When people think about The Salem Witch Trial, the first thing that comes to mind is “oh it 's just a bunch of wannabe witches being killed.” But in reality they were innocent people being accused by a bunch of little girls trying to get got of trouble. People were very suspicious and paranoid about everything back then-if a few people in the village suddenly became ill, it was because of a "witch". Remember, they had no science to explain anything, so they had to make up stuff that seems ridiculous to us today. They feared what they didn 't know and understand, therefore seeking any kind of solution . . . in this case their fear led to The Salem witch…
The book going over in this essay is called Witches! by Rosalyn Schanzer, and is a book about the events that have taken place in the town of Salem. This is a very weird and mysterious subject because so many people died in a very strange and concerning manner. First of which is “attention” this could be a factor in this crisis because some people could have accused people just to get attention from the people around them and be in the center of activity. Second is people just doing it for fun or “sport” if they're bored they could enjoy people being killed or harassed in jail. The last and most probably biggest one, is revenge, people could have hated another and wanted them dead and realizing this was a very efficient and good way to do it or at least get them arrested.The accusations in the Salem Witch Trials were motivated by attention, sport, and revenge.…
The Salem Witch Trials are known as a series of people being accused and prosecuted of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts beginning in February 1692 until May 1693. The trials began after a group of girls claimed that they were possessed by the devil. Several local women were accused of witchcraft and this began the wave of hysteria that would forever haunt Salem and leave a painful legacy for a long time to come. Nearly every major school of historians has attempted to explain the answer to the mystery of the trials, trying to understand why they occurred. From Marxists who blame class conflict, to Freudians who believe in mass hysteria, the more ecologically based historians who put the blame on hallucinogenic ergot fungus, and now more…
Overall I think the salem witch trials were caused by ergotism, growing lies and fame/jealousy. Ergotism was causing many problems throughout the colonies which eventually caused innocent men and women to be hanged. Also once the girls started lying, they could not stop because their superstition kept growing. Lastly the girls might have wanted to get famous for their work and to get rid of…
In Rosalyn Schanzer´s Witches! The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem, extreme disorder in civilization took place due to massive amounts of unjust witch accusations. In early 1692, mass chaos struck Salem Village, Massachusetts. In a ravenous sprint to gain revenge and play a game of kill-or-be-killed, approximately 200 people were accused of witchcraft. 20 of these were executed. Families turned on each other, civilians accused one another of unimaginable things, and all because of two girls. Betty Parris and Abigail Williams who together accused a staggering portion of the innocent so called ´witches´. Many people question the motives of these two. It is hard to imagine two young girls under the care of such a high public figure…
A legitimate cause for the accusations may result from a mental disorder. In the article The Witchcraft Trials in Salem: A Commentary, it is acknowledged that, “The cause of her symptoms may have been some combination of stress, asthma, guilt, boredom, child abuse, epilepsy, and delusional psychosis” (Linder). Many of the possible symptoms may have caused the outbreak, yet delusional psychosis is more sensible. The form of a mental disorder causing the symptoms is a probable cause. The people of Salem were completely oblivious to the additional causes of the accusations. Salem could have avoided several lives may have been saved if some form of common knowledge was used.…
Salem was one of the most popular places where witches were executed, because people where afraid of devil which shows the Miller's story The Crucible. This horrible fear shaped the society of Salem and as it happened a lot of women were killed. As Dorothy Thompson said: "The most destructive element in the human mind is fear. Fear creates aggressiveness". The book which I read is the story about how the society was manipulated by the fear of the unknown or different. Therefore, in my opinion people in Salem were afraid of a devil and this fear shaped their society to judge and perceive normal women as witches and in consequences killed them.…
In The Crucible Miller demonstrates the evils within the human nature through the experience of the Salem Witch Trials. Many characters in this play endure their own personal crucibles. First, Elizabeth Proctor has the ignominy of keeping a terrible secret. Also, Giles Corey goes through a deadly trial trying to protect his neighbor. Finally, Mary Warren, a shy and timid girl, has the impossible task of going against Abigail and the court. Each of these characters’ crucibles are very excruciating, but only some pass while others fail.…
In 1692, an event called the Salem Witch Trials occurred, because of this, the people from a village called Salem, Massachusetts were fearful because they could be accused a witch. This all started when a group of young girls began to act very strange. The behaviors of the girls’ ranged from, screaming, copying body movements, pain, falling on the floor, twitching, and many other symptoms.…
It would take alot of greed to accuse someone of witchcraft to have them executed so that their land would be auctioned off. Vengeance played another key role in salem, if it weren’t for vengeance the witch trials would have never happened. In the beginning of the Elizabeth wanted revenge on goodie proctor, because she felt that she was the reason john proctor wouldn’t marry her. Because of this she accused Goodie proctor knowing that would surely get rid of her.…
The Salem witch trials were caused by jealousy, paranormia,and teenagers. Jealousy was a huge part because of the rich people having better land or have more money so people accused them to be able to own their stuff. Paranormia was a part of it because people were scared that the devil was entering their body to make them do bad things. Teenages were also part of it becsuse teeagers didn’t get a long with everyone, so when they didn’t they acted like the person was put a witchcraft spell on them. This is why the Salem witch trials in 1692…
The Salem Witch Trials was a historic event that occurred in Salem, Massachusetts in the year 1692 and lasted until 1693. It’s known to be a dark time in American History (Brooks, Historyof Massachusetts.org). It first began when a group of teenage girls were exposed of practicing witchcraft and it then lead to bigger things Innocent people were killed and others were treated poorly. More than 200 individuals were wrongfully blamed and 20 were executed for denying the accusations (Blumberg, Smithsonianmag.com ). To this day no one is sure as to why the trials even started. There are numerous theories that state the causes of the infamous witch hunt but only a few of them are quite convincing. Many historians believe that religion is the main…
A possible reason that the Salem Witch Trials took place is that there were many jealous girls. These girls wanted the married men to divorce their wives so the girls could marry them and take all their land and money. Most of the accusers were females that were single and between sixteen and twenty years of age, while the females being accused were forty-one to sixty years old and married (Doc. B). As you can see the teenage girls steadily…
The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 is one of the most well-known historical events. In 1692, 20 people were hanged for being a so-called “witch.” Most accusations were made by six girls, which included Betty Parris, Abigail Williams, and Ann Putnam Jr.. Witches were people whose bodies had supposedly been taken over by The Devil. But what really caused the Salem Witch Trials hysteria? The three reasons that caused the mass hysteria were how certain people, ages, genders, and marital statuses were targeted, the fact that the girls were so good at acting, they were able to fool the entire village, and that neighbor conflicts created tension and jealousy.…
It all starts with Abigail williams dancing in the forest naked. She then got caught d with her and the other girls having fun, the following day when the returned she was confronted. Abigail knowing she would be punished lied and cried wolf. In this case it was witchcraft. She plead the devil consumed her soul along with the other girls. When put into a position of not wanting to get in trouble people will do un rational things.…