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Salem Witch Trials Essays

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The Salem Witch Trials remain one of American history’s most mystifying and telling occurrences. This series of hearings and prosecutions, which took place in 1692 in colonial Massachusetts, saw numerous people accused of witchcraft, leading to widespread fear and panic. It paints a vivid picture of the societal norms and ...

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The figure of the witch comes from a long history that precedes the United States by many millennia. The witch can be traced back to the mythology of Ancient Greece in which female association with magic is almost always portrayed as destructive or threatening. Examples of this include Circe, Medea, and, most famously, Medusa. The classicist, Mary Beard, states that Medusa's severed head remains 'one of the most potent ancient symbols of male mastery over the destructive dangers that the...
6 Pages 2699 Words
Hysteria is an overwhelming fear causing distress, that overrides logic and is often heightened and augmented by the presence of others who are acting out on that fear as well, it may be perceived by one person in society and spread amongst all, therefore tearing apart a community, making everyone question the truth. In Arthur Miller’s notable play, the Crucible, individuals undergo a dramatic transformation when the widespread fear of witchcraft overwhelms logic and individual thought. Anyone having a different...
7 Pages 3365 Words
The witch, as the Puritans saw her/him, was ultimately a man-made creation synonymous with the supernatural, sorcerers, and ghosts. Salem was a quarrelsome village and less prosperous than Salem Town. The inhabitants were divided over almost everything -- the church, politics, where to divide the land, deaths, and an immense and irrational fear of the dense forest. This ultimately led to hysteria which manifested in the tragedy that would become the Salem Witch Trials. When discussing the question “What is...
5 Pages 2169 Words
“To what extent did the Salem witch trials affect the American legal system?” Between the time of 1692-1693 in the American colony of Massachusetts, there were a series of prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft. This mainly occured in the city of Salem and it resulted in the accusation of two hundred people and the death of over thirty people. To keep authority in the city, often women were the ones accused of witchcraft but men and children were accused...
2 Pages 836 Words
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the writing of Alison Rowlands as she attempts to answer some questions regarding feminism and witchcraft in early modern Europe. These questions include, “Why were the overall majority of those prosecuted for witchcraft in early modern Europe female? What sorts of women were accused and why, and did other factors—age or marital and socio-economic status—influence their vulnerability to the accusation? And why did witch-hunting claim a significant proportion of male victims, and...
2 Pages 1051 Words
“And Justice for All”. These are the last four words of the American Pledge of Allegiance which represents the concept that every American is free and not to be “deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law” as stated in the Bill of Rights. In a typical community, the citizens rely on the power of the court and law to protect them and the people they love. When those who are responsible for serving justice abuse and...
3 Pages 1277 Words
In the 1940s, America was living in fear. Hiding in plain sight, Communists were infiltrating the country. Everyone from government employees to actors was being subpoenaed to testify before Congress. However, the truth behind this story is that an ambitious Senator named Joseph McCarthy had scared the country into alienating large groups of innocent Americans. The paranoia that ensued led to a congressional committee accusing and in some cases imprisoning these citizens only for their alleged beliefs. Arthur Miller’s play...
2 Pages 1131 Words
Angry mobs are nothing new. They’ve existed for hundreds of years, from the Salem witch trials to racist lynchings to a continued manifestation within social media, demanding justice and inflicting their will upon whoever stirred their ire. The destructive actions of mobs throughout history have shown what an enraged group of people is capable of, and over time has caused the masses to develop a general sentiment that angry mobs aren’t justified in what they do and are only a...
2 Pages 710 Words
Lies can hurt, but can they kill? In Arthur Miller's play 'The Crucible', there is a 17-year-old girl from Salem, Massachusetts, named Abigail, in 1692. She is the niece of Reverend Parris. She is also the former servant of John and Elizabeth Proctor. She was fired when Abigail and John were caught having an affair. Abigail abuses her power within Salem and brings destruction upon innocent people. Abigail begins telling rumors that the town has become infested with witches, and...
2 Pages 786 Words
Abstract At the beginning of 1692, two girls from Salem suffered from strange diseases. The doctors believed it was caused by witches and asked them to identify the people responsible for using witchcraft in the village. From that point on, in less than a year, more than 200 people in Salem were accused of using witchcraft, imprisoned, and awaiting trial. By the end of 1692, when this kind of collective irrationality came to an end, 20 local people had been...
3 Pages 1382 Words
I get pleasure from reading non-fictional historical books. I believe one of the foremost 'tasks' of books and literature is to point out and therefore there is nothing a lot of necessary than literate books on history and culture. witchery is to boot a major interest of mine as a result of I believe it's completely fascinating, particularly how it interacts with history. starting in the Gregorian calendar month of 1692, Salem Village in colonial Massachusetts witnessed the foremost necessary...
2 Pages 945 Words
Crucible is a game about revenge and power. Abigail Williams exploits the whole city to do her bidding, depending on her desire to keep her dignity and eventually have the man she loves. Abigail becomes one of the game's biggest opponents by using his deceptive and favorite antics. Abigail's qualities, motives, and arguments are essential to Crucible's conspiracy. Abigail Williams can be described in many words. Someone is cheating. At the moment we meet Abigail has been quickly described as...
1 Page 650 Words
The Puritans in New England endured the chilliest winters of the time in the period of 1680 to 1730 according to the weather records from Mckaila (2014). In the duration, of the Salem witch trials occurred, hundreds of innocent people had been hounded and nineteen of them were hanged at the end starting in 1962. This assignment is going to argue that the driving factor of these large-scale witch trials was the people’s anxiety by adverse weather at Salem, using...
2 Pages 1112 Words
Have you ever heard of the town of Salem? It’s a town located in Massachusetts that started the Salem witch trials. Several horrifying things occurred during the time in which the trials were happening. The trials occurred all the way from February 1962 to May 1963. This event was one of the many significant events of the first colonies. The effects on individuals that were involved were very severe. One example including a lady by the name of Abigail Hobbs....
2 Pages 722 Words
Samuel Parris left the room full of anger. Despite the tax problems he was facing from the visiting Salem village, he now has another difficulty for his daughter of 9, and his niece of 11, have both been diagnosed by the doctor to have been bewitched by someone. The past couple of days, Elizabeth and Abigail have been acting very strangely. Parris heard them scream bloody murder, heave things across the room, make strange abnormal sounds, and find them in...
1 Page 566 Words
What if I told you that the world we live in is much more similar to the 1692 Salem Witch Trials than you thought? Arthur Miller’s play ‘The Crucible’ speaks about these aforementioned trials through the eyes of those living during the era. Chaos in Salem spread after the accusations of witchcraft against Reverend Parris’ slave, Tituba, due to the fact that his daughter, Betty, became ill with no plausible explanation. Tituba, being brought into custody for interrogation, admits to...
2 Pages 1007 Words
The Salem witch preliminaries of 1692 occurred in Salem, Massachusetts. Generally speaking, 141 individuals were captured as 19 were hung and one squashed to death. Scientists portray the Salem witch preliminaries as a progression of court preliminaries that were planned for indicting people who had been blamed for black magic. Earlier hearings of the Salem witch preliminaries were done in a few unique towns. The real preliminary was led by the Court of Oyer and Terminer arranged in Salem town....
2 Pages 939 Words
“You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right” - Rosa Parks. What is the right thing? Throughout society, people have been fighting to do the right thing. From America fighting for their freedom, to women's equality. Sometimes doing something right changes society, other times no matter how hard people try, evil takes over. As in the case of the Salem Witch Trials, evil won. Abigail Williams and a group of young girls were accused...
3 Pages 1195 Words
The Salem Witchcraft Trials have been a fascinating and well-known subject to many generations of Americans. For years, there has been speculation as to why they occurred. The witchcraft trials began when several young girls became affected by a strange disease which caused them to have “fits”. The girls began placing blame on members of the community, saying that they were witches. This trend quickly spiraled out of control, resulting in the death of about twenty people. The Salem Witch...
1 Page 650 Words
Before countries began to colonize the New World in 1492, there were many groups of Native Americans in the Americas. They had developed their own cultures, religions, and ways of life. Eventually, in search of the west indies, Christopher Columbus found south America. Spain had more advanced weaponry and fast-spreading diseases that allowed them to quickly take over South America. Their oppression of the natives' culture, religion, and rights created high tensions and lead to revolts, such as the pueblo...
4 Pages 1881 Words
The Salem Witch Trials represented a corporeal emulation of base human nature. New Historicism views the trials as both a product and result of the social, political, and religious climates seen in the seventeenth-century New World. A culmination of these myriad factors that wrought Puritanical New England brought about a level of hysteria that climaxed in bloodshed; this is a tale known all too well, especially for early Americans. Indisputably, Cotton Mather’s influence over the Salem Witch Trials was felt...
7 Pages 3125 Words
Every tragedy in history has a tragic hero. Now a tragic hero always has the potential for greatness but is destined to fail. They also meet a tragic death and face it with honor. The Salem Witch Trials began in the spring of 1692, in Salem Massachusetts. During this period of time there were 200 people were accused of being a witch, and 20 people were hanged. During the Salem Witch Trials, there is a “tragic hero” named John Proctor....
2 Pages 734 Words
The Salem Witch Trials era during the late 1600s was a time where suspicion and the belief in the supernatural cultivated. To get an understanding of the Salem Witch Trials, one must first understand its origins. The Salem Witch Trials commenced around the early months of 1692 when a group of young residents in Salem Village, Massachusetts, professed to be possessed by the devil and accused a number of local women of witchcraft. To add on, in the course of...
3 Pages 1320 Words
In the Devil’s Snare, written by Mary Beth Norton, is a book reexamining the events taking place that possibly affected the outcome of the Salem Witch Trials. Mary Beth Norton is an award winning historian and a professor at Cornell University (Mary Beth Norton). Opposing all other historians, she looks at many events from all perspectives, giving the readers a fresh and persuasive argument. The Salem Witch trials was a mass hysteria, beginning with three young children, which lead to...
5 Pages 2192 Words
Many novelists have tackled the historical events of the infamous Salem witch trials of Massachusetts, one of the novelists being Stacy Schiff. She is well known for winning the Pulitzer Prize for her novel Cleopatra. When I saw that Stacy Schiff wrote a novel on the Salem Witch trials, I was immediately drawn and intrigued to read her perception of the historical events found written in our history books and portrayed on the movie screens. Stacy Schiff’s book The Witches,...
3 Pages 1224 Words
Afflicted girls screamed in fear, holding on to one another in terror. Scared witnesses in the courtroom looked on as the girls pointed into the empty air, Each day, more townspeople were arrested and thrown in jail to wait for a hearing or trial, accused of witchcraft and teaming up with the devil. The people of Salem, Massachusetts didn’t know who to trust. Neighbor accused neighbor. Issues were blamed on witchcraft, and the accused were tired of their lives based...
1 Page 505 Words
The idea of a planned and deliberate retribution at the heart of Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” reflects to some degree the vengeful ideology that inspired the Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts. Jackson took immense inspiration from tales of the macabre in an otherwise seemingly mundane society—she wrote, for instance, of seeking out the news articles depicting something horrendous like an ax murder for the sake of reviving her spirits after so many life-affirming stories about babies: “The lead article on...
2 Pages 998 Words
To the Puritans, good deeds and prosperity were believed to be the work of God while misfortunes and abnormalities were to be the work of the Devil. In 1692, the infamous Salem Witch Trials began in Salem Village, Massachusetts. After a group of young girls were thought to be possessed by the devil, local women were accused of witchcraft which started a wave of hysteria and panic throughout the colony. A special court was then created in order to put...
2 Pages 1043 Words
The world is just as unscrupulous as its people. Looking back, they are made aware of the haunting payoff of deceit that accompanies an attempt to try to “better” the world. The Crucible is one well-written play that develops the concept of flawed humans. In this play, Arthur Miller depicts the Salem Witch Trials and how they were wrongfully conducted under the purported “law.” The characters manipulated the whole society of the village into believing the drastic idea of witchcraft....
5 Pages 2250 Words
‘The Crucible’ is a 1953 play by an American play writer, Arthur Miller. It is a dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the Salem witch hunt trials that took place in Massachusetts in 1692. One of the main characters of the play, Abigail Williams is one the main character in the play who is the antagonist and involved in most of the conflicts because she represents the theme off jealousy. She is a victim of what is happening in her...
2 Pages 1104 Words
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