...that you did not commit? During,1692 in Salem, Massachusetts there was a very bizarre hysteria going around. What caused the Salem Witch Trial hysteria of 1692? There were three causes of the Salem Witch Trial hysteria. These were gender, age and marital status, town division wealth and power, and the lying girls. To begin with, there were three causes of the Salem Witch Trial Hysteria which were gender, age, and marital status. One piece of evidence that supports this cause, is the document B. Twenty-three accusers were single, as opposed to the six married women. Furthermore, another piece of supporting evidence, is the majority of the accusers were mainly single women from the ages of sixteen through twenty. This evidence helps to explain the hysteria and the hangings. According to the Document B, the majority of the girls were single and at the age between sixteen and twenty years old. In addition, the girls had to follow a very strict lifestyle, which maybe they wanted to get out of their situation and find a man to marry.Thus, because of the girl's odd behavior, one way we could assume why these girls would do this is because of the strict Puritan lifestyle.This...
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...The Salem Witch trials, which took place in Massachusetts between the years of 1692 and 1693, have long been viewed as a mystery due to the sudden erratic behaviors and harsh punishments placed on those who were tried as “witches”. During the Salem Witch Trials, over two-hundred people were arrested for showing signs of witchcraft, which included biting, scratching, and screaming. Of the two-hundred who were arrested, nineteen were hanged and one was stoned to death. As Emerson W. Baker – an archaeologist who specializes in the study of the Salem Witch Trials – explained in his book A Storm of Witchcraft, that the witch trials were caused by a “perfect storm” of three big problems. (Baker) The main causes of the Salem Witch Trials were harsh winter weather, political discord, and religion....
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...Salem witch trials Sabrina Armstrong Com/220 April 24, 2010 G.L. Beck Salem witch trials: a drug induced hysteria What happened in Salem in 1692? The people involved in the Salem witch trials were more than just names, dates and places; they were people with lives and families as well. The Salem witch trials started with three girls falling ill with mysterious symptoms that the doctors could not explain by medical science during that point in history. Many people still wonder today why the hysteria took place. Some people believe that, what caused the hysteria was a by-product of children’s self-delusions. Other people believe that while, the hysteria fueled the Salem witch trials it was not the cause of the trials. A handful of people instead believe that it was drug induce by a toxic fungus called ergot. Ergot is a mold often found on plants such as rye, wheat, and barley, which during the witch trials and still today people made bread from these plants. St. Anthony’s fire is also another name for ergotism. Ergot is a type of food poisoning; that during; Medieval Times was frequent. Although ergot does not include LSD, it does contain ergotamine, which is the hallucinogen that LSD derives from. The evidence suggests that digesting food with ergot in it will poison people and make them sick; this was a major aspect in the Salem trials but no one realized this until recently, when historian and behaviorist psychologist Linnda Caporael did a study on the trials...
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...Fares Alkatanani Ap Language March 19, 2024 Mrs. Evans What were some of the possible causes of the witch trials? Le Beau, Bryan F. “Factional Politics Provoked the Crisis in Salem Village.” The Salem Witch Trials. Edited by Laura Marvel. Greenhaven Press, 2003. pp. 113-117. 30 - 36. LeBeau examines the role of internal conflicts within Salem leading up to the trials. He argues that economic tensions and land disputes charged the Salem witch with hysteria. The article takes a further look at power struggles between Salem Town and Village and how they only deepened social tensions, contributing to the occurrence of the trials. The political state of Salem is in crisis. Many were in disagreement, causing high tensions. Salem is divided into...
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...evaluate the language Arthur Miller uses and how it contributed to the overall success of the play. The Crucible is set in 1692 in the puritan town of Salem, Massachusetts, a theocratic society, where the laws of the land are laid down by the church. The main idea running throughout the play can be viewed as a direct comparison to McCarthyism which was happening in 1950’s America, in which members of the general public including public figures such as Arthur Miller were brought in and questioned over connections to communism. This can be seen as a direct comparison to people being brought into the Salem courts regarding connections with witchcraft. It was not until Miller saw this comparison that he then felt compelled to write The Crucible as he now felt he could get into the minds of those going through similar circumstances back in the Salem witch trials. Hysteria was the main cause of nineteen deaths in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, and countless ruined reputations on account of Joe McCarthy. Hysteria does not just appear out of nowhere though. There are driving forces such as revenge and abuse of power that bring about the irrational fear that can take over society. These are the issues expressed in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. The Crucible is paralleled directly to the Salem Witch Trials and indirectly to the McCarthy hearings of the 1950’s. The story of The Crucible takes place against the background of the Salem Witch, trials but the themes lie much deeper. The main...
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...intimate behavior in public. Puritans did not only believe in God, but they also believed that there was a darker force in this world living amongst them known as the Devil. They believed that he could possess anybody and cause numerous types of disasters, so thus the period of hysteria began. In a span of few months many were accused and hanged because of the false accusations. What actually caused the Salem witch trials of 1692? The three main components that caused the hysteria were: religion, envy, and excitement. The background history mentions that the Puritans were fundamentalists, meaning that they believed the Bible no matter what,“ Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” ( Doc. A). If the Bible told the Puritans that the witches were foul creatures, the Puritans believed the Bible and did everything in their power to destroy the witches. Cotton Mather was an influential minister in the New England colonies. He preached, “These evil spirits are all around...but the houses of Christians, where our God has had his constant...
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...Miller, the people of Salem are going through a time of panic and hysteria, because anyone can be accused of witchery. Some use this to their advantage, and accuse people for revenge, greed, or fame; others attempt to cease the madness and bring the truth about the Salem witch trials, and how they are false; some even wanted no part in what was happening around them. As portrayed in The Crucible, the Salem witch Trials forcefully involved innocent people, like Rebecca Nurse, who wanted to have nothing to do with the...
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...Mass hysteria is a condition affecting groups of persons characterized by excitement or anxiety, irrational behavior or beliefs, or inexplicable symptoms of illness. In the play The Crucible written by Arthur Miller shows that mass hysteria can affect anyone on how they act and it had an influence in different societies throughout history like the 2016’s the creepy clowns scaring people, 1940’s the holocaust eliminating jews, and the 1400’s-1600’s European witch hunt finding witches. In the 1990’s the holocaust was a tragic event where many lives were lost. It was caused by a man called Hitler and he was the one who made it all happen. He showed mass hysteria to people about jews. A reason why hitler targeted jews is because a book that came...
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...Proctor was the flawed hero of the Salem witch trials, his condemnation of ‘secular’ decisions and frustrating fabrications resulted, in the end of unruly executions and the revealing of concealed truths. Foremost, in most communities the government is the cornerstone which underpins morality and eliminates hysteria; consequently, the theocracy operating in Salem further encouraged the debacle. Judge Danforth’s fear tainted his proceedings; he did not interrogate Abigail, which allowed him to remain ‘unafflicted’ and Abigail to continue her demonstrations. In light of this situation, Proctor’s moral uprightness coerced him to criticise the oppressive regime. Foremost when his wife was incarcerated, Proctor did not remain silenced. He realised, his salacious slip up underpinned her arrest and would cause her execution. Consequently, Proctor summoned courage- but his courage was like a diamond very brilliant and unchanged by fire. He did not allow for Abigail's intimidation to unravel his ethical ideals, he unwaveringly advocated his wife’s innocence and accused Abigail of sporting; despite the risk of being charged with contempt of the...
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...Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 during the Witchcraft Trials must have been a mysterious but, scary place to live. Over the year historians have attempted to uncover the reason behind the witchcraft hysteria, some blamed it on political motives, childhood boredom, and biological reasons. The entire witchcraft hysteria started over unexplained affliction doctors couldn’t explain. Allegations were made against mothers, wives and daughters, rich widows, sea captains, army officers and ministers in the upper society no one was safe. The most surprising allegations of witchcraft took place among educated people in the mist of the scientific revolution. I will attempt to discuss several reasons for the hysteria then you can decide for yourself or at least have something to think about. When Betty Parris, age 9 the daughter of a fanatical minister, Samuel Parris accused her first witch, was it her imagination or something else. Betty would secretly play fortune telling games with her fathers salve Tituba from Barbados. Perhaps, she became guilty and the anxiety caused her to become ill, after all her father viewed everything as either good or totally evil, and the punishment for playing such games would be severe. So when she started complaining of knifelike pain throughout her body, temporary loss of speech, sight and hearing. Dr. Griggs was called in to examiner her and finding no logical explanation he blamed her illness on witchcraft. Samuel Parris, being a minister was...
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...She is a controlling and evil seventeen-year-old girl who manages to bring conflict to the town of Salem. She is "a strikingly beautiful girl, an orphan, with an endless capacity for dissembling" (47). Her actions and intentions are influenced by her infatuation with John Proctor, with hysteria and accusations of witchcraft in the village resulting from her desire for him. She gained enough power and convicted many affluent people of witchcraft. She is an orphan and was previously a servant for the Putnam family. Socially, she is of low status, but through manipulation she manages to subjugate the people of Salem, and "where she walks the crowd will part like the sea for Israel" (99). In her opinion, she has "been near to murdered because I done my duty pointing out the Devils people... I am mistrusted, denied and questioned" (160) everyday. However, this allows her to further manipulate people into agreeing with her and heighten the hysteria running rampant in Salem. She over exaggerates and lies through her testimony, and gets even the judge to believe her. For example, one of the judges believed her when she said that one night, "without word...she fell onto floor. Like a struck beast... and screamed a scream that a bull would weep to hear" (123). Her character resembles...
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...During the late 1600s, Abigail Williams caused irreparable harm and chaos in Salem, Massachusetts. Abigail is a malicious individual, doing whatever she can to get the things she wants. Abigail takes whatever action is needed to protect herself, even if it harms others. In Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, Abigail Williams was the true cause of the Salem Witch Trials because she falsely accused other women of being witches, had an affair with John Proctor, and forced others to do what she wanted them to. Abigail Williams ignites turmoil in Salem when she begins to accuse innocent women in Salem of witchcraft. Abigail’s main reason for doing so is to deflect the blame off of herself so that her name is not tarnished; and she does not get in any trouble. Abigail shows her true colors in the climax of Act 1 when Abigail and the girls begin to yell out the names of the women in the town, claiming they are witches. For example, when Abigail yells out to the town, “I saw Sarah Good with the devil, I saw Goody Osburn with the devil” (Miller 1.45). It is understood that Abigail did...
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...Arthur Miller’s, The Crucible, Mrs. Putnam and Abigail Williams have hidden motivations fueling the Salem witch trials by making false accusations against people causing mass hysteria in the village. Mrs. Ann Putnam has experienced seven of her children die at childbirth in which she is in desperate need to find a justifiable reason. She argues with Rebecca Nurse because of Rebecca’s success in childbearing, Mrs. Putnam says, “You think it God’s work you should never lose a child, nor grandchild either, and I bury all but one? There are wheels within wheels in this village, and fires within fires!” (Miller 26). Mrs. Putnam does not understand why God would punish her by losing so many children and someone else like Rebecca have luck in...
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...fifty witches were hung, for performing acts of sorcery, without a fair trial (History staff). Those who were killed includes men, women, and unfortunately children. Salem, a colony located in Massachusetts, was where many innocent people were killed for being thought of using witchcraft. Salem was not the only one killing people for witchcraft, before Salem hundreds of women and men were burned at the stake in Europe and neighboring countries. The Salem Witch trials has proven that words can be stronger when fear is involved, the enforcement of the constitution is crucial, and how learning to communicate with the person at trial it more beneficial than staying close minded. When fear is a factor between life or death it makes things very bias. 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts a witch, Tituba an Indian slave, was accused of...
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...spring of 1692, the notorious Salem Witch Trials in Salem, Massachusetts resulted in the deaths of 20 citizens, both men and women as of witchcraft charges. 200 others were accused and were jailed during the time of the trials. Eventually, the colony admitted the trials were a mistake and compensated the families of those convicted (Blumberg, Jess). There are many reasons as to why these trials came about, such as religion, personal conflicts, etc., but why did these trials really happen? “O Christian Martyr Who for Truth could die. When all about thee Owned the hideous lie! The world, redeemed from superstition’s sway, Is breathing freer for thy sake today” (Linder, Douglas). It was 1688 when a man by the name John Putman, a famous elder of the Salem Village, invited Samuel Parris, to preach in the church. Parris came to the Salem Village along with his wife Elizabeth, daughter Betty, niece Abigail Williams, and his Indian slave Tituba. February...
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