Basic Characteristics Of A Tragic Hero In The Salem Witch Trials

A tragic hero is described as “a literary character who makes a judgement error or has a tragic flaw that inevitably leads to his/her own destruction”. Aristotle defines a tragic hero as “a person who must evoke a sense of pity and fear in the audience” and “it is his/her downfall that evokes the feelings of pity and fear among the audience.” Some of the basic characteristics of a tragic hero are: Noble birth, Hamartia, Hubris, Peripeteia, Anagnorisis, and Catharsis. Noble birth is described as “the hero beginning the story in a position of social and/or moral power. Hamartia is described as the tragic flaw that causes the downfall of a hero.” Hubris is described as “a typical flaw in the personality of a character who enjoys a powerful position, …show more content…
The Salem Witch Trials began after Reverend Parris caught the girls dancing in the woods. Dancing is against their religion; they are Puritans. Dancing was a seen as a sin, an act of the devil. When asked if they summoned the devil, Abigail Williams spoke up and blamed her uncle’s servant, Tituba, a native Barbadian. The other girls, in order to save themselves from punishment, agreed with Abigail. The people around immediately began to interrogate and even harm Tituba to get her to confess to summoning the devil. The fear of the devil being within the town causes them to act without thinking things through. The adults reacted the way they did because they believed even though the girls were “children,” they were still telling the truth. It could, also, partially be that people like to have their intuitions validated. But, most importantly, because children are presumed to be innocent. Children are believed to not be capable of wickedness, such as lying. However, it forces the people of Salem to disregard their better judgement. They don’t want to accept the likelihood of children lying over something as significant and humorless as witchcraft. Miller shows that children can be just as wicked as adults in The Crucible using Abigail Williams. She does a lot of wicked things and no one realizes until it’s too late and hundreds have already been killed. The people of Salem are not the only ones to …show more content…
Precipitous is defined as “(of an action) done suddenly and without careful consideration.” In the Crucible, Judge Danforth gave everyone who appeared to him in court during the witch trials the same choice: “Confess or be hanged.” Being “hanged” was the punishment. If something has a punishment, it is believed to be “bad.” Everything “bad” in Salem were sins. Sins kept you away from God and if you didn’t have him when you died, you lived with the devil, who was believed to be the darkest man to ever live. Being that religion made up everything involved with Salem, committing a sin was something no one wanted to do or endure the consequence. So when given the choice Danforth gave everybody in court, people began to act before they think. They begin to give false confessions, a part of which was endangering others who are believed to be witches as well. If they followed those guidelines, they avoided punishment and were believed to be in God’s good graces, characterizing themselves as selfish and thoughtless. They no longer, care about their fellow man, and, in some cases, told names of people in order to gain vengeance. This can, also, be seen in modern day times. In courtrooms and interrogation rooms, people are told all time to confess or get sent to jail. Sometimes they are told to confess their association with the crime, if not, then identify the person who is associated with the crime. Law