Most historians acknowledge that some fakery took place at Salem. A close reading of the surviving court records and related documents suggests that more fraud took place than many cared to admit after the trials ended. In Charles W.
Many of the accused also stated that they believed that the afflicted girls were lying or only pretending to be ill. One of the accused, John Alden, later gave an account of his trial during which he described a moment that he believed to reveal fraud:. The magistrates demanded of them several times, who it was of all the people in the room that hurt them? One of these accusers pointed several times at one Captain Hill, there present, but spake nothing; the same accuser had a man standing at her back to hold her up; he stooped down to her ear, then she cried out.
Aldin, Aldin afflicted her; one of the magistrates asked her if she had ever seen Aldin, she answered no, he asked her how she knew it was Aldin? She said, the man told her so. After the girl made this claim though, a young man stood up in the court and explained that the knife was actually his and that he broke it himself the day before, according Winfield S. Nevins in his book Witchcraft in Salem Village in He produced the remaining part of the knife. It was then apparent that the girl had picked up the point which he threw and put it in the bosom of her dress, whence she drew it to corroborate her statement that some one had stabbed her.
She had deliberately falsified, and used the knife-point to reinforce the falsehood. If she was false in this statement, why not all of it? If one girl falsified, how do we know whom to believe? Bernard Rosenthal also points out in his book, Salem Story, several incidents where the afflicted girls appeared to be lying or faking their symptoms, such as when both Ann Putnam and Abigail Williams claimed George Jacobs was sticking them with pins and then presented pins as evidence or when both girls testified that they were together when they saw the apparition of Mary Easty, which makes it unlikely that the vision was a result of a hallucination or psychological disorder since they both claimed to have seen it at the same time.
Witch Pins, Court House, Salem. Photo published in New England Magazine, vol. Another example is various instances when the afflicted girls hands were found to be tied with rope while in court or when they were sometimes found bound and tied to hooks, according to Rosenthal:. Not only did some of the villagers believe the afflicted girls were lying, but they also felt that the Salem village minister, Reverend Samuel Parris , lied during the trials in order to punish his dissenters and critics.
Some historians have also blamed Reverend Samuel Parris for the witch trials, claiming he was the one who suggested to the Salem villagers that there were witches in Salem during a series of foreboding sermons in the winter of , according to Samuel P. Fowler in his book An Account of the Life of Rev.
Samuel Parris:. Parris at Salem Village, it being one of the causes, which led to the most bitter parochial quarrel, that ever existed in New-England, and in the opinion of some persons, was the chief or primary cause of that world-wide famous delusion, the Salem Witchcraft. Nor, certainly, was he responsible for the factional conflict which underlay it.
Nevertheless, his was a crucial role. He had a keen mind and a way with words, and Sunday after Sunday, in the little village meetinghouse, by the alchemy of typology and allegory, he took the nagging fears and conflicting impulses of his hearers and wove them into a pattern overwhelming in its scope, a universal drama in which Christ and Satan, Heaven and Hell, struggled for supremacy.
After the trials were over, many of the Salem villagers felt Parris was responsible and some even protested by refusing to attend church while Parris was still minister there. In February of , these dissenters even presented a list of reasons they refused to attend the church, in which they accused Parris of dishonest and deceitful behavior during the trials and criticized his unchristian-like sermons:.
After two years of quarreling with parishioners, Parris was eventually dismissed sometime around Although he was dismissed from his position, Parris refused to leave the Salem Village parsonage and after nine months the congregation sued him. During the lawsuit, the villagers again accused Parris of lying during the Salem Witch Trials, according to court records:.
And though they did fall at such a time, yet it could not be known that they did it, much less be certain of it; yet he did swear positively against the lives of such as he could not have any knowledge but they might be innocent.
Parris responded by counter suing for the back pay the villagers had refused to pay him while he was minister. He eventually won the lawsuit and left Salem village shortly after. English folk magic, which was the use of spells, ointments and potions to cure everyday ailments or solve problems, was often practiced in the Massachusetts Bay Colony even though it was frowned upon by most Puritans.
I knew one of the afflicted persons, who as I was credibly informed did try with an egg and a glass to find her future husbands calling; till there came up a coffin, that is, a spectre in likeness of a coffin. Despite the affair that John has carried out, Elizabeth remains calm. Richard Watts Jr. In this essay, I am […].
The Crucible is largely concerned with the abuse and misuse of power in Salem. Discuss with reference to any three characters. The misuse of power in The Crucible leads to […]. Why does he choose to die at the end of the play? Get tips and ideas in outline. Special offer for LiteratureEssaySamples. This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible.
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Discuss the role of John Proctor. Misuse of power. The Crucible is a study of power. Analytical Essay The Crucible Assignment. The last moments of The Crucible. Furthermore, Thomas Putnam prompts his daughter to cry witchery upon his neighbour, so that he could buy up the land and profit economically. Miller establishes that rivalry and grudges lead to accusations and conviction of innocent people.
These grudge create tension which tears the community apart. Certain individuals in Salem used the witch trial hysteria to make scape goats of others, and thereby strengthen their position within the community.
Reverend Parris, an insecure and paranoid figure is an example. Parris strongly believes that the townsfolk hates him and is fearful that the community will discover that his niece and daughter were dancing in the woods.
The townsfolk do not trust Parris and see him as a hypocrite who preaches hell and damnation. This disunity and mistrust of their leadership, makes an unstable society where people question the reliability of their faith.
Thus rivalry and personal vendettas fuel the hysteria of the witch trials in Salem. The personal rivalries and grudges held by the citizens of Salem leads to a breakdown in the society of this theocratic society.
Miller illustrates that the ability of people to choose a position that suits their self interest and shift the blame to others, together with the perversion of the justice system, can result in anarchy and rebellion.
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