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John proctor character analysis essay
Effects of salem witch trials on society
Effects of salem witch trials on society
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Many accuse John Proctor being the cause of the Salem Witch Trials. If he did not cheat on his wife then Abigail would not have such an anger towards the world. But, if it was not for Tituba those girls would have never been in the forest, she would not have been accused, and Tituba would not have confessed to a lie. Tituba is the “Gas to the Fire”, she may not be the cause of the witch trials, although, she is a large contributor to all of the problems. She wanted nothing more than to save her own life but she did not realize that all of the deaths that were to come all began with her. Tituba was a slave from Barbados, that clearly means that her beliefs were different from the Puritan religion. “ In the beginning of the play the girls …show more content…
Tituba was confronted and she confessed to the lies in attempt to save her life. This is a sign of her indirect intelligence. She figured that if she went ahead and confessed then they would possibly spare her life. Due to Tituba’s confession, it caused the girls to react in shock and fear. “I don’t know, sir, but the Devil got him numerous witches.” It was at that moment of shock between the girls and Tituba that caused the troubling lies to truly begin. Tituba falsely accuses some local women to be witches too during her confession, the girls caught on and began to accuse more and more women to be the “Devil’s children”. In this act it does not only show Tituba’s intelligence, but her weaknesses begins to show too. During her confession she claims that she loves God, but does she really? Later in the play it becomes clear that the ones who are true to their puritan faith die. Throughout the entire play the majority of the events is based upon dramatic irony. This form of irony is developed from Tituba. The reader knows that Tituba is not a real witch, but a different cultured woman. The readers also know that Abigail is using Tituba as an escape to prevent herself from getting in trouble, and then on. As the irony continues this allows the reader to develop feelings and opinions towards the characters. No matter if one may have
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.
The Puritans said that Tituba practices what they called black magic; but it was the deceitful Abigail who influenced Tituba into practicing the black arts whenever it suited herself and her evil deeds. Tituba acknowledges her sins, but we never knew what happened to her in the story. This uncertainty of her destiny emphasizes whether she was a witch or not.
Tituba, Tituba . . . (Miller 156)” If Abigail does not shift the blame she will be seen as conspiring with the devil but by throwing Tituba under the bus Abigail is seen as good but only under the influence of a bad person. As Judge Danforth starts to question Abigail about the validity of her accusations Abigail proclaims “Let you beware Mr.Danforth. Think you to be so mighty that the power of Hell may not turn your wits? Beware of it! (Miller 188)”. She is threatening the judge as his opinion turns to make him consider the consequences of going against Abby. As Abby's defense in court crumbles, more and more are doubting her. Eventually Reverend Hale says “I believe him (pointing at Abigail) This girl has always struck me false! She has-” to put an end to Abby’s wild accusations but she
In this play, innocent people were hung because some of the girls in town cried witch. To start from the beginning, Abby, Tituba, and the girls were out in the forest one night, dancing, and were caught by Reverend Paris. Abby blamed Tituba for calling the Devil. Tituba then said it was not her, for there are many witches in the community. Tituba named some of the town’s women as witches.
For example, Betty Paris and Ruth Putnam in the movie could not wake, but in Wilson’s historical depiction the only symptoms the afflicted girls had were: slipping into trances, cowering in corners, blurting nonsense, and collapsing into shrieking epileptic fits. Miller’s beginning scene of “The Crucible” where the girls were dancing and conjuring spirits in the woods with Tituba is not something that is known to have actually occurred. In Wilson’s historical depictions, Tituba is accused of being a witch because she made the witch cake, but in the film Abigail accuses her in order to avoid punishment because of what her and the girls were caught by Reverend Parris doing in the woods. Tituba’s confession in the movie was whipped out of her, but according to the historically she was interrogated, not whipped. Miller also changed why Martha Corey was accused in the film it is because her husband, Giles Corey, said she was reading suspicious books, but according to Wilson it was because Abigail said she saw her specter on the beams during sermon. According to Wilson’s historical depiction of the Salem Witch Trials, jailers would torture children to get them to confess their mother was a witch, but Miller did not put that in his
In order to avoid charges, Abigail deflects the blame onto Tituba, the family servant, by saying that she forced her to drink blood. After realizing that the town might hang her for her crimes, Tituba confesses to witchcraft and accuses the low-class women of Salem, hoping that it might lighten her punishment. The town quickly breaks into hysteria as Mary is pulled into the center of the drama and the authorities ask her to testify against the accused. Realizing that her life is still under threat of Abigail if she doesn't do what Abigail asks of her, Mary lies on stand, ensuring her safety, as well as the death of two innocent women. Overwhelmed with culpability, Mary attempts to justify her
For example, as a result of the lie Sarah is put in the position by the court that she may either confess to the crime and save herself or not confess and get hung. The act also affects the town of Salem because the girls notice how much influence they have over the court and begin to accuse of witchcraft anyone they do not like. Although Mary Warren does contribute to the hanging of many people, but when Proctor begs to her to go to the court with him and confess to save Elizabeth, she gets a chance to redeem herself. She tells the court that the whole witchery situation was just the girls pretending. Mary says, “I cannot charge murder on Abigail” and adds, “[s]he’ll kill me for sayin’ that!”
Her accusations were the reason why the entire witch hunt in Salem came to be. “She comes to me while I sleep; she 's always making me dream corruptions!” This quote from Abigail falsely accusing Tituba of witchcraft is the main reason for the messed up justice in the town of Salem. The good and the innocent start to be accused and convicted by those without integrity. The audience starts to realize the deep problems in Salem. Eventually later on in the book, Abigail comes to realize the power she possesses over the people. She realized that she had the power and control to run the entire town and get what she wanted. This same situation is seen with Corporate America after 9/11. After the attack of 9/11 they saw that people were very paranoid when it came to wanting safety which is why the Bush administration took advantage of Americans by getting them to believe certain laws they wanted were necessary for their safety. Also, the Bush administration tried to get more control of the people by passing a bunch of unneeded laws to Congress. They lied to get what they wanted. The same scenario is shown by Abigail’s followers as they helped lie for her
Abigail Williams started the witch trials in Salem all because she and a group of her friends wanted some attention from their town. Abigail thinks she is superior to some people, specifically Tituba and has no problem accusing people she feels superior to. "They want slaves, not such as I. Let them send to Barbados for any of them!"(24). Abigail's first victim in her accusation spree was Tituba. Tituba was easy first target because she is a slave and practices voodoo, both things combined make her the easiest target in Salem. "Sometimes I wake and find myself standing in the open doorway and not a stitch on my body! I always hear her laughing in my sleep. I hear her singing her Barbados songs and tempting me with-"(27). Abigail targets Tituba first so she can gain so...
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 deterioration of Salem's social structure precipitated the murders of many innocent people. Arthur Miller's depiction of the Salem witch trials, The Crucible, deals with a community that starts out looking like it is tightly knit and church loving. It turns out that once Tituba starts pointing her finger at the witches, the community starts pointing their fingers at each other. Hysteria and hidden agendas break down the social structure and then everyone must protect themselves from the people that they thought were their friends. The togetherness of the community, the church and legal system died so that the children could protect their families' social status.
The hysteria surrounding the witchtrials causes Abigail to lie in order to save herself. She is affected by the hysteria because she does not want to exposed as a liar. She forgets about the people that are close to her in order to protect her reputation and identity. Abigail abandons Tituba, and accuses her of "sending her spirit on me in church; she makes me laugh at prayer" (41). Abigail also says Tituba "comes to me every night to go and drink blood (41). Abigail reacts like this only to save her fro...
It was easier for them to blame the devil for the problems of society than fix the problems of their own strict way of life. So the girls involved with Abigail, like Mercy Lewis and Mary Warren, named many people in the town as witches. These people were put in jail and would be hanged if they did not confess to the crime of devil worship or witchcraft. Another part of the developing plot is that John Proctor knows Abigail and her friends are lying, but he is afraid to say anything because eight months before he had an affair with Abigail and did not want to be seen by the town as a lecher, which means wife cheater. So, Mr. Proctor has to fight with himself to come out and tell the truth, or his wife might die because of Abigail saying she was a witch.
In the end, the Salem Witch Trials didn’t have a very good effect on anyone in Salem. These trials also left a major imprint on Salem.
A major theme in both the article and the play is fear over reason. Miller wrote his play to demonstrate instances when fear overcomes reason. In the article he states that, “…its [The Crucible’s] paranoid center is still pumping out the same darkly attractive waning that it did in the fifties” (Miller 5). This warning is that of the dangers of fear over reason, and the consequences that go with it. In the novel, fear over reason is displayed when Tituba confesses to witchcraft rather than be hanged. Tituba says, “No, no don’t hang Tituba! I tell him I don’t desire to work for him, sir” (Miller 44). She confesses to a lie and she succumbs to the fear of being killed, and all reason escapes her. Miller’s article also gives proof of fear over reason driving Miller to write his play, “…it may simply be a fascination with the outbreak of paranoia that suffuses the play--the blind panic that, in our age, often seems to sit at the dim edges of consciousness” (Miller 5). Throughout the play, Miller suggests his theme of fear over reason, and this is reiterated in the arti...