who was a loyal member of the Church in the Salem community concerned them. If she could possibly be a witch then anyone can be one. This created a fear of fellow neighbors and outsiders. Magistrates questioned Sarah Good's 4-year-old daughter, Dorothy, and her apprehensive answers were interpreted as a confession. Dozens of people from Salem and other Massachusetts villages were brought in for questioning.

When in reality, there were no witches, it was all false notations of Abigail's’ lie that lead into something greater than it should have been.“It were only sport in the beginning, sir, but then the whole world cried spirits, spirits” (Mary Warren, Act 3, p. 100)

Within the book it told how Cotton Mather had successfully cured witchcraft through praying, and fasting (Wilson, 23). Samuel Parris now began to practice the same method, inviting the entire congregation to do the same (23). Not only did they do it, but had the church Deacons, and other various church leaders help him to pray (23). No matter what they did the children still continued to shriek and carry on, and then ask what they had just done (23).

MARY WARREN: ‘The village is out! I just come from the farm; the whole country’s talkin’ witchcraft! They’ll be callin’ us witches, Abby!’