...The Salem Witch Trials, of 1692, occurred in Salem Massachusetts. This is a case where people accused other people of witchcraft. Salem was a town governed by strict Puritan religion, and to have such a charge labeled against you could cost you your life. According to Boyer and Nissenbaum, there were many worldly reasons for the events that happened so many years ago. In this essay, the authors make their findings based on scientific analysis and much historical research. Paul Boyer and Stephen argued that the Salem Witchcraft Trials took place because of the separation of the east and west, the choosing of the ministers of the church, and the agricultural and merchant interests. After much research, “took their list of accusers and accused the...
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...A Representation of the Accused Witches of Salem The Salem Witch Trials were a series of executions that took place in Salem, Massachusetts during the years 1692-1693. These executions took place due to a large number of people in Salem being accused of witchcraft. The amount of tried witches primarily consisted of women, although men were also accused. This paper argues that a specific pattern can be found with regards to how the women accused of witchcraft were viewed in their society. In particular, women who stood out in a negative manner were often the victims of public accusations, especially those represented as religious heretics, deviant members in society, and social outcasts. In order to interpret the Salem Witch Trials, one must...
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...THE BEGINNING AND END OF THE SALEM WITCH TRIALSIntroductionThe Salem witch trials have been drawing attention of researchers and historians for manycenturies due to the unexplained nature of the events and their continuance. From the 17thcenturyuntil now scientists present and explore different possible reasons which caused the witch hysteriain Salem and brought harm to many people.The Salem witch trials were a series of prosecutions which began in Salem town, stateMassachussetts, in 1692, and the consequences of the trials lasted till 1697. In 1692, two little girlsstarted to demonstrate weird and frightening behavior including convulsions and hallucinations.Very quickly several other girls and some adults developed the same symptoms, and...
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...the American colonies. The well-know Salem witch trials began when a group of girls were diagnosed with bewitchment after showing symptoms of uncontrollable outbursts of screaming and contortions. These symptoms spread to other young girls in the community and most likely were caused by other reasons that could have included epilepsy, child abuse, mental illness or even a disease caused by eating rye bread infected with fungus. Nevertheless, the bewitchment diagnosis stuck. Some of the young girls claimed to be possessed by the devil and a few of them accused certain women in the community of being witches. The people of Salem, who already lived in fear from the real world dangers such as political instability, small pox and Indian massacres, were terrified of this evil. The hysteria this caused spread throughout colonial Massachussets. The Puritans were...
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...The movie focused on the Salem Witch trials. They showed the trials and how they prosecuted people who were believed in being apart of witchcraft in the countries of Essex, Suffolk, and Middlesex in colonial Massachusetts. The event in the movie took place in the mid 17th century. It showed during that time how any person accused of witchcraft was believed to be consorting with the devil. The movie focuses on a kids who were in fear of being associated with any part of witchcraft. The kids being so scared were the causes of accusation of innocent people who were condemned without fair trial. In their deception, they Salem witch trial system sent a group of falsely accused people to their death. In the movie they made a solid point and used many accurate facts from the history of the Salem Trials. In the movie, Samuel Parris played the minister who demanded that the outbreak of witchcraft be stopped with. It was fear and paranoia that caused people to be beheaded or sent to jail which is well shown in the movie. The movie does take a more subtle way of showing the tortures that happen to people being accused. During those times people suffered both physically and mentally. The torture methods are worse than what is being shown in the movie. In conclusion, I think the movie fully explained what happen during the Salem Witch trials. I think it depicted everything in its reality that happen to...
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...Maycomb court is back in trial with the Ewell’s as the accuser and Tom Robinson as the defendant. Atticus takes the stand as the lawyer to defend Tom, and proves a valid point to anyone that it is as clear as day that Tom is not guilty. Why was he proven guilty then? Personal, I don't see that he should be guilty. I want people to realize the truth, and see why he isn’t guilty. Physical evidence of Mayella’s bruises clearly shows that her left side was bruised. Attius states, ”...there is circumstantial evidence to indicate that Mayella was beaten savagely by someone who led almost exclusively left … Mr.Ewell … no doubt signing it with his left hand, and Tom Robison..having taken oath with the only good hand he possess- his right hand.” This clearly contrast both...
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...Salem Witch Trail essay You are a witch.Would you do anything for jealousy attention or revenge? The Salem Witch trial was a time where many people of the village were being accused of witchcraft it was a very hectic period of time. The cause of the effect of salem witch trials of 1692 was revenge, attention, and jealousy. We all know about revenge and perhaps we all have done it in some point in our life. Salem witch crafts hanging were common and it is related to revenge because once a person was pressed to death most of his or her family would be executed. Document A there were many people who were related and executed like Mary Parker and Alice Parker. So this goes to show how revenged occurred because it did not matter if you were not a witch.This document shows that some people were related and that caused them to accuse their family members,and in document A it also that many whom were lady,which could...
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...The Salem witch trial hysteria of 1692 may have been instigated by religious, social, geographic and even biological factors. During these trials, 134 people were condemned as witches and 19 were hanged. These statistics also include 5 more deaths that occurred prior to their execution date. It is interesting to look into the causes of this stain on American History, when as shown in document B, eight citizens were hanged in only one day. Religion was a very strong influence in the lives of Puritans as they followed a very strict moral code and based their entire lives on their faith. Most Puritans were taught from the Bible that "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" (Doc. A), which explains why the witch scare was taken so seriously and why the accused were punished so harshly. They believed and feared that "evil spirits were all around" (Doc. C) as noted in Memorable Providences Relating to Witchcraft and Possessions by Cotton Mather, who at that time was a reputable expert in the "invisible world." It seems strange to 21st-century dwellers that people believed that witches could be identified by marks of the devil, as portrayed in an 1853 painting by T.H. Matteson (Doc. D). Today, it is frightening to imagine that people accused others of “bewitching your first husband...
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...The Crucible In the tragedy play The Crucible written by Arthur Miller there were a lot of characters involved with the Salem witch trials, but there were only three characters who were responsible for it. The Crucible is about the Salem witch trials who several young girls were supposedly afflicted by witchcraft. And so the girls accused innocent people in their town for witchcraft also mostly accusing people who they or their families dislike so they would be hanged. In total 20 people were killed due to the witch trials. The three characters who were responsible for the Salem witch trials are Abigail Williams, Reverend Parris, and Betty Parris. Abigail Williams has most part why the witch trials started because she knew this was all a...
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...Can you imagine being accused of committing a crime 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 Puritans founded the colony of Massachusetts in 1630 due to religious freedom, they wanted to purify the Church of England and soon enough Massachusetts became one of the most religious colonies, the colony even came up with the blue laws; which restricted 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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...The New York Conspiracy Trials, a time where paranoia and terror went widespread throughout the city, exposed how corrupted society was during the 18th century America. Similar to the Salem Witch Trials, people went out looking for blood based on false accusations and hearsay, even if none, or if any, of them held a single grain of truth. As the number of mysterious fires escalated, so did the animosity amid the whites and blacks. Not to mention the fact that the faulty court system did not take into account habeas corpus, innocent until proven guilty. Race relations and the legal system were not up to par as the New York Conspiracy Trials made racism rear its ugly head and the courts appear to be less than subpar. Racism was prevalent during the New York Conspiracy Trials as the blame fell solely on the black slaves. Since...
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...During the 17th century in British Isles, mass witch trials and hunts were taken place. People believed witches worked for Satan. They sank ships, brought disease, murdered, and maimed. In order to stop this witchcraft they tortured and exiled many innocent people, primarily women. Most women were believed to be witches all due to uncircumstantial evidence such as rumors and superstition. If someone didn’t like you or wanted revenge all they had to do is say your a witch and that would be the end of you. This led to the death of many innocent lives. It all begin, with James I’s new bride, Anne of Denmark who was sent out across the North Sea to join him and be crowned queen. However, she never made it so as a result, James I went to Denmark in search of a wife. Where witches and executions were very much present. In Scotland, there wasn’t a belief of witches and the devil until one incident erupted a whole on going belief that witches lived among...
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...Imagine eating some bread one day and the next being accused of witchery? That was exactly what occurred in the Salem Witch trials of 1692. When neighbors turned on each other and loyalties were broken in this tragic event. In the Spring of January 1692, a few girls in the village of Salem started to experience strange behavior. Muscle contortions, seizures, and sudden bursts of screaming. After the doctor said that it was a case of bewitchment, the girls immediately started to accuse their neighbors of bewitching them. This shows how certain circumstances cause people to lose loyalty to each other because of their shared fear of the unknown. Salem was a small town but its geography actually affected the trials. The town of Salem was on the...
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...The Crucible: Salem Witch Trails Have you ever been responsible for the fate of dozens of innocent lives. In the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller where young girls play in the woods and are accused of witchcraft but only to lie and get others killed for their wrong doing. The play has three characters that are responsible for the trials in Salem, Abigail, Samuel Parris and Judge Danforth because of Abigail telling about others, Danforth wouldn’t come to believe what the people were saying who were right and hearing the ones that are wrong, lately Parris would lie only to keep his lying niece safe. Abigail is a seventeen year old niece of Parris and is one of the three people responsible because of the way she told lies about the people in Salem. ''Sometimes I wake and find myself standing in the 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-'' (Miller 483)This quote shows how Abigail would make up lies about what others would do to her like Tituba singing and being in her dreams. Which would lead Tituba getting in trouble and accused of witch craft. Parris is the minister of Salem, however he is very greedy which would lead him to getting the lives of the citizens in Salem, killed because he would care about his own niece and just to...
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