As a part of human nature, people tend to feel secure when they can explain an unexpected situation. In the 17th century, people had not yet possessed enough knowledge to explain as many natural phenomena as we do now, and that was probably when the concept “witchcraft” came in as an answer key to all unexplainable things. And, of course, with little knowledge about how “witchcraft” worked, people were generally afraid of this concept. The Trial of Tempel Anneke collects primary sources from that period of time and gives us an idea about so-called “witch-hunt of early modern Europe” and people’s attitude towards witchcraft, most of which was considered harmful.…
The Salem Witch Trials are known as a series of people being accused and prosecuted of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts beginning in February 1692 until May 1693. The trials began after a group of girls claimed that they were possessed by the devil. Several local women were accused of witchcraft and this began the wave of hysteria that would forever haunt Salem and leave a painful legacy for a long time to come. Nearly every major school of historians has attempted to explain the answer to the mystery of the trials, trying to understand why they occurred. From Marxists who blame class conflict, to Freudians who believe in mass hysteria, the more ecologically based historians who put the blame on hallucinogenic ergot fungus, and now more…
“The blackest chapter in the history of Witchcraft lies not in the malevolence of Witches but in the deliberate, gloating cruelty of their prosecutors.” When Theda Kenyon made this observation she was thinking about the atrocious behavior and actions that took place in Salem in 1692. During this tragic event neighbors were turned against one another and no bond was sacred. The men and women of Salem faced accusations from all directions and often the accusers were their close friends, business partners, and even their spouses. Panic filled Salem village and suddenly the slightest discrepancy in behavior became a reason to name someone as a witch. One of the greatest examples of how the hysteria brought upon lethal allegations for some of Salem’s citizen is the case of Bridget Bishop, the first person to be tried and executed for witchcraft in Salem.…
Act Three Questions Directions On a separate sheet of paper, please answer each part of each question asked below. Please use complete sentences and please answer the question as asked. 1. As the act opens, who is being interrogated and on what charge Martha Corey is being interrogated by Judge Hathorne on the charge of telling fortunes (witchery). 2. What is interesting about the dialogue at the beginning of this act What was Miller trying to suggest about the tone of the legal proceedings to follow This indirect dialogue (off stage / only heard, not seen) suggests that although people will talk / be heard, the truth will not be seen / acknowledged. 3. What is Mary Warren now prepared to tell the court Mary Warren is prepared to the court that the girls have only been sporting, or pretending. They honestly have never seen or known a witch and theyve only lied to protect themselves by throwing suspicion on others. 4. What two facts about John Proctor does Ezekiel Cheever feel compelled to reveal to Danforth Ezekiel Cheever feels compelled to tell Deputy Governor Danforth that John tore up the arrest warrant for Elizabeth when Cheever served it and that Proctor sometimes plows on Sunday. 5. What compromise, or deal, does Danforth offer to Proctor What is Proctors response Why does he respond this way Because Elizabeth claims that she is pregnant, Danforth offers to not try her until after shes delivered her child if Proctor will drop the charge against the court that the proceedings have been unjust. Proctor said that he could not accept that plea because his friends wives, who are also innocent, have been charged and they need to be freed. He feels that the truth needs to come out to protect all of the innocent people. 6. How do Hathorne and Parris persuade Danforth to respond to the deposition that lists ninety-one supporters of Rebecca, Elizabeth, and Martha Corey Hathorne and Parris persuade Danforth that all of the ninety-one supporters must be…
Three years prior to the hysteria, a very admired and respected minister, Cotton Mather, told of how, “these evil spirits are all around” – “these evil spirits” being the workers of Satan who are working against the power of God. In Document C, he is quoted as a secondary source countering the theory that witchcraft was only performed by Indians. He supports his own theory by referring to the growing number of witchcraft cases that are occurring in Christian households. He makes a general statement warning everyone to spread his word of the growth of the evil spirits and to take caution. This quote seems to plant the seed of witchcraft in everyone’s mind. Once warned, the people of Salem walk on egg shells trying to find signs of witchcraft, but also avoiding them as much as possible.…
The Salem Witchcraft was a series of undesirable events, which was powered by paranoia and fear. Though several witch trials occurred before the Salem Witch Trial, this was the most well known of all. Many innocent people were accused of witchcraft which resulted to 19 men and women that were hanged, 17 innocents that died in unsanitary prisons, and an 80-year old man that was crushed to death by putting stones on top of his stomach until he confesses (movie: The Crucible). In some accounts, it was reported that two dogs were stoned to death for cooperating with the Devil. Why did the Salem Witch trial occur? Were these trials appropriate? Or were they truly a Devil's work? The Salem Witch Trials might have occurred for a variety of reasons such as people's ignorance that led to superstitions. It might have also occurred because people's crave for power, or it might also be because of fear.…
The Salem witch trials began when the 9-year-old daughter of reverend Samuel Parris and his niece were diagnosed as being under Satan’s influence. The Salem witch trials were an inhumane and unfair series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. The trials resulted in the executions of twenty people, also four other accused and an infant child died in prison.…
What if the Salem Witch Trial Hysteria of 1692 was caused by a simple lie? What would you be thinking? There's no way? That's impossible? There have been many ideas of what caused the Salem Witch Trials researched by historians, but most of them are not true, most of them can't be backed. But first we must review some key vocabulary; Hysteria. Hysteria is an outbreak of emotion or fear. The three most logical causes of the Salem Witchcraft Hysteria of 1692 are biased amongst the community, attention for the poor, and acting by the accusing girls/women.…
Boyer and Nissenbaum's explanation for the outbreak of witchcraft accusations in Salem hinges on an understanding of the economic, political and personal…
The so called witches of Salem were accused on faulty evidence and treated harshly. A person could be accused of witchcraft based solely on spectral evidence. A person could say that someone else's spirit was hurting them and they would use this as enough evidence to prosecute and convict someone of witchcraft. The people of Salem had several tests for witches, and if an accused passed a test they would give another and another until they failed. The people who were accused of witchcraft would be sent to a jailhouse with little food and water. They would put shackles on them so that these so called spectra's could not harm anyone. Not only was this taken to excess it was unmorally wrong.…
Although the belief in witchcraft was widespread the prosecution of the witches was sporadic and only a few towns executed the witches. Many towns held trials, because they didn’t want to rush to judgment. However it was not easy to prove witchcraft, until 1692 when things turned for the worse and problems increased dramatically. Desparate for an answer the towns people finally started to believe this was the only explanation.…
Throughout the history of witchcraft it has been hard to establish if any of these accusations on witches ' were actually true due to lack of records and proof, although it now seems certain that the vast majority of women incited were innocent. In the book "The Bewitching of Anne Gunter" we can see how these allegations can be completely fabricated for personal gain and revenge.…
The “evidences” of witchcraft used to convict witches wasn’t much. These so called “evidences” was the testimonies the witnesses had. There was no real proof besides word of mouth, so your evidence was judged on the creditability of the person who is telling the story. The evidences used in the play were the imaginations of the people who had been hurt in some way. For example, Mrs. Putnam accuses Rebecca Nurse of killing her babies during child birth. Just because Mrs. Putnam accused Rebecca, with no evidence or proof, Rebecca is questioned, put up for trial and sentenced death. Proctor sees this error within the justice system for the witch trials and speaks out upon is saying, “A fire, a fire is burning! I hear the boot of Lucifer, I see…
I learn a couple of new things about the witch trials reading this book. Like parliament making a law in 1542 saying that witch craft was a capital crime. I learned that the majority of the English that were convicted were woman. I knew that but I didn’t know that the woman to men conviction ratio was so steep. Most people and would think or portray that witchcraft was hereditary, but the English parlament back in the day didn’t necessarily think that. In fact they thought that witches passed their witch craft down to their friends, servants, foes, pets, cousins, anybody was guilty if u had association. They had a list of grounds that they would use to accuse a witch. It went as follows: “if the party suspected be the son or daughter, the servant or familiar friend; neer neighbor or old companion of knowne or convicted witch, this…
Since the accusers were single, poor women and they were accusing married, rich women they could of been acting like they were hexed or cursed. In document C it says that when the accused witch did something like roll her eyes or move her hand, the accusers(poor, single women) were tortured or turn their eyes up. The accusers did it at exactly the same time, so they could of been acting instead of actually doing things against their will. That is why I believe that the single, poor women were the ones who started the witch hysteria because they were jealous of the married…