Samuel Sewall Diary

Innocent people were being accused of witchery. One reason, all the young ladies shouted out names of innocent people saying they saw them with the devil. The young girls were accused so they confessed and lied to the about other people to save themselves. Another, Mary Warren then accused John Proctor of being the Devil's man. Mary Warren said that John was the one that controlled the women. Innocent people are being accused by young women that are just trying to save themselves.

In 1692, when the Salem Witch Trials thrived, everyone feared a common enemy, witches. Abigail Williams, the niece of the powerful Reverend Parris, begins accusing women of being witches after she herself is accused of conversing with the devil. “...I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!”(45) The people of Salem originally had nothing to fear until Abigail William’s wild accusations. These claims led to the majority fearing that anyone was capable was witchcraft. This turned friends and even family members against each other. John Proctor, a seemingly innocent man, had been accused of participating in dark magic. Reverend John Hale is conversing with his wife to convince her to persuade her husband to confess to his sins.

The towns’ people accused now are too well known and well respected to be witches. He begins lose faith in the court as the court proceeds to accuse more people. Most of the accusations made absurd. Reverend Hale himself cannot believe that such well respected towns’ people could be

Kode Creer A5 Dear judges, I graciously request that you must stop this madness of the witch hunt because the “Witches” aren’t witches, witness testimonies are inaccurate, and the main witness of the trial is a manipulative liar that loveth none other than herself. The fear of the town has terrorized everyone to lie to get safe ,but they put their other men in trouble by accusing others of associating themselves with the devil. I am thus saying that the devil doesn’t live in Salem ,so the witch trials are as false as a flat earth. Please end this madness, kind sirs!

To completely understand the history of New England witchcraft you have to understand the role of colonial women. The author of this book, Carol Karlsen, used a lot of Secondary and primary sources to support her thesis. She uses first hand accounts of witch

She wonders what do we want those implicated in the trials to tell us? What were the accused thinking when they confessed ? Where was the devil in Salem and what was he really up to? How did the accused find the strength to withstand accusations? When did it occur to the citizens that though the

In a town called Salem, Massachusetts a group of girls go dancing in the woods performing witchcraft and get caught by Reverend Parris. The girls told lies and started rumors to try and cover up themselves so they wouldn’t get in trouble. The rumor of John Proctor being a witch, the

Quickly after Mr. Hale’s arrival in Salem, the situation regarding witchcraft escalates. Mr. Hale gets sucked into the middle of something which didn’t impact his life personally in the first place. As rumors of the devil spread around, more names known to be “seen” with him are mentioned in the court. Mr. Hale takes it upon himself to visit the houses of those who are accused of involvement in witchcraft. “No— no, I come of my own, without the court’s authority. Hear me. I know not if you are

It shows that people in Salem can be judged and treated differently without proof or an explanation for the cause of their accusation. If one makes a statement of the other and if that statement is not proven wrong, you are immediately defined to be whatever that statement describes you as; innocent people are blamed and mistaken as bad people. We go back to the definition of judgment, which is an opinion, and we can say that during the witch trials many people were judged and falsely accused of something they either did not do or were not proven to have the capability of doing so. Judgment can harm a person and it can be destructive in any way possible, do not judge a person unless you know it's a

What does the ending or the conclusion of the trials indicate about the process of “bringing witches to justice” in Puritan New England?

The events which took place in Salem in 1692 could be described as awful and unjust. 19 innocent people were hanged, another person pressed to death and 4 others died in jail. Witches or Wizards are what they called these people, people who made pacts with the devil. The idea of witches provoked fear into the puritan fundamentalist society. Further more, two young girls, Betty Parris and Abigail Williams, were said to have been acting strangely.

He was a member of the Governor’s Council in Massachusetts Bay Colony, he was also the chief justice of province’s high court. During the Witch Trials he became one of the nine judges that decided whether the person was a witch or not. This lead to Samuel Sewall feeling guilty realizing after the trials that what he had done was ‘unlawful’ and far from ‘ethical’, “...of God upon himself and family; and being sensible, that as to the Guilt contracted...” (Infobase Learning, Public Apology). Sewall had felt guilty and felt that it was only ‘sensible’ to ask God and everyone for forgiveness.

Several characters that accused others seemed to have other motifs than to cleanse the town of witchcraft. One, for instance, was Thomas Putnam. Putnam was a wealthy and greedy citizen of Salem. During the play, he accuses people of witchcraft to acquire more land. In the play, Giles Corey states that Putnam told his daughter to accuse George Jacobs of witchcraft. If Jacobs were to hang, the only citizen in Salem wealthy enough to buy his land was Putnam. Giles reported this and when he would not name the man who told him, Danforth arrests him for contempt of court. They torture Giles by placing large stones on his chest, making it hard to breathe, until he confesses. The only words Giles spoke were “more weight”.

Recent reports reveal that the people of Salem are convinced that Rebecca Nurse is innocent. There are rumors around town that a rebellion is sparking, something Reverend Parris especially fears. Another rumor is that Andover has thrown out the courts and will no longer hear anything of witchcraft. As a result, Reverend Parris asked Judge Danforth and Hawthorne to postpone the executions of Rebecca Nurse and John Proctor, but Danforth refuses.

“Did you hear about Rebecca Nurse, daughter of William Towne?” He asked. “No, what happened?” “Becca was accused of witchcraft, they found her doing some kind of spell.” Luca said this in a whisper because you couldn’t speak of witchcraft in public or you would get hanged. (“Salem Witch Trials 1692”)