The Witches Suspicions, Betrayals And Hysteria Of The...

Introduction Stacy Schiff’s national bestseller The Witches highlights the suspicions, betrayals and hysteria of the Salem Witch Trials. In 1692, the commonwealth of Massachusetts executed five men, fourteen women, and two dogs for witchcraft. One might wonder how and why this Puritan colony became so caught up in this witch frenzy. In this book she is able to paint a clear picture of the panic that occurred among the people of Salem. â€Å"In three hundred years, we have not adequately penetrated nine months of Massachusetts history.If we knew more about Salem, we might attend to it less, a conundrum that touches on something of what propelled the witch panic in the first place† (5). Schiff reminds us that the history of Salem and the Witchcraft trials is still studied and often. Most likely because historians still do not fully understand what went wrong here in 1692. II. Questions Stacy Schiff raises many important questions in her national bestseller The Witches. Who was conspiring against you? Might you be a witch and not know it ? Can an innocent person be guilty ? How did this idealistic colony arrive in such a dark place? (Only three generations after its founding) She wonders what do we want those implicated in the trials to tell us? What were the accused thinking when they confessed ? Where was the devil in Salem and what was he really up to? How did the accused find the strength to withstand accusations? When did it occur to the citizens that though theShow MoreRelatedSalem Witch Trials : A Horrible Fate1518 Words   |  7 Pages1600’s a town known as Salem underwent a horrible fate. The year of 1692 was a year filled with death, accusations, and betrayal, but that was just the start of their story. During that time, 150 townspeople were accused of performing witchcraft, but of those 150 only 31 of them actually went to trial, 16 of them were male. Although rumor would disagree, no witches were actually burned at the stake, but were rather stoned to death and hung. The studying of the Salem Witch Trials is done to further understandRead MoreGeorge Orwells Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God : The Downfall Of A Puritan Society1475 Words   |  6 Pageswrath of God, and Arthur Miller denounces their flawed ideology and the paranoia it induces in The Crucible. In 1692, the small, quaint town of Salem Village is in absolute mayhem when a group of young girls claims there is evil amongst them. Due to their intolerance of imperfections in their community, Puritans mark the beginning of the Salem witch trials and their doom. Despite their original objective to create a utopian society based purely on faithfulness to God, the Puritans’ unquenchable thirstRead MoreThe Crucible By Arthur Miller1619 Words   |  7 Pagesright outside our homes, roaming our streets eyeing our children escalated to an extent identical to the hysteria in The Crucible about witches? The answer is yes. Yes, the fear has and still is, on the rise as the hysteria stimulated by the ever-more threatening encroachment of paedophilia seems to closely follow in the footsteps of predecessors like McCarthyism and, ultimately, the Salem witch-hunts. Therefore, the central issue for us to examine is the reason why society always instinctively andRead MoreSignificance Of The Miller s The Crucible 2130 Words   |  9 Pagesthat become sick for no apparent reason. Rumors subsequently start and escalate that some individuals are consorting with the devil, consequently creating hysteria and fear in the town. The townsfolk turn on each other, blaming others as a way of exonerating themselves. A system of justice is set up, and the ‘success’ of the Salem Witch Trials is dependent on accusations and the singling out of individuals. It encourages a cycle of blame, which then leads to a creation of lies for individual’s ownRead MoreEssay on Dramatic Tension in The Crucible4287 Words   |  18 Pagesmass hysteria created by a person or group of people, as people did during the McCarthy hearings of the 1950s and the Salem witch hunts of 1962. Many Americans were wrongly accused of being Communist sympathizers. The ac tivities of the House of Un-American Activities Committee began to be linked with the witchcraft trials that had taken place in the town of Salem. This provided Miller with the catalyst to write ‘The Crucible’. Without the knowledge of the McCarthy hearings and the Salem witch hunts