from geographical divisions. Salem Village was an agricultural community with an abundance of farmland and conservative lower-class people, whereas Salem Town was booming with commercial and industrial growth. “Salem and Salem Village in 1692,” in Emerson Baker’s, A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience. Due to these discernible economic differences, as time went on and Salem Village grew so did a demand for independence.…
Today, being accused of witchcraft is as crazy as saying the Kardashians provide any real benefits to society, but in the Puritan society of New England in the 1600s, witchcraft was a perfectly logical explanation for strange or otherwise inexplicable events. Most likely if you ask someone about witch hunts in New England they will bring up naked girls dancing in the woods or accused witches being executed for their crimes by hanging at the gallows or being pressed by stones. This is only one view of the witch hunts in New England. Although it makes sense that the most extraordinary events would be the ones heavily documented and popularized, there are many other examples of witch hunts and trials that did not reach such fanatical levels.…
In The Salem Witchcraft Trials: A Legal History, Peter C. Hoffer closely examines the many complexities of the bizarre Salem Witchcraft Trials and offers explanations as to what led up to and caused the terrible event. In the book, Hoffer uses analogies and insight to village life to support his explanations. This paper will review Hoffer’s re accounting of the trials, his theories on the trails, and the way in which he presents his arguments.…
Since the early 17th century multiple lands in Europe and Puritan Colonial communities in New England had been living in suspicion of members in their communities to be practising witchcraft while living amongst them in secret. The act of practising witchcraft was punishable by death. In many small farming towns, such as the infamous Salem, Massachusetts, this had gained Salem a dark reputation. The practice of witch trials had been going on for 300 years.…
During the witch trials, Salem stood as a strict Puritan community in the form of a small village. 4. In 1692, Salem’s residents abided mainly by Puritan religious beliefs, such as that God existed as the Supreme Ruler, with great power and lasted without sin, unlike humans. 5. Teenaged girls lied responsible for the accusations of over two hundred and fifty people.…
The Salem Witch Trials began in 1692 and consisted of prosecutions of women and some men who were thought to have been practicing witchcraft. These women were taken to trial, and if they were convicted of practicing witchcraft, they were violently put to death. With the rising tensions in the colony, The Salem Witch trials of 1692 were caused by curiosity in religious beliefs, young women claiming they were possessed by the devil, and troubles arising among the community. By this point the people of Salem would consider themselves Puritans. They had many standards they had to abide by to keep good Christian standings, and as the people of Salem were learning more about the Christian religion, they learned about the devil and his possession.…
The puritan life that was based on the simplicity and austerity, demanded from you to be modest, proper, and traditional. If you even thought otherwise, that went against the puritan religion. One’s faith and reputation were what defined them as a person. In addition, the puritan religion was taught from the local priest, this priest ruled in the name of God himself. For Salem didn’t have a fair, just government, it had…
The Salem Witch Trial In 1629, Salem was settled as a Massachusetts Bay Colony (Dunn 4). Little did anybody know that in about 50 years, this land would turn into one of the most remembered and haunted places in the world. In Salem, in the years between 1692 and 1693, over 150 people were accused of witchcraft, and 20 people were executed because of this accusation (“First Salem Witch Hanging”). This report will explain exactly how these executions happened and some of the dark conspiracies that tag along with it.…
Article 1 Amidst all the madness and confusion that is going on here in Salem Massachusetts, the Salem Scriptures were fortunate enough to catch up with Reverend John Hale on the evening of October 26th 1762. We released this rare interview with the intent that the public would be humbled. Salem Scriptures: Good evening Reverend Hale, would you care to answer a few questions that I have regarding the recent events that have just happened in this town? Reverend John Hale:…
The United States may have “pressed the rewind button on matters of social progress, this may be one of those moments”(Herbert 1). Salems society in 1692 as shown in The Crucible by Arthur Miller and today's society are not all that different; which could be seen as rewinding history. Most people go about their lives not questioning what is happening around them. They choose to look at it as the new norms of society. There are only a few who are willing to question what really happens.…
The Salem Witch Trials, had its dealings with the supernatural world, people afflicted (or bewitched) seeing “witches’ in their visions, a “mysterious” man taunting people to sign his book, or even unexplained deaths of livestock or even an infant. Whatever it may have been, the people of Salem Village all assume that it is “supernatural.” Samuel Parris and others speculate that anything supernatural is because of the doings, or even presence of the devil. It is this concept that brought forth the Witch Trials which convicted over two-hundred, and nineteen of them hanged. Their convictions stemmed from people who bewitched, seeing them in visions.…
n the play, The Crucible, playwright Arthur Miller conveys the motif of resentment in the Puritan community of Salem. The motif of resentment is fueled by the Puritan’s strict ideas of morality, the organization of society and the ¨dark side¨ of human behavior. The Puritan’s strict ideas of morality led to complete hatred and resentment if one was accused of wrongdoing. Going to church on Sundays, resting or plowing on the Sabbath, and following the 10 Commandments were three rules followed in the Puritan community by the people of Salem in the times of the witch trials.…
Witches! The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem is a National Geographic book that gives an overview of the Salem Witch Trials from its start to its finish. The author, Rosalyn Schanzer, is complete in her telling of the events, starting from the point where no one guessed that the afflicted girls were being tortured by witches and ending with the stories of how each person lived out their lives after the trials ended. The drawback of recording over a year of time within 131 pages is that the information isn’t as in depth as possible, and though everything is touched on there are obvious focuses, such as the reverend, who appears on nearly twenty different pages, as opposed the the symptoms of the girls’ affliction which appeared on…
In Salem the women were confined to their homes, where as the boys were given the option to hunt and participate in other physical activities. This gives us a better understanding of why the witch trials targeted younger…
The town of Salem was a tightly knit and watchful group of puritan citizens. Puritans came over and inhabited the state of Massachusetts and the city of Salem, to escape from religious persecution in England. Irony makes its way into Salem when witchcraft becomes punishable by death. The Crucible by Arthur Miller depicts salem during the peak of the witch hunts and trials. The town of Salem, in the beginning is shown as a town that is almost ready to turn on eachother.…