The View Of American History

The author focuses on the roles of the ministers in the town, highlighting the corruption in them by utilizing research that proves the ministers that participated in the Salem Witch Trail to be completely driven by money. The author, Ernest King, informs the audience that the reason behind the witch trials is because the ministers used witchcraft as an explanation to get money and land from fellow colonists. King also discusses how the witch-hunt prompted the New England area to transition from a traditional, religion-based society into a community with a more neutral rule system and a higher spirit of unity. Therefore, changing the focus from religious duty of the people to the church to the duties of each person as a citizen. The audience that this article is intended for is people who desire to deepened their knowledge and understanding of the Salem Witch Trials, however people with educational purposes and entertainment can read it. The tone conveyed to the audience is professional, as through the author is lecturing a room full of doctors. The author feels as though the Salem Witch Trials are a serious matter that changed America

The world is full of rich culture, diversity and experiences unique to each individual. When determining the validity of historic accounts we must factor in that particular historian’s point of view, which should be characterized by ethnicity, idealogy, theoretical or methodological preference. With these factors views of the past often vary from person to person. In this essay I will be discussing the four different stages that shaped the writing of American history over the last 400 years.

The religious beliefs of these days and ages were extremely strict, controlling, and very similar. The priest in this movie was very influential, he was the sole reason for the belief in the witchcraft that took over this town. Few males in charge made the decision to hang the Salem witches, but essentially the priest made the overall decision. He fed stories to the other females and males about their witchcraft and how the devils work had been done. It is believed that the priest did this so he could control the land and money that was possessed by the women he wrongfully accused and murdered. The early Colonists practiced Puritan religion. This religion consisted of believing that God had formed an agreement with the Colonists. They claimed that they were higher than all others and God made that known to them. They claimed that God wanted them to set a better example for all the British people who were going to be damned to hell for all the sins and filth they had done. This prompted the Colonists to live a very disciplined, unsatisfactory, and dull life.

Salem is not what it appears to the naked eye for dishonest children accuse and condemn the innocent to swing on the gallows. The Crucible a tragedy by Arthur Miller, relates to the Salem, Massachusetts witch trials in 1692. The reputation of Salem at the time is that no one is safe, anyone can be a witch in their eyes in order for their own benefit of freedom. Truth can stand on its own against any circumstance. Such as John Proctor stands up against Abigail for the troubles she is causing. In the same way it is almost impossible to be an outlaw to this way because of the substantial consequences if you are not just like society. This ultimately brings out the darkness in Salem. Due to envy, revenge, and lies this town

In Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, faith was central to the government, just as freedom was the basic foundation of the American government in 1947. Faith and Freedom are both taken personally to a sizable sum of people, but the true meaning of those words varies from each individual to the next. Despite the thought that each person owns their own definition of the words “Faith” and “Freedom”, people who resided in Salem in 1692 were judged so harshly due to the fact that they did not have the same beliefs or morals as politicians or others who were put in charge above them. Salem is a direct parallel to the McCarthy era when people were accused of being communist due to a different thought system that they possessed that others in the government

The tendency for the Salem community to believe “that a person is either with this court or he must be counted against it, there be no road between” (87) clearly mirrors the persecution of “communist sympathisers” in the McCarthy era, and Miller draws this parallel to emphasise the importance of acknowledging moral ambiguity. In addition, Miller also raises the issue of “social compliance”, a phenomenon that often occurs when there is fear brewing within a community. As demonstrated with the Puritans’ willingness to persecute villagers even without any evidence, “is the accuser always holy now?” (73), as well as the lack of characters who dared to question the legitimacy of the witch trials, Miller successfully highlights the catastrophic effects of conforming to a society driven by fear. Hence, the play is able to raise ideas that are relevant not only to the Salem witch trials and the McCarthy era, but also to many historical events that involved the persecution of a group of people without adequate

This dramatization of a true story deals with one of the most troubling episodes in early American history, the "witch hysteria" that convulsed the village of Salem, Massachusetts, in the 1690s. The historical basis for this drama is the fact that early in the 1700s the colonial government offered to pay reparations to the survivors of those who had been killed, but only if their relatives could somehow prove that the deceased were not in fact witches. The film is a powerful, movie story about three loving sisters accused of witchcraft. This is a true story based on transcripts of the Salem Witch Trials. In the town everyone was very religious and they believe a lot in God. They go like to church and they read Gods lecture.

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.

The Salem Tragedy developed from a paradox. It is a paradox in whose grip we still live, and there is no prospect yet that we will discover its resolution. Simply, it was this: for good purposes, even high purposes, the people of Salem developed a theocracy, a combine of state and religious power whose function was to keep the community together, and to prevent any kind of disunity that might open it to destruction by material or ideological enemies. (Miller 6-7) This passage discusses to the audience the setting and views of Salem and its people during The Crucible.

Fictionalizing the historically famous event of the sixteenth century, Arthur Miller retells The Salem Witch Trials in his dramatized play, The Crucible. Interpreting the horrific witch trials through the play’s characters and actions, Miller is successfully able to scrutinize the hysteria that took place in Salem Massachusetts while synonymously demonstrating the devastating effects of a theocratic government. Although the trials were filled with paranoia and injustice, Miller simply publicized the trials for what they were: a series of hearings and prosecutions. By relaying the accusations and trials that occurred in The Salem Witch Trials, Miller expresses the posing dangers of combining church and state into one supreme power. Given the [ By receiving] power through religious and governmental means, a theocratic government’s ecclesiastical authorities were able to interpret sins and crimes as one [one what?]. Although Salem was supposed to be a very honest and religious Puritan community, multiple sources say otherwise. There was said to be many disputes within Salem, those of which involved animosity over church positions, bitterness over grazing rights, as well as arguments regarding property lines. “Despite the Bible’s charitable injunctions” Miller writes, “long-held hatreds of neighbors could now be openly expressed, and vengeance taken” (Miller 1129). Abusing this power found between the thin lines of religion and government, the residents of Salem blamed witch

That wasn’t the case for a farmer in Salem named John Proctor. After John forgets to recall one of the ten commandments while reciting them to reverend Hale, Hale quickly corrects him by saying “theology, sir, is a fortress; no crack in a fortress may be accounted small”. (Miller 1130). Theology is the study of the nature of God and religious belief. Hale’s statement affirms the fact the people of Salem were supposed to be one hundred and one percent immersed in the study of and worship of God. This is important because it emphasizes that religion and life in Salem were constantly pressed on the complete reliance, and wholesome obedience to the church and God. This zealous following of their religion opened a door for the Salem Witch Trials to begin and spread like a wildfire because if you were against them, you were against what God wanted and therefore you were deemed a witch. This connects with the allegory of patriotism, because in the time of McCarthyism if you spoke against the House unamerican activities or the search for American communists, then you have put in the limelight as one yourself. This plays into the intense fear in both The Crucible and the 1950’s in which they have to allowed fear to drive them to condemn others. Evil was a large pinpoint in both societies that the pair wished to root out

The Salem Witch Trials are an infamous part of American History that people have been fascinated with for centuries. Every year thousands of people flock to Salem to visit the memorials and see where the paranoia began. Many scholars have their theories as to why the Witch Trials took place. This essay analyzes two author’s interpretations of the Salem Witch Trials, one that more accurately describes the reason for the events and a second interpretation that falls short.

The Salem Witch Trials remain as a main area of interest for colonial historians, for the very way that actual lives were taken for only the sake of internalized cultural normalities. In fact if one is to look at the way the trials were conducted, it could be said that they highlight the underlying fears and beliefs that the citizens of Massachusetts believed to be completely true. The irrational nature of the trials is best illustrated through the view of the accused witches, whose accusations follow a distinct pattern of having past conflict with their accusers. Overall there is also a repetition of external fears influencing these accusations which culminates in a complex belief of not only demonic powers at work, but present mortal threats being a part of these accused witches plan to bring destruction of the town. The perspective of the accused witches during the Salem Witch Trials, proves Salem was a town rooted in cultural anxiety and interpersonal conflict which eventually imploded into the uncontrollable.

The book, Crucible is the source behind this essay based on the incidents which happened in the town of Salem in 1692. The happenings in this point of history is most popularly known as “The Salem Witch Trials.” The author of this book wrote this because of his involvement in the Cold War when he was accused of things he either did or did not do. What happened in his life during the Cold War is parallel to the characters in the town of Salem when they are accused and brought before a court to determine their innocence and interaction with the Devil. From observing the Crucible by Arthur Miller the cause of the Salem Witch Trials is stupidity and an insecurity to hold a good reputation; selfishness found on three accounts: the church/court, John Proctor, and Abigail.

American society is known for having the highest standard of living across the globe; this is solely due to the consumerist culture that is brought forth by capitalism. Americans in the U.S. take pride in these standards and in the freedoms that this democratic nation has established. The 20th century will always be remembered in American history as a century of radical changes on the social and political fronts of the nation. Literature, too, evolved quickly from specific, compartmentalized fields which fit into categories, to works which had no set definition—nobody knew what to do with them. These changes also took place in poetry; artistic expression began to change across the arts and so did the mediums. Poets across the nation