Essay about Of Good Faith

Your Excellency, Judge Danforth. You know, I have graduated from Harvard College and I am an expert in all things witchcraft and the supernatural. When I first arrived in Salem, I was tangled in a web of lies and a sheet of deception. In this trial, I believe that the accused are innocent people with good names. There is absolutely no mark upon my credibility and it is in my honest opinion that hysteria is running through Salem. Your Honour, Abigail Williams is nothing but a whore who wants to dance

Therefore, we must rely upon her victims – and they do testify, the children certainly do testify. As for the witches, none will deny that we are most eager for all their confessions. Therefore, what is left for a lawyer to bring out? I think I have made my point. Have I not?"(239-243). Reverend Hale is starting to believe that the girls are lying, and he thinks that the ones being accused should have a lawyer but Danforth just says the accused only rely on victims and witnesses. Danforth feels that he has much power and he wants it to stay that way by "defending" the people. "I cannot hear you. What do you say? You will confess yourself or you will hang! Do you know who I am? I say you will hang if you do not open with me!" (483-487). Danforth knows that he has the power to say if someone hangs or not so he's using it to scare Mary into telling the truth, or in this case the truth he wants to hear.

His reply is accompanied with a vindictive nature towards anyone who opposes the actions of the court or by extension, him. Therefore, his arrogance and pride restrains him from listening to others point of view. Lastly, despite hearing about the mass opposition and rebellion at the Andover witchcraft trials, Judge Danforth refuses to postpone the hangings and orders Reverend Parris that “Now hear me, and beguile yourselves no more… Postponement now speaks a floundering on my part.” (Miller 129). Danforth arrogantly waves off the request of postponement made by Hale and Parris. He thinks that the act of postponement of the hangings will raise the issue of his credibility as a judge. Danforth’s pride of his status as a judge denies him from giving it a thought that his actions can lead to the death of innocent lives. When pride and arrogance interferes with ones wisdom the repercussions are often destructive. Judge Danforth proves this through the medium of his actions which lead to the destruction of trustworthiness in the community and brought tragedy to Salem.

Mr. Farebrother didn’t do anything in regards to this injustice and even forgave Mr. Lydgate for casting the deciding vote against him. He is a good man who takes care and provides for not just his old mother but her sisters too. Mr. Vincy, who was the mayor of Middlemarch, described him as “good a little fellow as ever breathed, and the best preacher anywhere, and companionable too” (100). However, he was not “a model clergyman’, which he himself agreed on (113). He was involved in gambling and relied heavily on it to earn his income.

While in court, the reverend, Hale, tells Tituba, “...Tituba, look into my eyes. Come, look into me. (She raises her eyes to his fearfully.) You would be a good Christian woman, would you not, Tituba?... Open yourself, Tituba—open yourself and let God's holy light shine on you” (Miller 47-48). Hale has already decided that Tituba is guilty of dealing with the devil, but provides no evidence for such accusation thus, he chooses to force her to confess by frightening her using a religious approach. It is unjust to use fear to blind the accused, leaving them no alternative but to confess to a crime they did not commit. Tituba begs not to be punished, “No-no, don't hang Tituba. I tell [the devil] I don't desire to work for him, sir.” (Miller 36). The court should consider the reactions of the accused the determine if there’s suspicion of her guilt. Tituba was scared and explained that she refused to deal with the devil, but the court treated her unfairly. Tituba’s case was improperly held in that she was considered guilty from the start, but deserved the benefit of the doubt.

With consistent persuasion from John, Mary agrees to talk to the Mr. Danforth, the judge over looking the trial, about faults in her accusations. She admits to faking and only cried spirits because the other girls were (pg. 100). With this event, Mary demonstrates that she does not have integrity. Regret, accompanied with pity, assists Mary in convincing Mr. Danforth but it does not work in her favor because he does not want to backtrack on previous convictions made. Feelings of regret are very influential in determining a persons actions. Miller uses Mary, who has now shown to be morally uncertain, as a scapegoat for all the girls who are fabricating seeing the devil. As tensions rise, Mary becomes unsettled by the consequences that follow lying under oath. Swapping sides once again to save her life, she proclaims, “I’ll not hang with you! I love God, I love God” (pg. 110). Striking emotion from her declaration tells a story of discord between her ethical thinking. She is now only worried about her life and the author incorporates pathos to make her claim stronger. Fear is the single greatest motivator for humans and Mary is fearful. John will see the repercussions of these actions by facing death later in the book. Due to Mary's incapacity of raining truthful, an innocent citizen would sentenced to

A notable tension that was written about in this document was the cruel and harsh treatment of the accused by the justices. Cary relays that his wife’s treatment was inhumane, physically abusive and demeaning. During testimony, she was asked to stand for a long period with her arms stretched out. Cary’s wife was crying and afraid that she might faint. When Cary asked if he could help support her, “Justice Hathorne replied, she had strength enough to torment those persons, and she should have strength enough to stand.” When Cary spoke out against this treatment, he was told to be silent or that he would be removed from the room. Cary’s wife was later taken down on the floor by one of the witnesses. Cary spoke out on “their inhumane dealings, uttered a hasty speech (that God would take vengeance on them, and desired that God would deliver us out of the hands of unmerciful men)”.

It was a bright cold day in Salem, where the sun seeped through overcast skies above and the mist danced around in the street. The wind hissed and howled, and swept through the narrow streets. In the centre of the town, stood the proud house of Reverend Parris. But that day, Reverend Parris was not a proud man as the accusations of witchcraft drifted through the town, overwhelming him completely.

Have you ever been too filled with hate and pride to see the obvious truth right in front of you? The year was 1935 in the small town of Maycomb Alabama. During this time an important trial would be taking place. The trial of Tom Robinson, an African and American who had been promptly accused of rape by the one man who had seen the incident. Bob Ewell a despised person throughout the community and the father of the victim, Mayella Ewell, Bob’s abused, lonely, unhappy daughter. Though one can pity Mayella because of her overbearing father, one cannot pardon her for her shameful indictment of Tom Robinson.

“His testimony was responsible for the execution of some 35 persons, but, as the frenzy subsided, inconsistencies were discovered in his story.”

Additionally, when John states that he believes the trials are nonsense, Hale defends the court and argues that people have already confessed to which John retorts “And why not, if they must hang for denyin’ it? There are them that will swear to anything before they’ll hang; have you never thought of that?” (Miller 61). John’s argument illustrates the extremity of the court system in Salem. His argument also portrays the guilty till proven innocent system of court which shows how those accused rights were taken away and the reasoning why many of the accused did, in fact, confess. Also, when Francis Nurse brings forth a signed testament of people declaring their good opinions of Rebecca Nurse, Elizabeth Proctor, and Martha Corey, Judge Danforth commands Cheever to “have warrants drawn for all of these- arrest [them] for examination” (Miller 76). This further illustrates the corruption of the courts in that witnesses are to be arrested for going against the courts and defending the accused. Moreover, those accused in Salem were allowed virtually no representation in court and any witnesses to possibly prove their innocence to the biased courts were arrested. The occurrences mentioned demonstrate the true stripping of rights of the accused by the court during the Salem Witch Trials.

The ideals of the Arbella sermon do not seem to influence the judgments of the Suffolk County Court or the testimony against Bridget Bishop. Michael Johnson, author of Reading the American Past, notes that, "the court records of Suffolk County between 1671 and 1673...illustrate the New Englanders deviated from the highest aspirations of the Puritan founders and that courts did what they could to curb those deviations" (52-53). The theme of love in Winthrop's sermon must have gone unaffected judging by the type of cases in Suffolk County. For example, a wife was sentenced to be whipped ten times or pay a twenty Shilling fine to the County for striking her husband. For being drunk and abusing his wife, John Veering was punished by being whipped thirty times and humiliated by standing in the open marketplace with a sign across his chest declaring his guilt. It is obvious that the ideals of the Arbella sermon were not present in the case against Bridget Bishop. She was accused of witchcraft and eight days after her trial she was the first accused witch to be hung in Salem. Once again, love is not evident in either of the two works.

He begins his letter by stating that he is writing this letter “while confined here in the Birmingham City Jail” (King 2). However although one in such conditions for being wrongly convicted and forced to write this within small jail walls would be expected to be hostile, King’s tone is instead calm and patient. He addresses his attackers as “my dear fellow clergymen” (2). And even apologized that they expressed different opinions (3). This, to an open audience, gives

It is clear that the penalty for witchery is hanging, and it is clear that these trials are leading down a dark path towards death. Your actions have caused the accusation for many women, and most whom have loved God all their lives! On page 1157, you state, “I saw Goody Sibber with the Devil… I saw Goody Hawkins with the Devil… I saw Goody Booth with the Devil!” All these accusations are taken into account by the court, and the more you accuse, the more our town falls. I beg of thee, let this anarchy fall, accept your defeat, and save the innocent lives of these

The words she was screaming were as follows: “I did it! , I did it! , I am guilty Danforth!” Local citizens attending the hanging caught her and calmed her of her hysteria. Governor Danforth had halted the hanging process as he had questioned what Ms. Williams meant.