The ongoing witch trials in Massachusetts have been a source of shock and horror among residents of surrounding regions. A number of towns have been involved including Salem Village, a tight-knit Puritan community with about 550 residents. The community is very religious and firmly believes in God’s providence. The madness began last spring in 1692 when two young girls named Betty Paris (9) and Abigail Williams (11) began to display bizarre behavior. A doctor found that the “convulsive seizures, blasphemous screaming, and trance-like states” afflicted the youngsters were not attributable to any physical malady (The Salem Witch Trials). The community thus decided the only other explanation was Satan. Frenzy has struck the village, and they have
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Born out of a limited understanding of the cause of devastating events (such as sickness and drought), Salem’s obsession with witchcraft caused more than 200 deaths. Supernatural occurrences weee considered part of everyday life in the town and people believed that Satan was alive and well. The people thought he had infiltrated their community and was causing harm to residents through his workers, witches. This fear was depicted in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible in an exchange between Reverend Hale and Tituba. Hale comforts Tituba, saying in Act 1 lines 457-469 “…The Devil can never overcome a minister… You are God 's instrument put in our hands to discover the Devil 's agents among us. So speak utterly, Tituba, and God will protect you.” Hale’s idea of the devil working through witches emerged in Europe during the 1400s. Peasants used to utilize a sort of "white" witchcraft, invoking supposedly beneficial spells for their farming land. However, over time this idea of white magic transformed into dark or evil magic. This “dark” magic became associated with the devil and evil spirits and these beliefs spread with the later colonization of North America colonies. Puritans believed it was imperative to also believe in demons and evil spirits in order to confirm their belief in the existence of God and angels. This belief, combined …show more content…
They were desperate to find a way to cleanse themselves and their community from what they saw as impurities, the same as they had done when they left England for America. People in Salem did not want to have any association with this devilish dark magic, and any attempt to deescalate rising tensions was seen as simply helping the devil. Salem’s crowds of hamartophobiacs shouted down any plea for reason and order. Anyone who expressed doubts about the existence of witches was opening themselves up to accusations. The government and court were seen as divinely sanctioned, and fulfilling God’s wishes. This meant in Salem’s mind that anyone who opposed the courts activities must also be opposed to God. In a theocracy like Salem Village, it is impossible to have honest disagreements because a god-sanctioned government must be infallible. The Crucible’s Deputy Governor Danforth explains this ideology to Francis Nurse in Act III saying “You must understand, sir, that a person is either with this court or he must be counted against it, there be no road between. This is a sharp time, now, a precise time—we live no longer in the dusky afternoon when evil mixed itself with good and befuddled the world. Now, by God 's grace, the shining sun is up, and them that fear not light will surely praise it.”. The religious court is conducted the witch trials, so anyone who questions
Born out of a limited understanding of the cause of devastating events (such as sickness and drought), Salem’s obsession with witchcraft caused more than 200 deaths. Supernatural occurrences weee considered part of everyday life in the town and people believed that Satan was alive and well. The people thought he had infiltrated their community and was causing harm to residents through his workers, witches. This fear was depicted in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible in an exchange between Reverend Hale and Tituba. Hale comforts Tituba, saying in Act 1 lines 457-469 “…The Devil can never overcome a minister… You are God 's instrument put in our hands to discover the Devil 's agents among us. So speak utterly, Tituba, and God will protect you.” Hale’s idea of the devil working through witches emerged in Europe during the 1400s. Peasants used to utilize a sort of "white" witchcraft, invoking supposedly beneficial spells for their farming land. However, over time this idea of white magic transformed into dark or evil magic. This “dark” magic became associated with the devil and evil spirits and these beliefs spread with the later colonization of North America colonies. Puritans believed it was imperative to also believe in demons and evil spirits in order to confirm their belief in the existence of God and angels. This belief, combined …show more content…
They were desperate to find a way to cleanse themselves and their community from what they saw as impurities, the same as they had done when they left England for America. People in Salem did not want to have any association with this devilish dark magic, and any attempt to deescalate rising tensions was seen as simply helping the devil. Salem’s crowds of hamartophobiacs shouted down any plea for reason and order. Anyone who expressed doubts about the existence of witches was opening themselves up to accusations. The government and court were seen as divinely sanctioned, and fulfilling God’s wishes. This meant in Salem’s mind that anyone who opposed the courts activities must also be opposed to God. In a theocracy like Salem Village, it is impossible to have honest disagreements because a god-sanctioned government must be infallible. The Crucible’s Deputy Governor Danforth explains this ideology to Francis Nurse in Act III saying “You must understand, sir, that a person is either with this court or he must be counted against it, there be no road between. This is a sharp time, now, a precise time—we live no longer in the dusky afternoon when evil mixed itself with good and befuddled the world. Now, by God 's grace, the shining sun is up, and them that fear not light will surely praise it.”. The religious court is conducted the witch trials, so anyone who questions