Massachusetts

According to Theory number 1, Ergot fungus contaminated the crops harvested by the people of Salem, Massachusetts which developed the hallucinations of the citizens and started the Salem Witch Trials. In 1692, they harvested a great deal of wheat, rye and cereal grasses. Ergot, or ergot poisoning, is a fungus that attacks the central nervous system and causes muscle contractions, confusion, impaired speech, crawling sensations on the skin and hallucinations. The girls in Salem had feelings of…

Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, Abigail Williams is most to blame in the Salem witch trials. She was an orphan that lived in Salem, Massachusetts with her uncle, reverend Pairrs, and her cousin, Betty Parris. She was seventeen years old and the leader of the group of girls in Salem. Miller demonstrated that it was Abigail William’s flaws - Dishonestly, Lust, and vengefulness – that led her to be most responsible for the tragedy of the witch-hunt in Salem. Abigail shows dishonesty almost…

Massasoit saw it as a personal respect, and sealed their relationship forever. Early spring of 1630, a fleet of ships carrying thousands of English people arrived to the mainland, to spread the Christian religion. After establishing town after town in Massachusetts, they grew from 500 to 20,000 in population and saw themselves as superior to the Native Americans. Massasoit felt disgruntled, as now the English people outnumbered them and began buying land with manipulation. During 1637, a raid…

England Colony was established in 1620 with a group of Puritan separatists arriving in Plymouth. The Massachusetts Bay Company…

When you look at the twenty-first century studies on the Salem Witch Trials, some other psychological and gender issues appear. Mary Beth Norton, an American historian, looks at these issues as a cause of the fits that the girls had. The girls may have had fits as a guilty response towards the participation in fortune telling. Norton also attributes the cause to the post-traumatic experiences that the Indian War caused on the population. Norton is unclear of the roots cause of the Salem Witch…

Miles Standish was an English Military officer born in England around the 1580s. Many believe he was born in Lancashire, England. His life in England is largely unknown, his legacy began on the Mayflower. He was hired by the Pilgrims to accompany them on their journey to the New World. The pilgrims hired Miles Standish as a military consultant for their colony. He traveled on the Mayflower along with 102 other hopeful passengers. The Mayflower departed Plymouth, England in September of 1620 and…

A small village in Salem, Massachusetts is what this Puritan community calls home. The village is not a new settlement, rather, one that has been molded for decades. The inhabitants have continued to build on the lives and reputations of those before them. Now that Abigail Williams, niece to the town’s Reverend Parris, and other girls in the community have begun accusing many of witchcraft, everything has gone downhill. Considering Arthur Miller describes Salem as a close, Puritanical…

The Salem Witch Trial In 1629, Salem was settled as a Massachusetts Bay Colony (Dunn 4). Little did anybody know that in about 50 years, this land would turn into one of the most remembered and haunted places in the world. In Salem, in the years between 1692 and 1693, over 150 people were accused of witchcraft, and 20 people were executed because of this accusation (“First Salem Witch Hanging”). This report will explain exactly how these executions happened and some of the dark conspiracies that…

Community and neighborhood tensions: The Salem witch crisis had a complex underlying story that was a result of pre-existing rivalries and disputes spreading throughout the growing port town of Massachusetts: between agrarian and urban residents. Boyer and Nissenbaum argue that the complication arises due to social and economic tensions between the eastern and western factions of the village; The eastern faction supporting Salem Town's governance of the village's affairs whereas the…

In the Salem witch trials 200 people were accused of witchcraft and twenty people were actually executed for it. The play that is the basis of the essay is set in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 during these Salem witch trials. One of the main characters that this play is centered around, John Proctor, a farmer in his middle thirties. As a morally ambiguous character in The Crucible, John Proctor had both honorable and disgraceful actions that contributed to the work as a whole. John Proctor has…