Understanding the Salem Witch Trials | NEH-Edsitement There is no source before the latter half of the 19th century, including transcripts of testimony in the examinations and trials, that supports the idea that Tituba and the girls who were accusers practiced any magic together. Already a member? Another approach would be to have students read and analyze the following informational text by Miller, which recollects his personal experience with the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1956 when he refused to name names. Miller was convicted June 1, 1957 for contempt of Congress. This tendency to believe in the certainty of one's convictions as well as the belief that their practices of exclusion were justified among the cultural conditions of Salem. "What are the reasons Miller gives for the Salem witch hunts?" Salem witch trials | History, Summary, Location, Causes, Victims Prior to the 15th century, the Church did not persecute people for witchcraft. We can guess from the circumstances that Parris enslaved Tituba in Barbados, probably when she was 12 or a few years older. Drawing on research on the witch trials he had conducted while an undergraduate, Miller composed The Crucible in the early 1950s. They may evaluate how each version interprets the source text and debate which aspects of the enacted interpretations of the play best capture a particular character, scene, or theme. Classical authors such as Aeschylus, Horace, and Virgil described sorceresses, ghosts, furies, and harpies with hideous pale faces and crazed hair; clothed in rotting garments, they met at night and sacrificed both animals and humans. Tens of thousands of supposed witches mostly womenwere executed. These allegations would have important implications for the future because they were part of a broader pattern of hostility toward and persecution of marginalized groups. The play results in a mob mentality and hysteria taking over because people believed a lying girl. The current preoccupation with men being falsely accused of harassment or assault, like so many other accepted truths can be traced to a moment in time during which a version of the idea was created and then absorbed into the culture. Millers play helps one understand what the Salem Witch Trials did to peoples emotions and mentalities. The number of trials and executions varied widely according to time and place, but in fact no more than about 110,000 persons in all were tried for witchcraft, and no more than 40,000 to 60,000 executed. The Crucible Overture Summary | Course Hero In the 11th century attitudes toward witchcraft and sorcery began to change, a process that would radically transform the Western perception of witchcraft and associate it with heresy and the Devil. Arthur Miller the author of The Crucible conveys this horrific event in his book and demonstrates what fear can lead people to do. In the late 1940s early 1950s, Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy made the grandiose pledge to uncover a communist plot to overthrow democracy in United States. How does he describe the witch-hunts. I hear the boot of Lucifer, I see his filthy face! Heres What We Know, INTERVIEW: Cary Elwes Understands the Assignment of Guy Ritchie Movies for Operation Fortune, Walgreens Caves to Republicans, Limits Sales of Another Reproductive Healthcare Item, Florida Man Fulfills His Destiny as a Netflix Crime Series, The 13 Best Ted Lasso Quotes to Read When the World Has Made You Feel Weary. These witch hunts warn against collective thought and unjust persecution and even to this day provide a useful and relevant metaphor for all those who believe themselves victims of unjustified outrage. Educators go through a rigorous application process, and every answer they submit is reviewed by our in-house editorial team. Poor, poor men and their cold wives and their not being able to help being drawn to younger women only to ruin their lives, too. He says they were caused by everyone being paranoid of the witches. Headquarters: 49 W. 45th Street 2nd Floor New York, NY 10036, Our Collection: 170 Central Park West New York, NY 10024 Located on the lower level of the New-York Historical Society, 20092023 It might have been as simple as one person blaming his misfortune on another. The accusations were usually made by the alleged victims themselves, rather than by priests, lords, judges, or other elites. Successful prosecution of one witch sometimes led to a local hunt for others, but larger hunts and regional panics were confined (with some exceptions) to the years from the 1590s to 1640s. All this I understood. A Conspectus On 'Witch Hunt' | Merriam-Webster eNotes Editorial, 4 Aug. 2011, https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/in-act-1-what-explanation-does-miller-give-as-to-270640. The Crucible Act One: An Overture Flashcards | Quizlet Witch hunts primarily target women and exploit India's caste system and culture of patriarchy. An author named Arthur Miller wrote the play The Crucible based of the true events of the Salem witch trials. Arthur Miller and The Crucible Background - SparkNotes The Salem witch trials end up being a crucible, that is, a time of great testing and purifying, for the townspeople. Nevertheless, the reasons for the decline in the witch hunts are as difficult to discern as the reasons for their origins. The next spring, the trials ended and various imprisoned individuals were released once their fines were paid. 2023 eNotes.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Essential Quotes by Character: John Proctor, Critical Context (Masterplots II: Juvenile & Young Adult Literature Series), Critical Context (Comprehensive Guide to Drama). Why did Arthur Miller write The Crucible? Sometimes this magic was believed to work through simple causation as a form of technology. Miller presents the idea that vengeance ruins peoples lives or reputation so that you can get what you want and be satisfied. The play is set in Puritan Society in the late 1600s in Salem, where most people are devout Christians and hold a strong belief of both God and the Devil. His 17 June 2000 article inThe Guardian/The Observer, "Are You Now Or Were You Ever?,"describes the paranoia that swept America in that era and the moment his then-wife, Marilyn Monroe, became a bargaining chip in his own prosecution. For instance Putnam accuses people whose land he covets, while Abigail wants rid of Elizabeth Proctor, her rival for John Proctor's affections. For example, The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street, an episode of Rod Serlings Twilight Zone series, may provide students and teachers an opportunity to examine the phenomenon of mass hysteria. It was also, and as importantly, a long overdue opportunity for every-one so inclined to express publicly his guilt and sins, under the cover of accusations against the victims.'. Young women were sometimes accused of infanticide, but midwives and nurses were not particularly at risk. eNotes.com will help you with any book or any question. 1692 Salem Witch Trial Education | Salem, MA History The most common suspicions concerned livestock, crops, storms, disease, property and inheritance, sexual dysfunction or rivalry, family feuds, marital discord, stepparents, sibling rivalries, and local politics. I had not approached the witchcraft out of nowhere or from purely social and political considerations. Although some people undoubtedly practiced sorcery with the intent to harm, and some may actually have worshiped the Devil, in reality no one ever fit the concept of the witch. Nonetheless, the witchs crimes were defined in law. Any source of witchcraft must be destroyed . Widely influential, it was reprinted numerous times. As just one example, the king of Italy, Charlemagne, dismissed the concept of witchcraft as a pagan superstition and ordered the death penalty for whoever executed someone because they considered them to be a witch. Arthur Miller's play The Crucible, which forms the basis of many Americans' knowledge of the trials, takes liberties with the story. With The Crucible, Miller extrapolated that, citing womens instability when it came to the instability of an entire community. The Devil was deeply and widely feared as the greatest enemy of Christ, keenly intent on destroying soul, life, family, community, church, and state. Aligns with CCSS RL.11-12.3 - Analyze the impact of the authors choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama. The outbreak at Salem, where 19 people were executed, was the result of a combination of church politics, family feuds, and hysterical children, all in a vacuum of political authority. Society was undeniably affected by witch hunts, as people did everything in their power to either free themselves from blame or accuse someone else. The town of Salem in The Crucible, can relate to our nation today, through the way we target the Muslim religion as terrorist. The hunts were not pursuits of individuals already identified as witches but efforts to identify those who were witches. One of the most known is The Holocaust that happened during WWII. No one was safe from persecutions, and the witch hunts for communism began. Like the Spanish colonies, the English colonies repeated the European stereotype with a few minor differences. Latest answer posted December 16, 2019 at 7:31:02 AM. If witchcraft existed, as people believed it did, then it was an absolute necessity to extirpate it before it destroyed the world. We do not know if the enslavement of Tituba was the settlement of a debt, though that story has been accepted by some. I Need To Know What 'Very Bland' Opinion Got J.K. Rowling Kicked Out of a Harry Potter Forum, Disney Found a Way To Make Us Care About Peter Pan Again, 'The Mandalorian' Makes It Pretty Clear Where Gina Carano's Cara Dune Went, 'Quantumania' Writer Shares Painful Thoughts on All the Negative Reviews, Jack Black Once Again Proves His Excellence in Super Mario Bros. Movie, Is Grogu Related to Yoda? . A few histories mention a daughter, Violet, who remained with the Parris family. Why were the leaders of Salem's clerical and civil community ready to condemn to death 19 people who refused to acknowledge being witches based on spectral evidence and the hysterical words of young girls? They viewed their difficulties through a theological lens, and rather than attribute the blame to chance, misfortune, or simply nature; they thought that they were the Devils fault in collaboration with witches. My own marriage of twelve years was teetering and I knew more than I wished to know about where the blame lay.