Salem Witch Trial In The Crucible

Finally, the last reason why Mary Warren is a outwardly conforming character is throughout the play she is very quiet and scared which shows that she’s afraid to say anything or do anything that doesn’t go with the “rules”. In the play John Proctor states” You will tell the court what you know.(Act II, 38)” In the play Mary also says” I cannot, they’ll turn on me--(Act II, 38)” This shows that Mary “cannot” tell the truth about what the

The Crucible by Arthur Miller is an interpretation of the Salem witch trials of 1692 in Puritan Massachusetts in which religion, justice, individuality and dignity play a vital role. These factors define the characteristics of many of the most significant characters in the play. Some of them being John Proctor, Rebecca Nurse, Reverend Hale, Danforth and many others. The Salem witch trials were a result of the lack of expression of individuality and the fact that no individual could expect justice from the majority culture as a result of the deterioration of human dignity in the Puritan society of Salem.

The Salem Witch Trials were an extremely controversial period of time in our history. This was a time of suspicion and accusation of many innocent women and men that led to hysteria and complete turmoil in Salem Village. The Crucible portrays the Salem Witch Trials in a dramatic sense, but there are many similarities between the movie and the actual events. We can use these unusual events to compare to our own lives and learn from the mistakes of our past.

The play, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller recounts the events from 1692 to 1693 in Salem, Massachusetts, otherwise known as the Salem Witch Trials. Though set in colonial Massachusetts, the somewhat fictional piece serves as an allegory for the post-WWII Red Scare, or more specifically the McCarthy Hearing in the 1950's. Both incidents of mass hysteria had taken place almost three centuries apart, however, share the tragic theme of innocent individuals being accused and convicted of crimes without evidence. As well as, how the prior can be caused by economic instability and provoked public fear. The same theme of human nature is portrayed as Abigail, a young woman desperately in love with the older John Proctor, uses the growing suspicion of witches in Salem to attempt to get rid of Proctor's wife, Elizabeth. Several other girls of Salem follow Abigail as she begins to test the limits of who she can successfully accuse of bewitching her, this goes on until she feels confident enough to accuse Elizabeth Proctor. In quest of her goal Abigail, as well as her followers, become blinded by their new power in society, to the point of abuse. This abuse includes the witch hysteria that erupted in Salem due to their finger-pointing of 'witches' and overdramatic acting of being bewitched in court. Later John Proctor, Mary Warren, Giles Corey, and Francis Nurse try to disprove the accuracy of Abigail's and the other girls' claims. Unfortunately, Mary Warren ends up turning on Proctor,

In Act III Abigail claims that Mary Warren is a witch to switch the focus on Mary. Mary Warren is terrified of Abigail switches to testify against John by saying. After testifying she says, “No I love God; I go your way no more. I love God, I bless God. Sobbing, she rushes to Abigail. Abby, Abby, I’ll never hurt you more!...” (524). Mary Warren knows that Abigail is capable of, and that terrifies her more than John Proctor. Fear manipulates Mary Warren into doing something she didn’t intend on doing. Earlier in Act I, Mary Warren stresses to Abigail that witchcraft is a hot topic, and they need to do something about it. Mary Warren says to Abigail that, “Abby, we’ve got to tell. Witchery’s a hangin’ error, a hangin’ like they done in Boston two years ago! We must tell the truth, Abby! You’ll only be whipped for dancin’, and the other things” (467). Mary Warren warns Abigail and Mercy Lewis that the rumors of witchcraft are about, and she’s scared that they may be accused and hung because they were dancing in the woods. At the end of Act II Elizabeth is charged and arrested, this terrifies Proctor into demanding that Mary Warren testify to save her life. Mary Warren is frightened by the idea of going against Abigail, so she cries, “She’ll kill me for sayin’ that! Proctor continues toward her. Abby’ll charge lechery on you, Mr.

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.

Arthur Miller's the Crucibles tells us about the Salem witch trials which occurred in Massachusetts in 1692. Miller has used many details that have

The Crucible by Arthur Miller takes place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. It all started when Reverend Parris discovers a group of girls dancing in the woods. After he found the girls in the wood, his daughter Betty fall ill. Since Betty wouldn’t wake up, people become paranoid and started believing that witchcraft was real. Fake accusations were made and innocent people kept dying. In The Crucible there are many people to blame for all for everything that occurred, characters such a Abigail Williams, Reverend Hale, and Reverend Parris. Abigail Williams is to blame because she accused everyone else just to protect herself. Reverend Hale is also blame because he was the one who got people to think that witchcraft was real. Lastly Reverend Parris is to blame because he was just worried about himself and his reputation in Salem.

“Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it,” said George Santayana. If this is true, then why have we continued to repeat something like the Salem Witch Trials on more than one occasion, including the recent uproar of sexual assault accusations? Although The Crucible and modern day accusations of sexual assault differ in the ways that these assault accusations are in modern times and they are also on something that is not related to religious beliefs, they ultimately have more in common, like how evidence was and is shaky for some cases, all accusations were started by a domino effect, and reputations were ultimately ruined even if the accused were proven innocent eventually.

These days, dressing up like a witch for Halloween is very normal. The year was 1962 when Salem Massachusetts was forever cemented in history because of the Salem witch trials. People accused of witch craft were imprisoned or hung and in one occasion a person was pressed to death. I can only imagine what the people of Salem were going through those days. There was a fear in the entire town because you couldn’t trust anyone. It became neighbor against neighbor as the small town was torn apart and people didn’t know who to trust. One of the most important persons from these times was Cotton Mather. He was an accomplished author, researcher, and preacher who worker under his father at Boston’s North Church. In “From the Wonders of the Invisible World” Mather writes about the Salem Witch Trials and what happened when some people recanted their testimony of being witches.

In the book, The Crucible Arthur Miller tries to demonstrate that the Salem Witch Trials and the red scare had a huge impact on the lives of many people. But mainly that there was lots of fear during that time. And people like for example McCarthy saw that as an opportunity to Manipulate people for personal gain. Also, Arthur Miller is showing how these two events really relate to each other and share the same concept.

The Crucible was based in 1692 in and around the town of Salem, Massachusetts, USA. The Salem witch-hunt was view as one of the strangest and most horrendous chapters in the human history. People that were prosecuted were all innocent and their deaths were all due to false accusation of people’s ridiculous belief in superstition and their paranoia. The Puritans in those times were very strict in personal habits and morality; swearing, drunkenness and gambling would be punished. The people of Salem believed in the devil and thought that witchcraft should be hunted out.

In Salem, Mary is a follower who doesn’t take charge for her own actions. In Act Three, the narrator says, “She glances at Abigail, who is staring down at her remorseless. Then, appealing to Proctor….” When Mary glances at Abigail, it shows that she is not confident in her position which puts her in a vulnerable place where she can’t defend and later jeopardizes her life. She additionally endangers other innocent people, as she did not speak up and prove that the other innocent people like Martha Corey and Rebecca Nurse; if she has spoken up, she would not have initiated all of the tragic events in

The townspeople of Salem feared that they would be called witches so they lied and blamed their family and friends. Mary Warren being one of those people feared being hung and Abigail’s vengeance. When John tells Mary to go to court and confess, Mary refuses, knowing that Abigail will act out of revenge and in court she faces what she had been avoiding “ABIGAIL. Her eyes fall on Mary Warren. MARY. Abby!”(101). Mary Warren knows that Abigail will claim she is a witch so Mary goes along with it to escape death and she blames John Proctor by saying “You’re the devil’s man!”, instead of possibly ending the trials once and for all.

Many crucial events lead to the Salem Witch trials. The trials ended in a gruesome manner, and conflicts were at the root of the cause. The Salem Witch trials were the result of illogical-mass hysteria, and were induced by grudge holding people who used the trials to harm their foes.