...Vulnerability to a Witch Hunt The fact is that Salem, Massachusetts is all about God and doing God’s work, yet they are believing a bunch of young girls and hanging people without evidence. People believed whoever the person before could blame, no one ever would think of anyone possibly lying or acting? If making a city vulnerable to a witch trial could be easy, Salem and the people living there definitely caused it. In Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible”, religion, personal vendettas, and human faults, made the individuals and society in Salem vulnerable to a witch hunt. To start off one of many reasons Salem society was vulnerable to a witch hunt was religion. Religion was the main priority in Salem and almost anything said or done that wasn’t by the bible was witchery or evil. “At any rate very few indians were converted and Salem folk believed that the virgin forest was the devil’s last preserve.” This quote is simply explaining how easily things were blamed and or believed and how religion was the base of everything. Puritans believe if you swear on the bible...
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...Hemphill, C. Dallett. "Women in Court: Sex-Role Differentiation in Salem, Massachusetts, 1636 to 1683." The William and Mary Quarterly 39, no. 1 (1982): 164-75. This source pints out the fact that men held power and authority over women since the beginning of Salem and throughout its development. The law was enforced by patriarchal figures and women were subjects who were expected to follow it. While Salem was a patriarchal society, it surprisingly also allowed women to testify in court and were active in their duties outside of the household. Women were aware of the social issues that surrounded them. This source shows the shift that occurred in Salem and caused women to eventually feel “economically helpless”. The experience of abuse between...
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...Crucible Essay History repeats itself in many ways sometimes it will be a man making a simple mistake like a man forgetting to pick his dry-cleaning up or it can be something along the lines of people becoming paranoid and fighting and preparing for things that aren’t really there. The Red Scare of 1947 to the late 1950s is a perfect example of our nation repeating a history event from 1692, The Salem Witch Trials an event that our nation still remembers today innocent lives lost that definitely didn’t deserve it. One of the victims to the Red Scare Arthur Miller made a satire of it using “The Crucible” (A play based on the witch hunts) comparing the Red Scare to the Salem Witch Trials, he claims everything he was accused for is just as ridiculous and embarrassing to our country as the Salem Witch Trials were. In this Essay I will be comparing Arthur Miller's Crucible to the Red scare of the 1940's. There’s this Guy who basically claims our government is filled to the brim with communists and we need to weed them out, His name is Joseph McCarthy, he was born in Grand Chute, Wisconsin in 1909 and he died in 1957 on May 2nd due to Alcohol poisoning.(Joseph 1) On 9th February, 1950, at a meeting of the Republican Women's Club in Wheeling, West Virginia, McCarthy claimed that he had a list of 205 people in the State Department that were known to be members of the American Communist Party (late he reduced this figure to 57)(Joseph 1). Joseph McCarthy was a dirty man who in fact...
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...10H 23 April 2018 The Crucible Essay One connection that is often overlooked is that Arthur Miller wrote the Crucible in the late nineteen forties and early nineteen fifties at a time when America had developed a newfound fear of communism and politicians were investigating people, accusing them of being communists and wrongly prosecuting them. It has been said that Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible because he was fascinated with the Salem Witch Trials and because he wanted to remind people who had forgotten about the fear and shame that resulted from so many innocent people who were found guilty of being witches and hanged. Arthur Miller used his writings in the Crucible to tell the world that a community...
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...1953, American playwright Arthur Miller produced a play titled, The Crucible. It takes place in 17th century Salem, a small town in colonial Massachusetts. The play focuses on the actual events known as the Salem Witch Trials, in which dozens of people in and around the town of Salem were wrongfully and chaotically accused of witchcraft, Satanism, and devil worship by a group of teenage girls. It is firmly established that the play is an allegory of the hysteria and chaos that took place throughout the events of the Red Scare in the United States during the Cold War; a period in which politicians and ring leaders also wrongfully accused numerous amounts of people for supporting communism. It makes perfect sense as to why Miller wrote The Crucible allegorically to these events, 1953 was a time in which American fear and madness concerning communism was frankly getting out of control, just as the experiences in Salem were in the 1690s. The Crucible is a historically fictitious adaption of the Salem Witch Trials which as previously stated, was an episode of unjust accusations of witchcraft/devil worship carried out by a group of female teens. In the play, the group of accusing teens is led by girl named Abigail Williams. In order to refocus the “heat” on another source in order to save herself from trouble, her and her peers wrongfully stage a phenomenon of witchcraft in Salem, producing mass panic in the community for months on end. It got so bad in fact, that at one point Abigail...
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...like The Red Scare has something to do with convicting, killing innocent people and imprisoning. In the Salem witch trial, people were in trepidation of witch craft the same way that Americans were in apprehension of communism. Around this time and between The Cold War, Joseph McCarthy was a first-term senator from Wisconsin and he had won the election in 1946 after a campaign, which he then criticized all of his opponent’s failure to enlist during WWII. By the end of time, McCarthy lost some allies. He kept his job and lost his power. He died in 1957 at 48 years old. The Red Scare has always been said to be the most effective of WWI. The Salem witch trials didn’t have any type of cause and there were even some reports of more witchcraft in other towns. Arthur Miller had become very fascinated with the environment and how it affected society as a whole. Arthur also wrote an essay in 1996 called “Why I Wrote The Crucible; Authors answer...
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...Tragic Times In Salem Salem Witch Trials The Salem Witch Trials was a horrific event that occurred in colonial Massachusetts between the years 1692 and 1693. More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft and 20 ended up being executed. Some researchers believe that there may have been other current events that were affecting the trials during the same time period. Throughout this research paper I will explain the Salem Witch Trials and show the research I have done in terms of the events that may have a connection to the event, along with other factors that may have influenced the Salem Witch Trials. In the late 16 hundreds in colonial North America, the supernatural was highly considered to be a part of everyday life. Many people were strong believers that Satan was present and active on Earth. These beliefs were first formed in Europe during the fifteenth century and later spread throughout North America. Peasants were known for often using a particular kind of witchcraft to help enhance their crops, and to benefit farming and agriculture. Over time, the idea of witchcraft transformed into a very evil act. It started to became associated with demons and evil spirits. From 1560 to 1670, witchcraft persecutions became common as superstitions became associated with the devil. Through out the colonies, the most common cause for a witch hunt was caused by young girls having a mysterious screaming fit; they would often be diagnosed as having been bewitched...
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...Since the 15th century, people have been calling “Witch-hunts” to the search of people that are labeled as “witches” because of their unpopular or unorthodox views. In the book The Crucible by Arthur Miller, specifically talks about Witch-hunts where power, profit, and fear lead to accusations of witchcraft that spread like wildfire, resulting in the execution of 18 innocent people. Nowadays mental illness is the scapegoat to blame for mass shootings and gun violence, fueled by corrupt politicians whose goals are profit and power, as well as creating fear in the minds of citizens across the nation. In this essay we will compare the similarities in profit, power, and fear between “The Crucible” based on the Salem Witch Trials from the 1500’s and the stigma surrounding Mental Illness in today's society. Power: In the book The Crucible, the judge maintains power by telling people what they believe the people want hear regardless if eighteen innocent people would lose their lives. Nowadays mental illness is blamed for mass shootings and gun violence by...
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...The Salem Witch Trials Witchcraft is the practice of black magic. In the late 17th century in New England, at least 344 individuals were tried and 35 were executed as witches in Salem in 1692. More than 95 percent of all formal accusations and more than 90 percent of the executions for the witchcraft in British America occurred in Puritan colonies. Many factors contributed to the hysteria that gripped Salem. Impact of King William‘s War, the Puritan belief system and gender roles all led to the Salem witch trials. The foundation of the witchcraft crisis lay in the Puritan New Englanders’ singular worldview, one they had inherited from the first settlers of Massachusetts Bay more than sixty years earlier. That worldview taught them that they were a chosen people, charged with bringing God’s message to a heathen land previously ruled by the devil. And in that adopted homeland, God spoke through his providence - that is through small and large events of daily life. New England’s Puritans even in the third generation, believed themselves to be surrounded by an invisible world of spirits as well as by a natural world of palpable objects. Both worlds communicated God’s messages, because both operated under his direction. Losses sustained in the Second Indian War, King William’s War, prompted doubts or spiritual anxiety within the Puritan community. “That their Wabanaki enemies were Catholic (or at least aligned with the French Caltholics) made matters worse, suggesting that the...
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...Dylan Gates Mr. Woody 4 November 2012 Accelerated English 2 Crucible Essay Straying from Puritanism The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, was produced in 1953. To this day, the play remains very popular. In this play, Miller talks about a witch-hunt that took place in 1962 which compares to the “Red Scare” that went on in Washington, D.C. in the 1950s. Miller writes about a Puritan village with a Christian religion that seems to be forgotten when under pressure. Puritans are taught to stick to their Christian beliefs, and in The Crucible, they simply stray away from the beliefs and violate them to save their own life. One instance where they go away from their puritan beliefs is that the people of Salem drift away from each other and turn on each other. One very strong belief of Puritanism is that unity among them strengthened their community. In a Puritan community, they take care of each other’s needs and look out for their neighbors. In The Crucible, they certainly do not take care of one another. In fact, it is the complete opposite. Almost everyone in the play becomes very egocentric. This is all the effect of the accusations of witchcraft in Salem. Another instance where they stray from their Puritan religion is that they break many of the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments are the ten basic rules that shall not be broken by any means by a firm Christian believer. One of the ten commandments they break during the play is killing. The bible clearly states in...
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...Instructor Course February 12th 2013 17th Century European Witch craze Abstract The 17th century was the height of witch craze in Europe, where many were executed and persecuted for witchcraft. Approximately eighty five percent of those executed for witchcraft were women and this frenzy continued in Europe all the way to the early twentieth century. The loss of life was so severe that it has been referred to some researchers as a holocaust. Did this hysteria against witchcraft reduce their numbers? No. The more violently they were executed, the more in number they became. Most of those executed were women and this form of massive attack on women signifies a type of genocide; one that focuses on gender rather than on a religious or ethnic group. In Reformation Europe, women were overwhelmingly tried as witches. In France and Germany, more than eighty percent of those executed as witches and in England, ninety two percent of those executed for witchcraft were women and in Russia, approximately ninety five percent were also put to death (Trevor 214). The practice of witch hunts subsided by late seventeenth century and by early eighteenth century, witchcraft trials were rare. The causes for the decline of witch hunts are numerous and complex. This paper will attempt to analyze the witch craze phenomenon concentrating on several questions: why did women suffer the majority of the executions? Why did the witch craze end in the seventeenth century? Why was there a sudden increased...
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...Fiction Essay COURSE # and TITLE: ENGL 102: Literature and Composition SEMESTER OF ENROLLMENT: Spring B19 2012 NAME: Nick Barbir ID #_23920518_ WRITING STYLE USED: MLA Nick Barbir Mrs. Horne ENGL 102-B19 6 February 2012 The Most Dangerous Game vs. Young Goodman Brown In two of the most well-known short stories, “The Most Dangerous Game” and “Young Goodman Brown”, there are ironic similarities portraying evil between their settings, characterization, and plot. I. There happen to be different settings in both of the short stories but both of the settings adapt well with their plots. a. In the short story, “The Most Dangerous Game” the setting takes place in the early 1920’s after the First World War on a small tropical island somewhere in the Caribbean, known as Ship-Trap Island by the sailors. b. Whereas, in the short story, “Young Goodman Brown” the story is set in the late seventeenth century in Salem, a small town northeast of Boston in Massachusetts around the time of the Salem witch trials. II. The characters in both of these short stories have close similarities to each other as they both demonstrate good and evil traits, which help the plot flow. a. The main characters in “The Most Dangerous Game” are Sanger Rainsford, General Zaroff, Whitney, and Ivan. b. The main characters in the story “Young Goodman Brown” are Goodman Brown, Faith, The Old Man/Devil Figure, The Minister, Goody Cloyse, and Deakon Gookin. III. The...
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...THE DUALITY OF WOMEN’S SEXUALITY IN SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURY PURITAN MASSACHUSETTS Liesl Schnuck November 1, 2011 Due to the strength of their belief in and fear of God, colonial Massachusetts’s society regulated women’s sexuality through a paradoxical relationship: women as saints and women as sinners. Introduction In the religion-obsessed society of colonial Massachusetts, Puritan beliefs dominated contemporary views on sexuality, especially with regard to women. Although Puritan ministers understood human nature’s inability to avoid sexual relations, they adamantly professed that sex must not interfere with religion. In order to create stability within their society, ministers and lawmakers turned towards the women to implement and describe sexual regulation. Women’s social function was not only complex, but also difficult to define. As historian N.E.H. Hull notes, “theirs was a special place, not altogether enviable—for in this land of saints and sinners, they were viewed as both saintlier and more sinful than men.” Not only did society expect and desire women to act morally, but society also feared women for their supposed tendencies to act corruptly. Carol F. Karlsen accurately differentiates between these two identities by naming these women either “handmaidens of the devil” or “handmaidens of the Lord.” This distinction demonstrates the binary opposition of women’s place in society that existed in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. By...
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...there were professional magicians who were found all over even in king’s courts. The magicians even could take apprentices. They were a significant part of the society. As the European society became more self-conscious and articulate, the notion that magic was a science began to fade and was linked with heresy and other negative thoughts like sorcery. The society came to reject the notion of safe and learned magic. There was even a purge to get rid of all magicians that were in England. If one were caught, practicing magic, spiritual and temporal punishments was accorded to them. The magician became to be treated and known as the latter day witches. The book looks into the complex that came from the transformation from the magician, to the witch and the various laws that came into effect during the Medieval times about the two. The book aids us in placing our understanding of medieval magic that was later known as witchcraft. Although heresy was part of the bad image that magic was furnished with hearsay, another was the long-standing Christian teachings that were about magic especially the learned magic that was rampant during the time. This led to later developments of magic turning into witchcraft. The earlier magic was tied to the culture and the way a people flourished. It was through the fear of persecution of magicians that led to a later day persecution of witches. The real stage that was the persecution of magicians set the stage for the purge of the witches especially...
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...He felt that no man should ever be able to own another. Throughout his essay, An Interesting Narrative, he fought against the slave trade and brought the enslaved men to colonies. Equiano felt that he was meant to be more than a slave in his lifetime and he did everything he could to change his outcome. One of the ideas of enlightenment was that all men (including, the view of many, women) are equal in respect of their rationality, and should thus be granted equality before the law and individual liberty. This is the main idea of his entire essay is making everyone feel equal and gaining equality for everyone. Wheatley’s “On Being Brought from America to Africa” discusses slavery as well. People could hardly imagine that a slave could read and write, much less write poems. Wheatley was a slave that taken from Africa to American. The same Enlightenment idea from Equiano’s essay fits Wheatley’s poem as well. She is basically talking about the ideas of equality, salvation and liberty throughout her short, yet powerful poem. Africans may not be perfect, but neither are the so-called Christians who enslave other human beings. She wants Americans and slaves alike to know that the journey she had is possible for everyone, and those that follow Christian principles should be allowed to live freely. Franklin discusses aspects of Native American culture in such a way as to make it seem like an ideal. Young men hunt and protect; old men govern with the wisdom of experience; women cook and...
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