A Delusion of Satan was written in 1995 by Frances Hill, and published by Da Capo Press. Frances Hill, an accomplished writer and journalist from London, has been writing for a decent period of time. Aside from publishing two novels, Hill has written fiction reviews for The Time (London) and has worked as a reporter in in both New York and London. With such an accomplished journalist, reporter, and writer, we are due to receive a good read in A Delusion of Satan. Set in the Colonial American village of Salem in Massachusetts around the year of 1692, A Delusion of Satan opens by describing, in depth, the puritan lifestyle. Ranging from the social aspects, to the religious aspects, to the political aspects of puritan living, Frances Hill leaves no stone unturned in giving the most accurate and relatable descriptions of the topics at hand before diving into the trials themselves. I particularly enjoy the depth of description that Hill provides when giving you the background information such as the puritan lifestyle; without setting a strong foundation, certain things may not make sense further into the book. After an introduction to the common puritan lifestyle, Hill wastes no time diving into the conflict: the “bewitched” young girls Betty Paris, Abigail Williams (cousins), and Ann Putnam (a neighbor of Betty Paris and Abigail Williams). The girls began acting strangely and far out of accordance with the puritan lifestyle. According to the book, Betty and Abigail “dabbled in fortunetelling to relieve the boredom of the parsonage.” Due to the fact that Betty and Abigail were living in the parsonage under the care of pastor Samuel Parris, many found it highly unlikely that these actions were performed under their own wills, ... ... middle of paper ... ...n-day court system ensures that the most basic human rights are given and that there must be enough evidence to support the accusation. Two thumbs up, all the way. Works Cited Hill, Frances. A Delusion of Satan. Da Capo Press, 2002. Print Kennedy, Cohen, and Bailey. The American Pageant: Volume I to 1877. Wadsworth Cenage Publishing. Print. Bloom, Harold. Arthur Miller's The Crucible. New York: Bloom's Literary Criticism, 2008. Print Calef, Robert. More Wonders of the invisible World, or the Wonders of the Invisible World Displayed. General Books LCC, 2010. Print Goss, David K. The Salem Witch Trials: A Reference Guide. Greenwood Publishing, 2007. Print Bremmer, Francis J. Puritanism: A Very Short Intorduction. Oxford University Press, 2009. Print Hoffer, Peter. The Salem Witchcraft Trials: A Legal History. University Press of Kansas, 1997. Print.
The Salem witchcraft trials of 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts can be considered a horrendous period in American history, yet is also viewed as the turning point in what was considered acceptable in a contemporary society. In a documentation of a trial against a woman named Sarah Good, the reader is able to see the way in which such an accusation was treated and how society as a whole reacted to such a claim. Sarah Good fell victim to the witchcraft hysteria because she was different, and that fear of her divergence from the Puritan lifestyle led to her eventual demise.
Salem Village, Massachusetts was the home of a Puritan community with a strict moral code through 1691. No one could have ever anticipated the unexplainable events that were to ambush the community’s stability. The crisis that took place in Salem in 1962 still remains a mystery, but the accusations made by the young girls could be a result of ergot poisoning or the need for social power; this leads the people of Salem to succumb to the genuine fear of witchcraft.
Miller Edwards,Hawthorne and korning each show how religion was a sin in puritan cultures and affected many people’s lives that punishment will come when you have disgraced your religion that good is against the devil there is a strict form of puritan. Puritans were dedicated to work to save themselves from the sins in the world. Guilt was a great force in the puritans belief. The people in the story are Puritans a religion often depicted because of its rules and severe punishments to those who sin. The puritans left england to avoid religious persecution they established a society in America founded upon religion intolerance, Up surprising result the church dominates the Puritan culture.
“The puritan service seems to her as plain and unlovely as the bare board walls of the meeting house” (pg 52). While at meeting, she is called upon by a wealthy young man, William Ashby. Once again, in an attempt to fit in, she agrees to have him visit her at her uncle’s house.
When one evokes The Salem Witch Trials of 1692, the image that comes to most peoples minds are that of witches with pointed hats riding broomsticks. This is not helped by the current town of Salem, Massachusetts, which profits from the hundreds of thousands of tourists a year by mythologizing the trials and those who were participants. While there have been countless books, papers, essays, and dissertations done on this subject, there never seems to be a shortage in curiosity from historians on these events. Thus, we have Bernard Rosenthal's book, Salem Story: Reading the Witch Trials of 1692, another entry in the historiographical landscape of the Salem Witch Trials. This book, however, is different from most that precede it in that it does not focus on one single aspect, character, or event; rather Rosenthal tells the story of Salem in 1692 as a narrative, piecing together information principally from primary documents, while commenting on others ideas and assessments. By doing so, the audience sees that there is much more to the individual stories within the trials, and chips away at the mythology that has pervaded the subject since its happening. Instead of a typical thesis, Rosenthal writes the book as he sees the events fold out through the primary documents, so the book becomes more of an account of what happened according to primary sources in 1692 rather than a retelling under a new light.
Hysteria took over the town and caused them to believe that their neighbors were practicing witchcraft. If there was a wind storm and a fence was knocked down, people believed that their neighbors used witchcraft to do it. Everyone from ordinary people to the governor’s wife was accused of witchcraft. Even a pregnant woman and the most perfect puritan woman were accused. No one in the small town was safe.
Kent, Deborah. Witchcraft Trials: Fear, Betrayal, and Death in Salem. Library ed. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow, 2009. Print.
Satan is the core of Milton’s master piece and no matter how he is interpreted; the overall complexity of his character cannot be overlooked.
As the adolescents wail in their pretentious horror of a fictional bird, Proctor slowly realizes the conformation that Satan has entered Salem. Arthur Miller’s tragic allegory, The Crucible, shows the destruction of sinister Salem in 1692. The protagonist, John Proctor, a damnable farmer, has a lecherous affair with the antagonist, Abigail Williams, an ignorant and covetous juvenile. Satan mixes their interior motives to manufacture a catastrophic concoction. The ingredients of destruction consist of selfishness, immaturity, and corruption. The voracious desires of the natives of Salem lead to their evil and self-indulged intentions.
In 1692, the colony of Massachusetts was infected by witchcraft that would lead to the executions and imprisonments of a myriad of people. In particular, in the small parish of Salem Village, many called upon witchcraft when Reverend Samuel Parris, the town’s minister, is kneeling next to a bed while, “His daughter, Betty Parris, aged ten, is lying on the bed, inert.”(Miller 1234) It becomes known around the town that Betty Parris and numerous other girls were found dancing with the minister’s slave, Tituba. Because of these events, Reverend Parris summons the so-called witchcraft hunter and expert, Reverend John Hale, to examine his daughter. Reverend John Hale was a man of great knowledge, who experiences a major transformation over the course of the crucible, a severe trial or ordeal.
“The Wonders of the Invisible World”, written by Cotton Mather, is an account of the Salem Witch Trials. He retells information that has been passed down to him without actually being present at the trial and simultaneously explains his theory to why witches were suddenly emerging in Salem, Massachusetts. There were quite a few holes in the Salem Witch Trials, especially regarding whether or not these events occurred the way they are said to. Mather’s book shows us how intense the Puritan ideals were, attaching anything out of the ordinary to a higher power and in doing this shows the flaws of the religion which caused to Salem Witch Trials.
Satan's actions also are shown on Milton's writings. It starts out as early as the beginning of the earth. When Satan attracted Adam
Milton’s Satan in Paradise Lost is a complex character meant to be the evil figure in the epic poem. Whenever possible Satan attempts to undermine God and the Son of God who is the true hero of the story. Throughout the story Milton tells the readers that Satan is an evil character, he is meant not to have any redeeming qualities, and to be shown completely as an unsympathetic figure. Satan’s greatest sins are pride and vanity in thinking he can overthrow God, and in the early part of the poem he is portrayed as selfish while in Heaven where all of God’s angels are loved and happy. Satan’s journey starts out as a fallen angel with great stature, has the ability to reason and argue, but by Book X the anguish and pain he goes through is more reason for him to follow an evil path instead. Even so, Milton uses literal and figurative imagery in the description of Satan’s character to manipulate the reader’s response to the possibility that Satan may actually be a heroic figure. As the plot of the story unfolds there are moments where the reader can identify with Satan’s desires and relate to his disappointments.
Milton’s Paradise Lost shows Satan as both devious and heroic in a sense. He uses various rhetorical devices in order to convey his message. His dialogue and monologues provide us with an understanding of his character. Milton gives the audience the chance to relate to Satan, to show them that how much they fall short of God’s grace. But the audience is also fully aware of Satan devious nature.
The identity of the true protagonist in Paradise Lost is a mystery. One would gather that Milton, a Puritan, would have no problem casting God as the hero, and Satan as the antagonist. However, looking back in history, Milton saw that most epic heroes had conflicts that prevented them from accomplishing their goals. God and his Son have no conflict, and Adam’s story does not really begin until the Fall of Man. Therefore, Milton was forced to select Satan as the hero of Paradise Lost because he adheres to the guidelines of epic poetry set by Homer, Virgil and others. There are many examples of how Milton uses and edits the tradition of these previous epics in the formation of the Devil as a hero. One of the most basic examples of heroism in epic poetry is the exhortation of the leader to his followers. In The Odyssey, Homer lets Odysseus give a speech that would convince anyone they could survive the journey to the Strait of Messina, "Then we die with our eyes open, if we are going to die, or know what death we baffle if we can. (Ln.1243-1245)" After passing the Sirens, the ship approaches the Strait, and the crew sees the twin terrors of Scylla and Charybdis, they are mortified. Odysseus again lifts their spirits with this speech, "Friends, have we ever been in danger before this? More fearsome, is it now, than when the Cyclops penned us in his cave? What power he had! Did I not keep my nerve, and use my wits to find a way out for us?