DBQ Essay: The Salem Witch Trials
A time of death, fear, witches, scapegoating, and bizarre miscommunications between a community all in one area Salem, Massachusetts. Accusations broke out between the populace and people in 1692. The Salem Witch Hysteria (meaning a chaotic level of fear) of 1692 began with two girls, Betty Parris, daughter of Samuel Parris, and Abigail Williams. The young cousins first accused Tituba, a West Indian brought to assist them in their fortunes. Not too long afterwards, the young girls began acting strange and absurd. They crawled under chairs, kept to themselves but, under pressure, finally confessed to be under the influence of someone else's witchcraft. They claimed Tituba and two other white women to be the cause of their pain and interesting
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Arguably, what we do not understand is how could the community believe every single word the young girls uttered in the first place? Surely, children are known for their imagination, so what was the reasoning behind trusting the girls and many other accusers and the deaths of many? It is peculiar how no one stood up and questioned whether the children should or should not be trusted. So many deaths may have originally been caused by children's...imagination. Document A is a chart of those who were killed on the trials. This shows how the community permitted the witchcraft trials go out of hand. Many lives could have been saved, if only the community had been more wary of the children. It was nothing but the ignorance of the community that led to the hanged deaths. Furthermore in Document C, the examination of Bridget Bishop, subjective words were used to exaggerate actions. This proves that the community, including Samuel Parris, trusted the accusers enough to kill the accused victims without much solid evidence. Worse yet, Document D, a piece of Charles' writing, reveals that they community was blind enough to believe the accusers. "Once or twice they were caught in their own snare; and nothing but the blindness of the community saved the most...from well deserved punishment." This quote determines the populations wrong
Arguably, what we do not understand is how could the community believe every single word the young girls uttered in the first place? Surely, children are known for their imagination, so what was the reasoning behind trusting the girls and many other accusers and the deaths of many? It is peculiar how no one stood up and questioned whether the children should or should not be trusted. So many deaths may have originally been caused by children's...imagination. Document A is a chart of those who were killed on the trials. This shows how the community permitted the witchcraft trials go out of hand. Many lives could have been saved, if only the community had been more wary of the children. It was nothing but the ignorance of the community that led to the hanged deaths. Furthermore in Document C, the examination of Bridget Bishop, subjective words were used to exaggerate actions. This proves that the community, including Samuel Parris, trusted the accusers enough to kill the accused victims without much solid evidence. Worse yet, Document D, a piece of Charles' writing, reveals that they community was blind enough to believe the accusers. "Once or twice they were caught in their own snare; and nothing but the blindness of the community saved the most...from well deserved punishment." This quote determines the populations wrong