Terror politics and cultural geography: Years of social, geographical and cultural uncertainty.
Nicholas Hytner movie, The Crucible (1996), written by Arthur Miller, illustrates the fatal events occurred in the village of Salem, in Massachusetts, from June until September of 1692. The Salem witch trials were caused by a compound of irrational fear and mass hysteria which are connected to the abuse of power, Puritan lifestyle and their beliefs in the context of the 17th century. The aftermath of this hysterical haunt plays a big part in today’s society and serves as an example of the dangers of terror politics and religious extremism. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to analyze these events occurred in Massachusetts Bay Colony and to link …show more content…
They strongly believed that their religion was the only one and dissenters were not allowed in their society. For instance, Quakers who spurned the authority of the Puritan clergy, were prosecuted. Together with this, fear of magic was common upon them and witchcraft was considered a massive crime which was punished by death. Following the Puritan code of conformity, we are able to see in the movie that the women who were accused of witchcraft in Salem were seen as divergent: Tituba, a slave; Sarah Good, a beggar; and Sarah Osborne, who was accused of not attending …show more content…
It was believed that God protected his servants boundlessly; consequently, when crisis began to arise in the community, the blame was directly placed on the Devil and the “witches” that performed his work on Earth. People start to fear for their own safety and a series of accusations of witchcraft were declared in order to escape the gallows. Mere suspicion was took as evidence and reason was left behind. As a community who deeply feared the Devil, they could not think of repudiating the evidence as it could be seen as denying the existence of God itself. However, as time passed by, the younger generations of Puritans were not so afraid of God compared to the people of the first settlements. A tremendous decline in conversion was produced during the middle of the 17th century due to time, dispersion and population, who grew speedily. Consequently, the church had to establish some measures that included the use of violence. For instance, a new form of sermons called jeremiads were pronounced at church. These narrated the misfortunes of a community as a penalty for immoral behaviour. The jeremiads “express a profound disquiet. Not infrequently, their affirmations betray an underlying desperation: a refusal to confront the present, a fear of the future, an effort to translate “America” into a vision that works in spirit.” (Bercovitch 2012). With the adoption of these speeches, church, and
Nicholas Hytner movie, The Crucible (1996), written by Arthur Miller, illustrates the fatal events occurred in the village of Salem, in Massachusetts, from June until September of 1692. The Salem witch trials were caused by a compound of irrational fear and mass hysteria which are connected to the abuse of power, Puritan lifestyle and their beliefs in the context of the 17th century. The aftermath of this hysterical haunt plays a big part in today’s society and serves as an example of the dangers of terror politics and religious extremism. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to analyze these events occurred in Massachusetts Bay Colony and to link …show more content…
They strongly believed that their religion was the only one and dissenters were not allowed in their society. For instance, Quakers who spurned the authority of the Puritan clergy, were prosecuted. Together with this, fear of magic was common upon them and witchcraft was considered a massive crime which was punished by death. Following the Puritan code of conformity, we are able to see in the movie that the women who were accused of witchcraft in Salem were seen as divergent: Tituba, a slave; Sarah Good, a beggar; and Sarah Osborne, who was accused of not attending …show more content…
It was believed that God protected his servants boundlessly; consequently, when crisis began to arise in the community, the blame was directly placed on the Devil and the “witches” that performed his work on Earth. People start to fear for their own safety and a series of accusations of witchcraft were declared in order to escape the gallows. Mere suspicion was took as evidence and reason was left behind. As a community who deeply feared the Devil, they could not think of repudiating the evidence as it could be seen as denying the existence of God itself. However, as time passed by, the younger generations of Puritans were not so afraid of God compared to the people of the first settlements. A tremendous decline in conversion was produced during the middle of the 17th century due to time, dispersion and population, who grew speedily. Consequently, the church had to establish some measures that included the use of violence. For instance, a new form of sermons called jeremiads were pronounced at church. These narrated the misfortunes of a community as a penalty for immoral behaviour. The jeremiads “express a profound disquiet. Not infrequently, their affirmations betray an underlying desperation: a refusal to confront the present, a fear of the future, an effort to translate “America” into a vision that works in spirit.” (Bercovitch 2012). With the adoption of these speeches, church, and