The Salem witch trials occurred in colonial Massachusetts between 1692 and 1693. More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft—the Devil 's magic—and 20 were executed. A lot of reasons arose to why the Salem Witch trials occurred. For example, was it religion or perhaps something else? Arthur Miller wrote the tragedy, the Crucible because he wanted to portray what was going on in his time, which was the Red Scare. Everyone in the US was paranoid about communism and people were going around accusing each other of being communist because of stupid things, kind of like the people in the Crucible. While people may believe Religion and Puritanism was the cause for the Salem witch trials, the causes were fear, ulterior motives, and evil
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Fear is what turns so many of the people into liars, because they are afraid of what will happen to them if they tell the truth. Fear is one of the main driving forces in the play because the fear of the girls being caught conjuring in the woods leads the young girls to start spinning their tale of lies. Fear of being labeled a witch sends shock waves through the community. The girls are able to make accusations on people because they seek their weaknesses and prey on their fears. “No, no, don’t hang Tituba! I don’t desire to work for him sir.” (Miller, Act 1) Tituba said this right after Puttnam said that she should be hung. Abigail was the one who begged her to go into the woods in the first place. To Tituba, she was just practicing her own religion, that was foreign to the people of Salem so it was easy to place the blame on her. She got scared so she confessed to seeing the devil so she wouldn’t get hung. When someone is told, “They will not hang if they confess.” That lingering fear of death will push them to do whatever they can do to avoid that fate. “He wake me every night, his eyes like coal, and his fingers claw my neck, and I sign… I sign…” (Miller, Act 3). It was a hard decision for Mary the whole time in the court. Mary was afraid if Abby and being accused of witchcraft herself. When she goes to the court in Act 3 to tell the truth about the witchcraft, and tell that the girls are liars, …show more content…
Puritans believe that witches exist and therefore believe that anyone who slips up or does something wrong, is a witch. Religious beliefs are given by God so there can be little room for compromise. To them, other beliefs are not just different but evil. It is either the Puritan way or no way with the Puritans in Salem. “In the book of record that Mr. Parris keeps, I note that you are rarely in church on the Sabbath Day.” (Miller 32.1) Mr. Hale exclaims to John he hasn’t been too church so he’s revealing his suspicions about him being involved in witch craft. With the religion, Puritanism there’s very little room for compromise. There’s only one way, and no way around it. This is how Puritanism was so easy to
Fear is what turns so many of the people into liars, because they are afraid of what will happen to them if they tell the truth. Fear is one of the main driving forces in the play because the fear of the girls being caught conjuring in the woods leads the young girls to start spinning their tale of lies. Fear of being labeled a witch sends shock waves through the community. The girls are able to make accusations on people because they seek their weaknesses and prey on their fears. “No, no, don’t hang Tituba! I don’t desire to work for him sir.” (Miller, Act 1) Tituba said this right after Puttnam said that she should be hung. Abigail was the one who begged her to go into the woods in the first place. To Tituba, she was just practicing her own religion, that was foreign to the people of Salem so it was easy to place the blame on her. She got scared so she confessed to seeing the devil so she wouldn’t get hung. When someone is told, “They will not hang if they confess.” That lingering fear of death will push them to do whatever they can do to avoid that fate. “He wake me every night, his eyes like coal, and his fingers claw my neck, and I sign… I sign…” (Miller, Act 3). It was a hard decision for Mary the whole time in the court. Mary was afraid if Abby and being accused of witchcraft herself. When she goes to the court in Act 3 to tell the truth about the witchcraft, and tell that the girls are liars, …show more content…
Puritans believe that witches exist and therefore believe that anyone who slips up or does something wrong, is a witch. Religious beliefs are given by God so there can be little room for compromise. To them, other beliefs are not just different but evil. It is either the Puritan way or no way with the Puritans in Salem. “In the book of record that Mr. Parris keeps, I note that you are rarely in church on the Sabbath Day.” (Miller 32.1) Mr. Hale exclaims to John he hasn’t been too church so he’s revealing his suspicions about him being involved in witch craft. With the religion, Puritanism there’s very little room for compromise. There’s only one way, and no way around it. This is how Puritanism was so easy to