One could easily believe that Betty Parris is the one who is most for the witchcraft hysteria in Salem. Reverend Parris said, “ Out of my- Oh.my God! God help me! Betty. Child. Dear child. Will you wake, will you open up your eye! Betty, little one”(1092). At the beginning of the play Betty is laying down on her bed and her father is believing that she is in a coma like state. In reality she is just faking being sick. Many of the villagers of Salem have heard about what happened and have come to visit. While she is being visited Betty continues to play along and makes the villagers believe that witchcraft was practiced and that it is also affected their lives. Reverend Parris said, “ Will you look at my daughter, sir? She has tried to leap …show more content…
Betty goes along with it and attempts to jump out of a window so that she could fly. She goes on with lying so that she would not be whipped. Betty said,” I saw George Jacobs with the Devil! I saw Goody Howe with the Devil! (1111) Betty Parris creates more chaos by accusing more people to the situation. By accusing more people of being with the Devil she is just adding on to her lies and continuing to change up the story. She is also helping to convince that there are witches in Salem. This point of view seems convincing at first that Betty Parris could have been the most responsible but Abigail Williams is actually the one responsible. Betty Parris only lied and accused other villagers for the sake of not getting in trouble. On the other hand Abigail came up with a bunch of lies for her and the other girls to tell. She lied in front of many of the villagers and she threatened to kill any of the girls who did not lie with her. She wanted them to say exactly what she wanted to hear. Abigail used her manipulating skills to try to convince the people of Salem that she is innocent. She was willing to do anything to make people see the good in
As Reverend Parris worries about his daughter he makes it clear the consequences of lying about witchcraft. “Now tell me true, Abigail. And I pray you feel the weight of truth up on you, now my ministry is at stake, my reputation and perhaps your life as well.”(Act 1, Lines 113-116). Reverend Parris cannot reveal that he found his niece, Abigail dancing in the forest. Reverend Parris tells Abigail that he has enemies who will use that knowledge against him. He is particularly terrified because he could be implicated in the witchcraft accusations and scapegoating. Betty is accused of witchcraft, Abigail as well accuses Tituba of witchcraft. This would mean that three people of supposed witchcraft would all be living under Mr. Parris roof and that is a huge NO within the Salem community. Reverend Parris is terrified of his overall future and reputation within the town of Salem. Being terrified is the reason why so many lives were taken away. His fear has spread and will ultimately affect the town of
Godbeer, Richard. A great idea. Escaping Salem: The Witch Hunt of 1692. New York: Oxford UP, 2005. Print.
As the daughter of Reverend Samuel Parris, the rumors of her affliction brought much attention to her and her family. The play described Betty as a young girl, nine years of age, who began showing symptoms around the same time as her cousin Abigail Williams. Betty accused many people, and testified against them in multiple court cases. From the evidence that the Witch Trials shows, Betty was most likely pretending to be possessed in order to gain attention, or rebel from the strict lifestyle the Puritans followed. “She could not concentrate at prayer time and barked like a dog when her father would rebuke her. She screamed wildly when she heard the ‘Our Father’ prayer and once hurled a Bible across the room” (Walsh). As a distinct personality in both the Witch Trials and The Crucible, Betty Parris created a lasting affect on the course of history in
In Rosalyn Schanzer’s Witches! The Absolutely True Disaster in Salem, the author discusses how the Salem Witch trials started and how the Puritans believed the witches should be tortured or killed for being a witch. Many people were accused of being witches. Many people thought the accused should die but some were somewhat nice and didn’t think they should die just in prison. Every puritan believed them because the dad was a reverend and everyone believed him so they all accused people. The causes of the Salem Witch Trials were disease, revenge, and attention.
Thomas Putnam has a very large part in initiating the Salem witch hunt. He is the first character who blames unnatural causes for the illness among the children. Furthermore, he firmly believes in the existence of 'vengeful spirits layin' hands on these children';(15). 'There is a murderous witch among us,'; he vehemently cries out(16). His action isn't surprising because he has lost seven newborns and his Ruth is sick. He wants to hunt down the witch, but he needs some aid. He lays his eyes on Parris because Parris is the minister and Betty is also ill. Thus, Putnam tries to coerce Parris to witchcraft. 'Declare it yourself,'; Putnam tells Parris, 'you have discovered witchcraft';(16). At this point, Putnam captures everyone's attention, and then he strikes.
Reverend Parris is the character that initiates the hysteria of the Salem witch trials, in a community where authorities wasted no time minding the business of it's citizens, what should have been seen as teen frivolity was blown into one of the ugliest moments in American History. Parris sparks this by firstly acting on his own paranoia, which the reader would find in the introduction 'he believed he was being persecuted where ever he went';, and calling Reverend Hale in an attempt for self-preservation '….if you trafficked with spirits in the forest I must know it now, for surely my enemies will, and they will ruin me with it.'; This statement says a lot about the character of Reverend Parris: a greedy, power hungry man who is more concerned with his own reputation than the souls of his niece and daughter. He always acts on fear, a fear that he will lose his position of power in the community. Parris does not want the trials to end as a fraud because the scandal of having a lying daughter and niece would end his career in Salem.
Right when he finds them, Betty becomes sick and won't talk or open her eyes, about this time other people's daughters become sick too. Rumors spread that witch craft is involved in Betty's illness and the development of the plot begins. Important to the major development of the plot is the fact that in the forest, Abigail and the others were just playing like witches. But they were following Abigail because she wanted to try to put a curse on a lady named Elizabeth Proctor. Abigail was in love with Mrs. Proctor's husband, John Proctor, and she wanted to some how get rid of Elizabeth.
The Salem Witch Trials occurred because “three women were out in jail, because of witchcraft, and then paranoia spread throughout Salem” (Blumberg). In the Salem Village, “Betty Paris became sick, on February of 1692, and she contorted in pain and complained of fever” (Linder). The conspiracy of “witchcraft increased when play mates of Betty, Ann Putnam, Mercy, and Mary began to exhibit the same unusual behavior” (Linder). “The first to be accused were Tituba, a Barbados slave who was thought to have cursed the girls, Sarah Good, a beggar and social misfit, and Sarah Osborn, an old lady that hadn’t attended church in a year” (Linder). According to Linder, Tituba was the first to admit to being a witch, saying that she signed Satan’s book to work for him. The judges, Jonathan Corwin and John Hathorne, “executed Giles Corey because he refused to stand trial and afterwards eight more people were executed and that ended the Witch Trials in Salem”
integral to their society. The Puritian rituals, myths, and symbols from then on were seen
Sarah Osborne was among many of the men and women who were accused during the very well known time known as The Salem Witch Trials. These events occurred in Salem, Massachusetts between the years of 1692 and 1693. Before Sarah was accused she was married to Robert Prince who bought a 150 acre farm next to John Putnam's. John Putnam was Robert’s brother in law and the executor of Prince’s will. and gave birth to two children, James and Joseph. They were four years apart. In 1674 Robert died, leaving Sarah his land. Sarah was to keep the land until the boys become of age.
The Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692 were the largest outbreak of witch hunting in colonial New England up to that time. Although it was the largest outbreak, it was not something that was new. Witch-hunting had been a part of colonial New England since the formation of the colonies. Between the years 1648 to 1663, approximately 15 witches were executed. During the winter of 1692 to February of 1693, approximately 150 citizens were accused of being witches and about 25 of those died, either by hanging or while in custody. There is no one clear-cut answer to explain why this plague of accusations happened but rather several that must be examined and tied together. First, at the same time the trials took place, King William's War was raging in present day Maine between the colonists and the Wabanaki Indians with the help of the French. Within this war, many brutal massacres took place on both sides, leaving orphaned children due to the war that had endured very traumatic experiences. Second, many of the witch accusations were based on spectral evidence, most of which were encounters of the accused appearing before the victim and "hurting" them. There were rampant "visions" among the colonies' citizens, which can only be explained as hallucinations due to psychological or medical conditions by virtue of disease, or poisoning.
Abigail’s struggles come from many of her personal desires that are forbidden in her society, causing her to lie. However, this also creates further social problems, such as the initiation of the witch trials. After Betty is stuck in a coma, Reverend Parris questions Abigail about the night in the woods, because he is suspicious and she denies that it had anything to do with witchcraft. Abigail replies to Parris saying, “ We never conjured spirits” (24). Abigail lies to Parris, denies the statement that witchcraft ever occurred, and says that all they did was danced. Witchcraft and dancing both are sins in the society, and she knows that her reputation is at stake and finds the need to lie to look innocent. Parris wants to be sure and calls Reverend Hale to look further into the issue. Once Reverend Hale comes into town, he questions Abigail about the night, and she once again denies everything he asks her. Abigail is being questioned by Hale, and once Tituba enters she screams, “ She made me do it! She made Betty do it! She makes me drink blood!” (45). Abigail denies every...
In the book Escaping Salem: The Other Witch Trial of 1692 by Richard Godbeer, the witch hunt that took place in Stamford, Connecticut, was not as infamous as the witch hunt of Salem both witch trials taken place during the year 1692. Godbeer explains what occurred during the witch trial in Stamford. During this time period most of the Puritan New Englanders accused women who would act different or didn’t seem to fit in, of being a witch. The point that Godbeer portrays is how in early America during the seventeenth century Puritan New Englanders the morals and political motive in contrast with the religious mindset that surrounded most of the Puritans.
Salem Witch Trials only lasted less than a year. The first arrests happened on March 1, 1692 and
What do meowing nuns, dancing plagues, and the Salem witch trials all have in common? They are all examples of incidents of mass hysteria. Mass hysteria is a term used to describe a phenomenon which occurs when groups of people react in an irrational manner to something real or imagined as a result of rumors or fear. It is characterized by symptoms of physical illness for which there are no reasonable explanations.