Question 1: The evidence presented against the supposed witches during the Salem Witch Trials was not physical evidence. Most of the testimonies given by the townspeople were random happenstances that were told to make the accused seem guilty. Other types of evidence given were statements about the accusers being bitten and pinched; this apparently classified as bewitching someone. Some of the accused claimed to be conspiring with the devil so they would not be executed and instead be put in prison (Godbeer 143). Many years later statements given by testifiers were recanted, jurors apologized, and the families of the executed were given compensation for their loss. Take the case of Sarah Good, who was first arrested on February 29,1692 …show more content…
Legally, the idea of accusing witches disappeared worldwide because there is not enough factual evidence to prove that someone is a witch in a courtroom. Many of the people executed during the witch hunt names were reversed in the eyes of the church in light of this idea (Document 94). The belief in witchcraft and witches still continued, and in 1787 a woman was killed for suspected witchcraft in Philadelphia (Godbeer 30). In Document 95 John Hale discusses the idea of witchcraft and how it is discussed int he bible. He states, “This of witchcraft is one of the most difficult to be searched out by the sons of men, as appeareth by great endeavors of learned and holy men to search it out”. Hale goes on to say that it is impossible to discover a witch because the works of them and the Devil are so secret and only the Lord can fins witches and punish them(Document 95). This document supported the idea that witches could not be taken to court and that only God could do something about witchcraft. The puritans from this point slowly began to forget about the idea of …show more content…
She was referred to as “Tituba Indian” by Elizabeth Hubbard on March 1, 1962 (Document 30). Ann Putnam referred to her a “Mr.Parris’s Indian woman” in her deposition (Document 31). Puritans believed that the Indians praised the Devil because of misunderstandings in culture (Godbeer 82) This also put her at risk because many people in the village did not believe she was a Christian because of her native descent. The four girls most likely accused her of witchcraft because she looked different and did not conform to their Puritan culture. Another reason Tituba’s could have been accused of witchcraft is because of her stature. She was Samuel Parris’s slave. He was the minister in town and he had lots of influence in the community. If he realized his daughter was lying about her accusations, he could have forced Tituba to admit to conspiring with the
In “We Aren’t Superstitious”, by Stephen Vincent Benet, the theme of accusation supports the superstitions for the Salem Witch Trials. Throughout the entire story, accusations are thrown left and right; Arguing on who is a witch and who isn’t. When Tituba arrived from the West Indies towards the beginning of the story, nobody could predict the mayhem she would unfold. The queer and interesting stories she told Elizabeth Parris later spread into the infamous Salem Witch Trials. Now, one doesn't know if this was part of her “evil voodoo-witch plan” or aimlessly come across, but it was catastrophic. The first individual to be accused of witchery was Sarah Good, who later was followed by Sarah Osborne. They were both accused of witchery because of their low social classes. Sarah Good was known as a whore and a beggar, while Sarah Osborne was married to a lower social class and was a horrible Christian. This accusation of the lower class portrays a lot of what happens today in the real world.
When two girls, aged 9 and 11, started having strange and peculiar fits, the Puritans believed that the cause of these actions was the work of the devil. The children accused three women of afflicting them: Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne. Tituba was a Caribbean slave owned by the Parris family. Sarah Good is a homeless woman. Sarah Osborne was a poor elderly woman.
In conclusion a very important lesson could be learned through Tituba’s character. Things happen for a reason and one could honestly think that Tituba is only human, she lied to protect herself. Later after the Salem Witch Trials the enlightenment period came a long, which was caused by questioning authority and religion. The puritan faith then fades away because of the cruelty of the religion. It could be said that because of Tituba’s actions and all of the deaths that occurred afterwards due to her, could simply be the start of a revolt that got rid of the Puritan
More than 200 people were accused of the begin witches and of the two hundred, about twenty of them were killed. Eventually the people of Massachusetts realized that what they were doing was wrong. Many times the reason for someone to be accused of witchcraft as because if they were found guilty, then the court would receive the land that they had owned. If the court did not want the land, which they usually did not want, it was given to the person who had accused them of witchcraft.
More than two hundred years have gone by since the discovery of the new world. People of with all types of backgrounds and problems came flocking over the ocean to start anew. Jamestown, Virginia and Salem, Massachusetts, were very early settlements, and perhaps two of the most known names of colonies. Jamestown was known for many things, including Bacon’s Rebellion. And Salem was known for one reason, the Salem Witch Trials. These two pieces of history reflect the tensions of the unstable society and of their beliefs.
Miller touched on the subject of racism and related it to the present time with his characterization of the woman, Tituba. Historically, Tituba was a native woman; however, in the story she was portrayed as a black woman. Tituba was a servant of Reverend Parris and one of the first to be accused of witchcraft. She was an easy target because she was a minority and did not have a lot. Her different culture made her stick out, which caused people to surmise that she was a witch.
As the story of Tituba unfolds, it reveals a strong and kind hearted young woman, very different from the Tituba we meet in The Crucible. I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem unveils for the reader, Tituba's life, loves, and losses. Her long and arduous journey through life is inspired by her many female counterparts, yet also hindered by her insatiable weakness for men, who also press upon her the realities of life.
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.
During the time of the Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692, more than twenty people died an innocent death. All of those innocent people were accused of one thing, witchcraft. During 1692, in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts many terrible events happened. A group of Puritans lived in Salem during this time. They had come from England, where they were prosecuted because of their religious beliefs. They chose to come live in America and choose their own way to live. They were very strict people, who did not like to act different from others. They were also very simple people who devoted most of their lives to God. Men hunted for food and were ministers. Women worked at home doing chores like sewing, cooking, cleaning, and making clothes. The Puritans were also very superstitious. They believed that the devil would cause people to do bad things on earth by using the people who worshiped him. Witches sent out their specters and harmed others. Puritans believed by putting heavy chains on a witch, that it would hold down their specter. Puritans also believed that by hanging a witch, all the people the witch cast a spell on would be healed. 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. As one can see, the chaotic Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692 were caused by superstition, the strict puritan lifestyle, religious beliefs, and hysteria.
Once the accusations began, many innocent people in the community were taken away. They were then either forced to admit that they were witches, to free themselves from a public hanging, or deny that they were witches, saving their integrity, but subjecting themselves to an unjust public hanging.
Women started to accuse other women and they also accused a few men. Murrin details that this caused a challenge in the local judical system: “…a number of judicial irregularities, including an unusual heavy dependence by the courts on spectral evidence ( when an accused witch’s spirit or specter, supposedly tormented the victim) and the use of open confessions by the accused to escape punishment” (339). New England had a organized way of doing things when it came it witches, but once accusations arose in Salem they started a new system which led their town into hysteria. “The Salem witch panic stands out, in part, because the judicial execution of twenty people within three months became an event of enormous drama in a region that hanged comparatively few offenders and in a colony that hanged only five people for witchcraft before 1692 and only one before 1656”
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”
This trial was held in Salem but people all around Salem who were accused of witchcraft were bought to Salem for trial. The Salem Witch Trial was a trial for people being accused of associating with witch craft. Over 100 men and women majority of them being women were in this trial. The trial had a 3 step process first was a confession then a testimony of two eyewitnesses to the act of witchcraft and a rare ‘’spectral evidence’’ where most of these witches didn’t make it too. A spectral evidence is when the accused person’s spirit or spectral appeared in a testimony dream when the accused witch was at another location. During a trial if you could recite the ‘’Lord’s prayer’’ you were not a witch and you could indeed be let go during trial just for reciting the prayer (Louis-Jacques, Lyonette. "Http://news.lib.uchicago.edu/blog/2012/10/29/the-salem-witch-trials-a-legal-bibliography-for-halloween/." The University of Chicago Library News. 29 Oct. 2012). The trial was during the Puritan times so people believe during trial, these witches could harm anyone in the court houses (Purdy, Sean. ‘’Conjuring History: The many interpretations of The Salem Witch Trials.’’ Reviver Academic Journal, vol. 3, no. 1, 2007, pp. 2.). At the end of the trial 19 men and women were hanged at Gallows
After Tituba admitted to being a witch and said that she and four other witches “had flown through the air on their poles” (Linder), panic swept through Salem, and the pursuit of witches expanded (Linder) (Brattle) (Brooks).
When first watching the play you would think that all the blame would be put on Tituba. She was the one who was taking the girls down into the woods to help them make love potions. But where she was originally from (the Barbados) singing, dancing, and making potions were never seen as evil they were seen as spiritual. However, after she is caught she admits that she was doing black magic and that there are other witches in Salem. Once she is sold off the girls start blaming other people of being witches. Especially those who were seen as freaks and outcasts.