Superstition In The Crucible

In this essay I will talk about two main central ideas. First, some people accuse innocent people for witchery. Secondly, there is a lot of hatred in the town of Salem.

“They must be; they are weighted with authority” (Miller36) Reverend Hale makes a conclusion that Betty’s sickness is unnatural. Later he hears that other family’s children are in a similar state as Betty. Reverend Hale understands he is dealing with a sort of witchcraft. Many of the girls are in danger of this witchcraft he assumes and proceeds to come to different conclusions. ”I cannot tell. If she is truly in the Devil’s grip we may have to rip and tear to get her free” (Miller39) Then soon after when the girls awaken they proceed to make different accusations. Everyone accused by the girls is brought to court and charged with being a witch. Some confess to being a witch which contributes to the hysteria.

Abigail’s fear of prosecution and of losing John Proctor causes her to cry witch. When Reverend Hale asks Abigail if she called “the Devil last night” (42), she realizes her peril, and says “I never called him! Tituba, Tituba . . . “ (42), diverting the accusations from herself onto Tituba. Abigail notices Warren storing a needle in the belly of a poppet after sewing it in court. Abigail sticks a needle into her stomach the next day and cries witchcraft. Later, the blame of witchery falls on Elizabeth Proctor because Mary Warren gave her the stabbed poppet. Abigail designs to see Elizabeth Proctor hanged, and believes that John Proctor will be “singing secret hallelujahs” (152) with her when she does. Abigail cries witch on Elizabeth Proctor so that she does not lose John Proctor. The driving fears of Abigail and Tituba contrast in that Abigail’s are complex and twisted whereas Tituba’s are primal and straightforward.

In the story ¨The Crucible¨ there are many examples of fear leading to superstition then leading to loss of logic. Some examples of superstition in the story are people getting accused of witchcraft for reading, being in possession of poppets (dolls), or just not confessing. People in the story are wrongfully accused and killed because people had lost their logic from being so afraid of witchcraft. They looked for any possible way to accuse anybody, and would believe anyone who would blame somebody. Even if the accusation doesn´t make sense, there was so much fear and hysteria leading people to believe anything. The first example in the story about superstition is when Giles Corey is having a conversation

Around the time of “The Crucible”, people had a lot of superstitions. They believed anything, including witchcraft, and especially books on

Betty Parris is one of the main reason why they had the witch trials. She laid in bed and not moving or opening her eye giving her a lot of attention. Reverend Hale is brought to Salem to check her out. She would randomly burst out yelling at the people around her bed. Betty and another girl laid in their beds not moving or talking to people. Even when people tried to make Betty wake up, she would act limp and unable to move. This cause attention to be brought upon her. The called Reverend Hale to town to look at her. He decided from her acting strange that there must be a witch possessing her. In one scene, she randomly woke up and started screaming witch like things to the people in her room and the people outside her window. The Salem Witch

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.

Soon, other girls in the village began to show the same symptoms as Betty and Abigail. Eventually, Betty, Abigail and two other “afflicted” girls named Tituba, Reverend Parris’ slave, Sarah Osborne, a woman who rarely came to church, and Sarah Good, a town beggar, as the women who bewitched them and caused their strange sickness. It all went downhill from there.

People in Salem thought that there was witchcraft going on when people were acting weir. One piece of evidence that the people of Salem used to prove that there was witchcraft was Mr. Collins saw Betty fly over the barn. “Mrs. Putnam glancing at Betty: How high did she fly, how high?” Page 12. Word about Betty flying over the barn spread through the town. The Revere is worried that people will think that his daughter Betty will be accused of witch craft. Abigail was caught dancing with Tituba by her uncle. “Abigail: Uncle, we did dance; let you tell them I confessed it and I’ll be wiped if I must be. But they’re speaking of witch craft. Betty not witched.” Page 9. The people of Salem are blaming people of witch craft if they are acting

Serving as a catalyst for all the witch hysteria, credulity has a strong role within The Crucible. Undoubtedly, naivety affects almost everyone within the play. Almost every character has lack of strong judgement to a certain degree. Most notably, it hits Reverend Hale. Unknowing of the true intentions of the witch trials, Hale arrives in town and begins to interview those who were accused, which gave the witch hysteria more power. After that, he shows a some belief in the accuser's testimonies, revealing his lack of wisdom. Near the end of the play, he begins to break out of his naivety, leading to doubts about the rightness of the accusations. Overall, throughout the play Reverend Hale is blind to what is truly going on in town, resulting

One of the significant actions that Abigail took was when she stabbed herself (“The girl, the Williams girl, Abigail Williams, sir. She sat to dinner in Reverend Parris’s house tonight, and without word nor warnin’ she falls to the floor. Like a struck beast, he says and screamed a scream that a bull would weep to hear. And he goes to save her, and, stuck two inches in the flesh of her belly, he drew a needle out…” - Cheever. (Miller 70-71.)) just to accuse Elizabeth proctor of witchcraft. Earlier in the story, Mary Warren handed Elizabeth a poppet (a voodoo doll) as a small gift; not knowing that this will soon put Goody Proctor in a disastrous situation. Abigail saw Mary making the doll and realized if she uses this opportunity well, that she can get Elizabeth accused as a witch. That night she suddenly falls at the dinner table and when Reverend Parris went to save her, she successfully accuses Elizabeth for damaging her. Abigails cunning yet brilliant plan worked and resulted Elizabeth being arrested just as she wished.

The varied nature of human beings and of the crisis’ that can befall us are varied, yet often we find that reactions to perilous situations are time and time again met with similar reactions. Authors Arthur Miller and Geraldine Brooks attempt to study and comment upon the way different humans react to different crisis’ in their works: the play ‘The Crucible’ and novel ‘Year of Wonders’ respectively. Both texts explore the ideas of hysteria and look at the ways in which it can be exacerbated or soothed by such things as religion and superstitions, the theory of herd mentality and the effect of an isolated community. They also communicate how certain styles of text or the behaviour and character growth of individuals can have a profound impact upon the view of human behaviour.

If witchcraft is discovered in the Reverend's own home, it can very quickly ruin his reputation. Parris is worried “they will howl [him] out of Salem for such corruption in [his] house”(14). The Reverend is the one preaching God and against witchcraft. If the Devil is found in the Reverend's home, his reputation will be destroyed and he will probably have to leave town. The reverend will be seen as corrupt. Betty is aware of this, but does not change the way she is acting. Betty’s act causes her father to act with . He is supposed to be a calm and a role model. Quaking with fear, mumbling to himself through sobs, he goes to the bed and gently takes Betty’s hand. Betty. Child. Dear Child. Will you wake…” (8). Daughters typically do as their fathers say, but Betty is ignoring her father’s begging. She is able to make her father, the village’s Reverend, cry for his young daughter to do as he says. In a way, Betty causes Parris to lose his ‘masculinity’. During this time, women are the ones thought of to be hysterical and men are supposed to show little emotion, especially strong sadness. Now, the reverend is hysterically crying and repeatedly asking his daughter to wake up. Betty is controlling her father’s emotions and his job. If Betty seems to be working with the Devil, it can force a witch hunt to occur in the town. Reverend Parris wants to stop this from happening. She is in control of whether or not she wakes up and stops the witch hunt. If Betty was to wake, the whole situation would be over. Since she is not, Hale asks Tituba, Abigail, and Betty to “give [them] all their names,” (47). The religious leaders are seeking information from people who are typically of low power. Tituba and the girls start to name ‘witches’ in Salem, which is going to force Parris and the other authoritative figures to make accusations. Betty, regardless of her power status before, now

Fear and faith can drive a person to death or a divine life. The Crucible takes place in Salem during the Salem witch trials. The Crucible makes a point to include that the population’s main religion is puritan. The puritan religion has many distinct rules. People that are puritan have extremely strong faith and guidelines. Fear is another extremely strong force. The Crucible makes a point to include that the people accused of witchcraft are very fearful of death and this element drives the entire play. People get ear in their heads and start to lose their faith. The people want to live so when they are accused of dancing with the devil, they disobey their faith and lie and confess until they are set free. They all do this to save themselves

The Crucible book written by Arthur Miller  based on a real life story that happened in 1692 to 1693 In Salem Massachusetts was based on lies and injustice, genre is play, The author's purpose is to inform the audience about what happened during the witch trials .  The Salem Village was full Puritans and they was very strict based on church rules. People that missed church regularly will be justified as a witch or malignant and will be put to shame on a stockade. People that break the rules of the strict religious town will hang or live if such person decides to confess, If they confess the accused person will still be imprisoned and not killed. Also if you was accused of practicing witchcraft you will be accused by the people and go