The Salem Witch Trials: a gory period of time from 1692 to 1693. Women were condemned, then hanged, and then gone. All that is left from this period of distress and catastrophe are some court documents and a play. This production fictionalized the period of time while also adding in key elements from the historical story. The theatrical work was called The Crucible and was written by Arthur Miller. Miller directly emphasizes the events of Salem in a way that every audience can understand, while additionally highlighting some of the main components of this time of trouble in Massachusetts. During the Salem Witch Trials, female empowerment intimidated men and The Crucible highlights the mistreatment of women and their unfair persecutions due
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They originally had no power in society and no say in any problem or issue going on in the town of Salem. As the trials go on, however, their power becomes more evident, and this in turn, became more intimidating to the men in high power. Women initially were persecuted due to sexual crimes, “The prosecution of women most often stemmed from sexual crimes, especially fornication” (Soderlund 4). In The Crucible, most of the story relies on the love triangle between John Proctor, Elizabeth Proctor, and Abigail Williams. When John essentially “turns down” Abigail, she uses her unwanted passion for John and turns it into manipulative power. This dominance was then used to shut down the rest of society and cause mass hysteria. It was through this, that the trouble of Salem began in The Crucible. On another note, elders in society had no power in court, “In Puritan New England…elder women lacked the institutionalized power of the Quaker meetings…” (Soderlund 4). Their main job was to be dutiful helpmates to their husbands and family, and they were required to be capable of handling and raising the young. This proves that in the trials, the women’s growing power that was being used in court to defend themselves was disquieting to the men. By condemning them through spectral evidence, the men were able to reassert their own power, even though the women were …show more content…
In fact, the girls were at an age where hormones were raging, and this may have been the leading problem that lead to their insane measures and behavior. The girls were merely teenagers, and everyone knows that teenagers are moody due to hormonal issues. Puritan teenagers were not allowed to express their feelings, their emotions were almost kept in a cage. Through the trials in The Crucible, though, their hormones flow and the girls are able to find a new way to express what they are really feeling inside. “Though, like all young people, they find ways to rebel—just because adolescence did not exist in Puritan society does not mean that the hormones did not flow—they are seriously repressed” (Schissel 2). Take Abigail Williams for example; she was a girl who got her heartbroken and in a time of distress and sadness, a time where she was in need of attention, she turned to the court and condemned other women for fun. The men used this as a claim towards their argument, the intimidation of the elder women led them to have to listen to these girls and use them to their advantage, even though the hormonal teenagers were
They originally had no power in society and no say in any problem or issue going on in the town of Salem. As the trials go on, however, their power becomes more evident, and this in turn, became more intimidating to the men in high power. Women initially were persecuted due to sexual crimes, “The prosecution of women most often stemmed from sexual crimes, especially fornication” (Soderlund 4). In The Crucible, most of the story relies on the love triangle between John Proctor, Elizabeth Proctor, and Abigail Williams. When John essentially “turns down” Abigail, she uses her unwanted passion for John and turns it into manipulative power. This dominance was then used to shut down the rest of society and cause mass hysteria. It was through this, that the trouble of Salem began in The Crucible. On another note, elders in society had no power in court, “In Puritan New England…elder women lacked the institutionalized power of the Quaker meetings…” (Soderlund 4). Their main job was to be dutiful helpmates to their husbands and family, and they were required to be capable of handling and raising the young. This proves that in the trials, the women’s growing power that was being used in court to defend themselves was disquieting to the men. By condemning them through spectral evidence, the men were able to reassert their own power, even though the women were …show more content…
In fact, the girls were at an age where hormones were raging, and this may have been the leading problem that lead to their insane measures and behavior. The girls were merely teenagers, and everyone knows that teenagers are moody due to hormonal issues. Puritan teenagers were not allowed to express their feelings, their emotions were almost kept in a cage. Through the trials in The Crucible, though, their hormones flow and the girls are able to find a new way to express what they are really feeling inside. “Though, like all young people, they find ways to rebel—just because adolescence did not exist in Puritan society does not mean that the hormones did not flow—they are seriously repressed” (Schissel 2). Take Abigail Williams for example; she was a girl who got her heartbroken and in a time of distress and sadness, a time where she was in need of attention, she turned to the court and condemned other women for fun. The men used this as a claim towards their argument, the intimidation of the elder women led them to have to listen to these girls and use them to their advantage, even though the hormonal teenagers were