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The Crucible: Why Women Were Accused

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Between the months of February 1692 and May 1693, a small town in Massachusetts called Salem Village held hearings and persecuted citizens accused of witchcraft. Betty Parris and Abigail Williams, the daughter and niece of Reverend Samuel Parris, engaged in a ritual in the woods and fell ‘ill’ a few days later. They experienced unusual fits that included screaming, throwing things and contorting themselves into odd positions. The minister of a nearby town believed it was the result of witchcraft. In order for the other girls who participated in the ritual to stay safe from being accused of witchcraft, they claimed that they were being tormented by witches in the town. An investigation began and quickly, three women became suspects. Sarah Osborne, Sarah Good and Tituba were women with reputations, or cultural differences that caused them to be outcasts. Those traits could have arguably been the only reason they were accused of witchcraft. Four others, including a child, were arrested when they doubted the credibility of the girls’ claims. The child was arrested …show more content…
The movie didn’t take into account any of the social aspects that were going on. To grasp the understanding of why people were actually being accused, you have to dig deeper into their lives prior to and during the time of the Salem witch trials. It wasn’t just as simple as fitting the characteristics of a witch. According to common assumptions and laws of the era, witchcraft was the cooperation of humans with devils in order to harm others. There were an assortment of characteristics that made someone a suspect of being a witch. A few are as follows: most were women, middle aged, they were related to or associated with another suspect, married with no children, married more than once, been previously accused of other crimes and many

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