In the year 1692, an outcry of witchcraft took place in Salem, Massachusetts. This outcry lasted for about one year and by the time it ended, nearly twenty people were hung for being suspected of witchcraft and many others were accused of it (Burns, People Accused). Many people are aware of the Salem Witchcraft Trails, but many do not know what truly happened in those dark days. The reason behind this is because of the critically acclaimed play, The Crucible by Arthur Miller. Though Miller does state that his play is not completely historically accurate (Miller, A Note), he does not say just how inaccurate his play actually is. So the question now is, what is true about the trails and what is false? Thorough the works of different historical
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He had a wife at the time of the trials named Elizabeth Parris. He also not only had a daughter named Betty, but two other children. He had an older son named Thomas and a younger daughter named Susannah. His wife did pass away not to long after the Trials were put to an end though (Fact & Fiction). While he was the third reverend replacement Salem had received, he was actually the third one in the past sixteen years, not the past seven (“Salem Transcription Project”). While Parris claims to see the girls dancing around in the woods in the play, there is not historical evidence that this ever happed (Fact & Fiction). It is said that there was conflict between the villagers and Parris while he was in Salem. One of the conflicts was that he owned the house that he was staying in (“Salem Transcription Project”). This was a conflict because it was not a normal practice for a reverend to have the title of the house they were staying in while preaching in the community. In Miller’s play, it is said that Betty and another girl named Ruth go into sleep-like states and that they will not wake up from (12-13). It is actually recorded from the time of the trails that “The first two girls to become afflicted were Betty Parris and Abigail Williams” (Burns, Fact & Fiction). The girls did not go into sleeping states, but “they had violent, physical fits” (Burns, Fact &
He had a wife at the time of the trials named Elizabeth Parris. He also not only had a daughter named Betty, but two other children. He had an older son named Thomas and a younger daughter named Susannah. His wife did pass away not to long after the Trials were put to an end though (Fact & Fiction). While he was the third reverend replacement Salem had received, he was actually the third one in the past sixteen years, not the past seven (“Salem Transcription Project”). While Parris claims to see the girls dancing around in the woods in the play, there is not historical evidence that this ever happed (Fact & Fiction). It is said that there was conflict between the villagers and Parris while he was in Salem. One of the conflicts was that he owned the house that he was staying in (“Salem Transcription Project”). This was a conflict because it was not a normal practice for a reverend to have the title of the house they were staying in while preaching in the community. In Miller’s play, it is said that Betty and another girl named Ruth go into sleep-like states and that they will not wake up from (12-13). It is actually recorded from the time of the trails that “The first two girls to become afflicted were Betty Parris and Abigail Williams” (Burns, Fact & Fiction). The girls did not go into sleeping states, but “they had violent, physical fits” (Burns, Fact &