The Salem witch trials started during the spring of 1692 after a group of girls in Salem, Massachusetts claimed to be possessed by the devil, and accused other Salem women of witchcraft with no evidence. The evidence was strictly based on what the accuser said, and whether or not the accused would lie and admit to witchcraft to save their life. The first to be hung for witchcraft was a local woman named Bridget Bishop. After all accusations of witchcraft came to an end in early 1693, there ended up being 19 hangings and 150 other people being thrown in jail, including men and children. Arthur MIller’s play, The Crucible is an allegory from the McCarthyism era. The judicial system of the Puritan era was unjust; today's judicial system follows strict guidelines in proving someone is guilty of a crime. The Witch Trials held in Salem, Massachusetts was based on spectral evidence, which is evidence that refers to a witness testimony that the accused person's spirit or spectral shape appeared to him/her witness in a dream at the time the accused person's physical body was at another location. This way of finding whether or …show more content…
not someone was guilty was used because of their belief in the devil. After the group of girls started accusing other girls, many people were being accused for personal reasons like not liking them or even wanting someone's land which was claimed by Giles Corey about Thomas Putnam saying “Giles Corey: If Jacobs hangs for a witch he forfeit up his property - that's law! And there is none but Putnam with the great coin to buy so great a piece. This man is killing his neighbors for his land!” (1142). Which shows how Putnam believed that since anyone accused and did not confess would be hung or thrown in jail then he should accuse Jacobs for more land. Eventually the accused caught on that if they confess to being a minion of the devil then they would not be punished like the people who weren't lying to save their life and the only reason they had to confess was because they were guilty until proven innocent. Unlike the Puritans court of law, today’s current Judicial System (separation from state and government) Uses concrete evidence, one is innocent until proven guilty.
“Danforth: Mr. Proctor, this morning, your wife send me a claim in which she states that she is pregnant now… There be no sign of it--we have examined her body“ (1140). This type of evidence during the puritan Age is ludicrous because, usually a woman would know if she's pregnant or not and for Danforth to say Elizabeth is not pregnant by looking at her body is outlandish. Today, our constitution requires the rights to applicable defense. Arrest must be based on hard evidence unlike in the witch trials which used spectral evidence. The Salem witch trials changed the way the American system collects evidence. Judges, law enforcement and attorneys can no longer use spectral
evidence Even though the purpose of the witch trials was to purify Salem of the devil and bad spirits for god, it was still ungodly for them to hang or imprison so many people based off of what another person said. Towards the end of the book John Proctor was given a chance to save him and his wife’s life by signing off his name saying that he was a minion of the devil; Proctor signed it but then rips it up saying, “John Proctor: Because it is my name and I can never have another in my life!” (1164) Considering that if the confession was nailed to the church with his signature he would lose the value of his name. His name's reputation and the future of his family would forever be 'scarred'. This is called a “Catch-22” meaning a dilemma or difficult circumstance from which there is no escape because of mutually conflicting or dependent condition. Last but not least, the judicial system of the Puritan era was unjust; today's judicial system follows strict guidelines in proving someone is guilty of a crime. In comparison we could look at them as somewhat similar; when being trialed a judge could take into consideration someone's accusation, it may not have as big of an impact on the verdict today as it did during the witch trials but it certainly could be used.
The Salem, Massachusetts Witch Trials have generated extensive evaluation and interpretation. To explain the events in Salem, psychological, political, environmental, physical, and sociological analysis have all been examined. The authors Linnda Caporael, Elaine Breslaw, Anne Zeller, and Richard Latner all present differing perspectives to speculate about the events of the Salem Witch Trials. This changing interpretation and perspective has resulted in an extensive historiography to explain the
The events that took place in Salem Massachusetts during 1692 through 1693, would forever define the colonial religious extremists, known as the Puritans. The Salem Witch Trials created a distinct nuance, that marked a dark period in American history. The dramatized version of the Witch Trials, The Crucible, resulted in a semi accurate representation of the historical events that occurred in Salem Massachusetts. The author Arthur Miller, wrote the playwright by incorporating factual content, as well as imaginary aspects that brought the characters of the Witch Trials to life.
The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, was written during the early 1950s.It was the time of The rise of Senator Joseph McCarthy’s.All throughout history, accusations of witchcraft have been used as an excuse for the discrimination of people who cultures, traditions, race, and ideas were not easily accepted nor understood by the society even if it was untrue.In today’s society students are taught this because it show’s how important “The Crucible, and McCarthyism were and what changes they went through because of the human condition.It is extremely important and appropriate because it allows students the opportunity to respond in terms of their own experiences .The Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism had many similarities. In The Crucible Abigail
There were many differences in the way courts were operated in Salem in the 1690s and the way that courts are operated in present-day America. One of the biggest differences is the type of evidence that was allowed to be used against a person. During the Salem Witch Trials you were allowed to use Spectral Evidence, which is a witness testimony that says that the accused person’s spectral shape appeared to them. In American courts today, hard evidence us required to convict a criminal, and the writ of habeas corpus makes it necessary to
In 1962 the penalty of witchcraft was to be hung or smashed. There was a big outburst of witchcraft and spells that were going around among the people of Massachusetts in 1962. Some of the women of Salem began the witchcraft many people started to catch on and fallow them. A lot of these people were hung do to what the bible said about the wrongs of witchcraft. When these women of Salem Massachusetts started to do witchcraft and pass it on to other people they were put on trial for their actions, which at the time was, illegal. It had caught on all over England and was spreading fast. Arthur Miller made a play called the Crucible that was about the Salem witchcraft trials. Arthur miller took the historical accounts and changed them to be suitable for the play. The crucible had many alterations to the historical documents that took place in1962 which were in the characters, the historical differences, and why the theme of history was changed.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller shows how authority is a characteristic that can easily become a problem throughout a society. Many subjects were addressed in The Crucible such as guilt, hypocrisy, justice, hysteria, and courage. However, the most important subject throughout the play would be the nature of authority. There is a fine line between the concept of having authority and having power. In the book, the authority weakened and led to the antagonist Abigail Williams leading the law as opposed to the law leading Abigail Williams. At the instant that Abigail was granted authority over the townspeople she acted on it in order to have power. Not only is there power that comes with authority, but there is also responsibility which was demonstrated
Many people look back on the events of the Salem witch trials and laugh at the absurdity of the allegations. It seems crazy that society could be fooled into believing in things like witches and deal with the events in such an extreme manner. It is a common belief that witch hunts are things of the past. Many people would agree that they no longer exist today; however Arthur Miller, author of the play, "The Crucible", points out that society has not come very far from the days of the Salem witch trials. In his play, he used the Salem witch trials to represent the McCarthy Era because he saw that the nation was facing the same events that Salem went through back in the late 1600's. Arthur Miller wrote "The Crucible" in an attempt to create moral awareness for society. He did so by making a few small changes to the history and creating parallels in the play with racism, human tendencies, and H.U.A.C.
The Salem Trials took place between the 10th of June and the 22nd of 1692 and in this time nineteen people. In addition to this one man was pressed to death and over 150 people where sent to jail where four adult and one infant died. Although when compared to other witch-hunts in the Western world, it was ‘a small incident in the history of a great superstition,’ but has never lost its grip on our imagination’ . It’s because of this that over the last three centuries many historians have analysed the remaining records of the trials in order to work out what the causes and events were that led to them.
Witchcraft started in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. Superstition started when women were accused of acting strangely. These superstitions turned into trials, and later lead to mounds of hanged people. Most of the people accused were innocent, but the harsh judge rulings left them with nothing to live for. The only options for the tried, no matter if guilty or not, were to claim guilty, living the rest of their life in prison, or to plead not guilty and hang. Due to both consequences being equally as punishable, many people isolated themselves from society. Unfortunately, some people caused the uprising of the salem witch trials more than others did. In the play The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, Abigail Williams single handedly attributed to the
The Crucible by Arthur Miller The Crucible is a fictional retelling of events in American history surrounding the Salem witch trials of the seventeenth century, yet is as much a product of the time in which Arthur Miller wrote it, the early 1950s, as it is description of Puritan society. At that particular time in the 1950s, when Arthur Miller wrote the play the American Senator McCarthy who chaired the ‘House Un-American Activities Committee’ was very conscious of communism and feared its influence in America. It stopped authors’ writings being published in fear of them being socialist sympathisers. Miller was fascinated by the Salem Witch Trials and that human beings were capable of such madness. In the 1950s the audience would have seen the play as a parallel between the McCarthy trials and the Salem Trials.
In 1953, Arthur Miller, wrote a play called The Crucible. This play was written to compare the witchcraft trials to McCarthyism, which was the practice of holding people accountable for being communists without actual proof. The Crucible became very popular in the 1950’s due to the relatable plot of the story since most feared the accusation of Communism. This story takes place in the city of Salem, where people of a true Puritan community live. There, people have strong religious beliefs and restrictions to what is acceptable in the community. One of those regulations was children were not permitted to play; if one was ever caught disobeying they would face serious public punishment. This punishment became a reality for children when caught dancing in the woods. The entire town became hysterical while trying to find the root problem to the children’s behavior.The faithful people of Salem determined that they had found witchcraft. As the hysteria arose, people started to worry about their reputations, questioning the actions of others and becoming delirious in attempts to save
The Crucible: Hysteria and Injustice Thesis Statement: The purpose is to educate and display to the reader the hysteria and injustice that can come from a group of people that thinks it's doing the "right" thing for society in relation to The Crucible by Arthur Miller. I. Introduction: The play is based on the real life witch hunts that occurred in the late 1600's in Salem, Massachusetts. It shows the people's fear of what they felt was the Devil's work and shows how a small group of powerful people wrongly accused and killed many people out of this fear and ignorance.
Hinds, Maurene J. Witchcraft on Trial: From the Salem Witch Hunts to the Crucible. Library ed. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow, 2009. Print.
The Crucible is a 1953 play by Arthur Miller. Initially, it was known as The Chronicles of Sarah Good. The Crucible was set in the Puritan town of Salem, Massachusetts. It talks of McCarthyism that happened in the late 1600’s whereby the general public and people like Arthur Miller were tried and persecuted. The Crucible exemplifies persecutions during the Salem Witch Trials. The people were convicted and hung without any tangible proof of committing any crime. Persecutions were the order of the day. When a finger was pointed at any individual as a witch, the Deputy Governor Danforth never looked for evidence against them or evidence that incriminated them; he ordered them to be hanged. This can be seen through his words “Hang them high over the town! Who weeps for those, weeps for corruption!” (1273), the people were persecuted aimlessly. The four main characters in the play, John Proctor, Abigail Adams, Reverend Hale and Reverend Parris, are caught in the middle of the witchcraft panic in the religious Salem, Massachusetts in late 1690’s. Persecution is the most important theme in the Crucible, the leaders and citizens of Salem attacks and persecutes one of their own without any tangible evidence against them.
The Salem Witch Trials took place in the summer and into the fall of the year 1692, and during this dark time of American history, over 200 people had been accused of witchcraft and put in jail. Twenty of these accused were executed; nineteen of them were found guilty and were put to death by hanging. One refused to plead guilty, so the villagers tortured him by pressing him with large stones until he died. The Salem Witch Trials was an infamous, scary time period in American history that exhibited the amount of fear people had of the devil and the supernatural; the people of this time period accused, arrested, and executed many innocent people because of this fear, and there are several theories as to why the trials happened (Brooks).