...What Caused the Salem Witch Trial Hysteria of 1692? In the year of 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts, the devil took the souls of weak-willed people, which were wizards and witches. This event was called the Salem Witch Trials, which consisted of numerous people allegedly practicing witchcraft. To prevent the witchcraft they hunted and tried the accused. The punishment for practicing witchcraft was death. Every historian had a different thought on what caused the event. Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum suggested that the most reliable form of evidence was supernatural strengths, weaknesses or unusual physical characteristics. The Salem Witch Trial Hysteria of 1692 was caused by Puritans belief of the devil, Bridget Bishop spreading the practice of witchcraft to others, and Cotton Mather’s story of the sermon and manuscript. One cause of the witch trial...
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...Between February 1962 and May 1693, a series of executions, known as the Salem Witch Trials, occurred in Salem, Massachusetts. One of the most infamous cases of mass hysteria, the trials resulted in accusations being brought against around 200 people, 19 of whom were found guilty and executed. The motivations behind these hearings serve as a subject of debate among historians. Puritan beliefs held by the residents of Salem resulted in an extreme fear of witchcraft for nearly every member of the village. However, many of the executed, accused witches had individuals who stood to gain from their deaths. This essay investigates the extent of which the trials were affected by religion compared to politics. By analyzing both primary and secondary...
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...Tragic Times In Salem Salem Witch Trials The Salem Witch Trials was a horrific event that occurred in colonial Massachusetts between the years 1692 and 1693. More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft and 20 ended up being executed. Some researchers believe that there may have been other current events that were affecting the trials during the same time period. Throughout this research paper I will explain the Salem Witch Trials and show the research I have done in terms of the events that may have a connection to the event, along with other factors that may have influenced the Salem Witch Trials. In the late 16 hundreds in colonial North America, the supernatural was highly considered to be a part of everyday life. Many people were strong believers that Satan was present and active on Earth. These beliefs were first formed in Europe during the fifteenth century and later spread throughout North America. Peasants were known for often using a particular kind of witchcraft to help enhance their crops, and to benefit farming and agriculture. Over time, the idea of witchcraft transformed into a very evil act. It started to became associated with demons and evil spirits. From 1560 to 1670, witchcraft persecutions became common as superstitions became associated with the devil. Through out the colonies, the most common cause for a witch hunt was caused by young girls having a mysterious screaming fit; they would often be diagnosed as having been bewitched...
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...This essay is gonna be about the Salem Witch Trials and the Steroid Scandal. Does the Salem Witch Trials have anything in common with the Steroid Scandal ? The Steroid Scandal and the Salem Witch Trials have a lot in common they are very similar. The Steroid Scandal in MLB happen from the 1980’s to the late 2000’s. Players were believed to have been using performance enhancing drugs (PED’s)(ESPN) . Roids were banned in 1991 and league wide PED testing started in 2003 because, these drugs resulted in increased offencive output(ESPN) . MLB gave one random test per year to each player,and in 2003 the MLB told the players that if only 2.5% tested positive testing would be dropped (ESPN). In 2004 MLB started to give 2 tests a year for PED’s (ESPN). During this time many players were kicked out the MLB because of steroids ,but Many people that were kicked out / suspended weren't on steroids they were accused because of their home runs or batting average(ESPN) . The MLB just blacklisted them and they weren't allowed to play another inning of baseball (ESPN)....
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...Katherine Harrison- An Explanation Behind the Madness Although witchcraft is commonly associated with the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, there were also other trials throughout the century across colonial New England. It is important to look at some of these other trials also in order to see their cultural and historical impacts. The impacts are often overlooked because all of the attention tends to be put towards the Salem trials. One trial in particular, the 1669 trial of Katherine Harrison, is interesting to look at because of its particular circumstances. Although the essays by two respected historians, Jane Kamensky and Carol Karlsen, never address the trial specifically both seem to offer explanations for Katherine Harrison’s particular witchcraft circumstances. In order to fully compare the accuracy of their explanations to her situation a few things need to be addressed. First off there shall be a brief history of witchcraft in New England, then a clear description of the case against Katherine. Following that there shall be a summary of the historians’ individual viewpoints from their essays. Then finally, and most importantly, is the evidence of why Karlsen and Kamensky have explanatory power in the Harrison case. Witchcraft trials started around 1648 in New England and were fueled by the strong faith of the Puritans. The Puritans, a devout religious group, believed that Satan was an angel who had turned against god, and that witches had been possessed by Satan....
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...Crucible This essay will discuss, explain and evaluate the main ideas, themes and interpretations of Arthur Miller’s, The Crucible. It will also explain and evaluate the language Arthur Miller uses and how it contributed to the overall success of the play. The Crucible is set in 1692 in the puritan town of Salem, Massachusetts, a theocratic society, where the laws of the land are laid down by the church. The main idea running throughout the play can be viewed as a direct comparison to McCarthyism which was happening in 1950’s America, in which members of the general public including public figures such as Arthur Miller were brought in and questioned over connections to communism. This can be seen as a direct comparison to people being brought into the Salem courts regarding connections with witchcraft. It was not until Miller saw this comparison that he then felt compelled to write The Crucible as he now felt he could get into the minds of those going through similar circumstances back in the Salem witch trials. Hysteria was the main cause of nineteen deaths in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, and countless ruined reputations on account of Joe McCarthy. Hysteria does not just appear out of nowhere though. There are driving forces such as revenge and abuse of power that bring about the irrational fear that can take over society. These are the issues expressed in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. The Crucible is paralleled directly to the Salem Witch Trials and indirectly to...
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...The Salem Witch Trials Witchcraft is the practice of black magic. In the late 17th century in New England, at least 344 individuals were tried and 35 were executed as witches in Salem in 1692. More than 95 percent of all formal accusations and more than 90 percent of the executions for the witchcraft in British America occurred in Puritan colonies. Many factors contributed to the hysteria that gripped Salem. Impact of King William‘s War, the Puritan belief system and gender roles all led to the Salem witch trials. The foundation of the witchcraft crisis lay in the Puritan New Englanders’ singular worldview, one they had inherited from the first settlers of Massachusetts Bay more than sixty years earlier. That worldview taught them that they were a chosen people, charged with bringing God’s message to a heathen land previously ruled by the devil. And in that adopted homeland, God spoke through his providence - that is through small and large events of daily life. New England’s Puritans even in the third generation, believed themselves to be surrounded by an invisible world of spirits as well as by a natural world of palpable objects. Both worlds communicated God’s messages, because both operated under his direction. Losses sustained in the Second Indian War, King William’s War, prompted doubts or spiritual anxiety within the Puritan community. “That their Wabanaki enemies were Catholic (or at least aligned with the French Caltholics) made matters worse, suggesting that the...
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...Hemphill, C. Dallett. "Women in Court: Sex-Role Differentiation in Salem, Massachusetts, 1636 to 1683." The William and Mary Quarterly 39, no. 1 (1982): 164-75. This source pints out the fact that men held power and authority over women since the beginning of Salem and throughout its development. The law was enforced by patriarchal figures and women were subjects who were expected to follow it. While Salem was a patriarchal society, it surprisingly also allowed women to testify in court and were active in their duties outside of the household. Women were aware of the social issues that surrounded them. This source shows the shift that occurred in Salem and caused women to eventually feel “economically helpless”. The experience of abuse between...
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...Salem Witch Trail essay You are a witch.Would you do anything for jealousy attention or revenge? The Salem Witch trial was a time where many people of the village were being accused of witchcraft it was a very hectic period of time. The cause of the effect of salem witch trials of 1692 was revenge, attention, and jealousy. We all know about revenge and perhaps we all have done it in some point in our life. Salem witch crafts hanging were common and it is related to revenge because once a person was pressed to death most of his or her family would be executed. Document A there were many people who were related and executed like Mary Parker and Alice Parker. So this goes to show how revenged occurred because it did not matter if you were not a witch.This document shows that some people were related and that caused them to accuse their family members,and in document A it also that many whom were lady,which could...
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...The Crucible Essay “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller is based on witch trials in Salem 1692. “The Crucible” was written because of McCarthyism which started in 1950 and ended in 1954. Senator Joe and his campaign accused US government and other organizations of communist. Many people lost their job because of McCarthyism. McCarthyism and witch trials in Salem of 1692 are both similar events. Many people had their reputation damaged because of false accusation. In “The Crucible” we see John Proctor character go from being bad to an heroic character. He is introduced to us as a adulterous man, but in the end of the play he is represented as a heroic man. Abigail and her friends start to accuse people of witchcraft. The who village goes crazy about witchcraft. John Proctor decides to go to Salem and talks to Abigail by himself to see what all this mischief is about. Abigail tells John Proctor they are just acting silly and it all sport. Abigail and John talk back and forth and this is when we find out what...
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...identification questions worth 10 points each, and a, essay worth 70 points. Note: please review the exam procedures listed in Section 8 of the syllabus. All rules, as stated in the syllabus, will be in effect. This includes all penalties for being late or materially unprepared to take the exam. Part I. Short Identification. Five of the following terms will appear on your exam, and you will be asked to write an identification of three of them. This identification should be written in 3-5 complete sentences. You should define the term (who, what when, where, why, and how) and then provide and explanation of why the term is important to the larger themes of this class. Samuel Parris; Betty Parris; Tituba; Candlemas Massacre; predestination; poppet; Abigail Hobbs; ergotism; hysteria; Mercy Lewis; femme couvert; dower; company town; spinning jenny; water loom; Sadler Committee; exploitation; Karl Marx; monopoly; monopsony; economic competition. Part II. Essay. One of the following questions will appear on your exam. You should respond in a well-organized, thesis-driven, and specific essay which attempts to persuade that reader that your perspective on the question in the correct one. These essays should be backed up with solid information drawn from readings and class discussions. 1. Despite the widespread nature of witchcraft beliefs in colonial New England, the outbreak of accusations and trials in Salem Village in 1692 was highly unusual. What three factors do...
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...Crucible Essay History repeats itself in many ways sometimes it will be a man making a simple mistake like a man forgetting to pick his dry-cleaning up or it can be something along the lines of people becoming paranoid and fighting and preparing for things that aren’t really there. The Red Scare of 1947 to the late 1950s is a perfect example of our nation repeating a history event from 1692, The Salem Witch Trials an event that our nation still remembers today innocent lives lost that definitely didn’t deserve it. One of the victims to the Red Scare Arthur Miller made a satire of it using “The Crucible” (A play based on the witch hunts) comparing the Red Scare to the Salem Witch Trials, he claims everything he was accused for is just as ridiculous and embarrassing to our country as the Salem Witch Trials were. In this Essay I will be comparing Arthur Miller's Crucible to the Red scare of the 1940's. There’s this Guy who basically claims our government is filled to the brim with communists and we need to weed them out, His name is Joseph McCarthy, he was born in Grand Chute, Wisconsin in 1909 and he died in 1957 on May 2nd due to Alcohol poisoning.(Joseph 1) On 9th February, 1950, at a meeting of the Republican Women's Club in Wheeling, West Virginia, McCarthy claimed that he had a list of 205 people in the State Department that were known to be members of the American Communist Party (late he reduced this figure to 57)(Joseph 1). Joseph McCarthy was a dirty man who in fact...
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...Crucible, it is clear that the three people most to blame for the witch hysteria and the subsequent death of innocent people are Titube, Judge Danforth, and Abigail Williams. Each of these people, in some way, caused harm to blameless people, and this essay will explain what these people, knowingly or unknowingly did to contribute to the death of the innocent people hanged as witches in Salem Village in 1692. Tituba was the most responsible for the Salem witch Hysteria. She had been conjuring spirits over a cauldron, and while she sang, the young girls of Salem danced. As puritans, they all knew that what they were doing was sinful. Tituba seemed a bad influence on the girls; they wouldn't've been out there in the first place if it weren't for Tituba. Tituba was the first person to accuse someone of Witchcraft, giving all the other girls the idea to do the same. If she hadn't lied about working for the Devil unwillingly, people woudn't have gotten ideas about sentencing innocent people to death. Because of her, the Putnams snagged the opportunity to get land, the girls took the convenience to not be punished, and Abigail flung herself at the chance to get rid of Elizabeth Proctor so she could have John. Tituba blames these other people in attempt to save her life. The situation could have been avoided altogether if she had handled it differently; she could have said she was the first victim of the Devil in all of Salem, thus not getting anyone else into trouble. Because of her selfishness...
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...Crucible essay An admirable person is to have a high opinion of respect and esteem for someone. In the Crucible, by Arthur Miller, a witch trial in 1692 that occurred in salem left people in the town filled with all types of emotions and thoughts. A character named john proctor actions left the character in shock. John proctor is a very admirable character. John proctor, a character in the crucible, was very well known. He was a farmer man in his mid-thirties. He was a married man to a charter that is named elizabeth proctor. It is said he was known for being a very nice man. It was also known that he was a very helpful man. Proctor is his nickname or so many people call him. He is also very well respected throughout the whole community of...
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...The Salem Witch Trials, of 1692, occurred in Salem Massachusetts. This is a case where people accused other people of witchcraft. Salem was a town governed by strict Puritan religion, and to have such a charge labeled against you could cost you your life. According to Boyer and Nissenbaum, there were many worldly reasons for the events that happened so many years ago. In this essay, the authors make their findings based on scientific analysis and much historical research. Paul Boyer and Stephen argued that the Salem Witchcraft Trials took place because of the separation of the east and west, the choosing of the ministers of the church, and the agricultural and merchant interests. After much research, “took their list of accusers and accused the...
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