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Along with this older tradition, attitudes toward witches and the witch hunts of the 14th18th centuries stemmed from a long history of the churchs theological and legal attacks on heretics. Tens of thousands of supposed witches mostly womenwere executed. This is highly similar to the homicides that led to rise of the #BlackLivesMatter Movement. Tituba served as a housekeeper. Witch Hunts In Arthur Miller's The Crucible. Aligns with CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.5- Analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of the structure an author uses in his or her exposition or argument, including whether the structure makes points clear, convincing, and engaging. They were Christians who originally left England because they felt persecuted. The witch executions occurred in the early modern period, the time in Western history when capital punishment and torture were most widespread. In the article Are You Now or Were You Ever, Arthur Miller claims that the McCarthy era and the Salem witch trials were similar and he does this through his choice of diction, figurative language, and rhetorical questions. In essence, these infamous witch hunts took place because people came to believe that witches conspired to destroy and uproot decent Christian society. It was this combination of sorcery and its association with the Devil that made Western witchcraft unique. 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. Tituba, also known as Tituba Indian, was an enslaved person and servant whose birth and death dates are unknown. Another accusation that often accompanied maleficium was trafficking with evil spirits. The legal use of torture declined in the 17th and 18th centuries, and there was a general retreat from religious intensity following the wars of religion (from the 1560s to 1640s). Already a member? Their father had, of course, been persecuted in England. Both Protestants and Catholics were involved in the prosecutions, as the theology of the Protestant Reformers on the Devil and witchcraft was virtually indistinguishable from that of the Catholics. Witches were considered Satan's followers, members of an antichurch and an antistate, the sworn enemies of Christian society in the Middle Ages, and a "counter-state" in the early modern period. It makes one wonder why older men continuously try to have relationships with them, huh? During this time, witches and conspiring with the devil were frowned upon by the Puritan church, and were the cause of much fear and suspicion. believed to have inspired Shakespeares Macbeth, Eve, Pandora and Plato: How Greek Myth Shaped the First Christian Woman, How Leonardo da Vincis Notebooks Transcend Time, Marco Polo: Renowned Merchant, Explorer & Travel Writer, How Protestant Reformation Shaped Modern Education, Macbeth: Why the King of Scotland was More Than a Shakespearan Despot. George Burroughs and the Salem Witch Trials, Mary Easty: Hanged as a Witch in Salem, 1692, M.Div., Meadville/Lombard Theological School. In both The Crucible and in modern day witch hunts, witch hunts are caused out of fear or for personal gain. Instead, they were just one very small chapter in the much longer story of the witch hunts that took place all across Europe and America in the early modern period, with the European witch hunts reaching a height between 1560 and 1650. Local feuds, for example, could prove detrimental to communities, as neighbors and families turned against each other and condemned their rivals to the pyre and the gallows. He also portrays the accusers as teenagers when many were in fact much younger. Accessed 4 Mar. 'The witch-hunt was not, however, a mere repression. Salem is an early example of what Miller saw around him and personally experienced in the 1950sthe communist witch hunts conducted by Senator Joseph McCarthy. As questions of, When witchcraft arose, the state began executing anyone affiliated with witchery. In Boston, he married and later became a minister. From the 14th through the 18th century, witches were believed to repudiate Jesus Christ, to worship the Devil and make pacts with him (selling ones soul in exchange for Satans assistance), to employ demons to accomplish magical deeds, and to desecrate the crucifix and the consecrated bread and wine of the Eucharist (Holy Communion). 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). This unrest also contributed to the witch-hunting hysteria in another way. Witch hunts The next day, Betty and Abigail named Tituba as a cause of their behavior. Maleficium was a threat not only to individuals but also to public order, for a community wracked by suspicions about witches could split asunder. According to Miller, what caused the witch-hunts? Yet, following the Protestant Reformation, such persecution was widespread. But there was one entry in Upham in which the thousands of pieces I had come across were jogged into place. Log in here. ", In their book Salem Possessed, Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum remark upon the prominent place the Salem witch trials have in America's cultural consciousness. With The Crucible, Miller extrapolated that, citing womens instability when it came to the instability of an entire community. A bolt of lightning releases the handcuffs on a woman accused of being a witch and strikes down her inquisitor in this late nineteenth-century lithograph of a colonial-era trial. At first, this lead society to a poor place of illogical reasoning and punishments, but overall gave a lasting lesson of how to deal with conflicts in the future. 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. Most accused children had parents who had been accused of witchcraft. She would also have likely been aware of the unrest in the community when raids were launched in New England, starting up again in 1689 (and called King William's War), with New France using both French soldiers and local Native Americans to fight against the English colonists. The accusers is constitutionally finding scapegoats to back up their culpability. We have been advised by some Credible Christians yet alive, that a Malefactor, accused of Witchcraft as well as Murder, and Executed in this place more than Forty Years ago, did then give Notice of, An Horrible PLOT & against the Country by WITCHCRAFT, and a Foundation of WITCHCRAFT then laid, which if it were not seasonably discovered, would probably Blow up, and pull down all the Churches in the Country. The play results in a mob mentality and hysteria taking over because people believed a lying girl. The authors purpose is to point out that falsely accusing outsiders will not have a good outcome in order to convince the reader to not divide society. The Devil, whose central role in witchcraft beliefs made the Western tradition unique, was an absolute reality in both elite and popular culture, and failure to understand the prevailing terror of Satan has misled some modern researchers to regard witchcraft as a cover for political or gender conspiracies. Throughout this article, it mentions the persecution of witches today in communities around the globe, mentioning the flashbacks of similar strategies that were used in the past, doing different types of tortures.In Modern days, recent generations have abandoned wonderful traditions. The paradox lies in the fact that the rules which were created and adhered to in order to ensure unity 'were grounded on the idea of exclusion and prohibition.' Explanations of the witch hunts continue to vary, but recent research has shown some of these theories to be improbable or of negligible value. Yet one general explanation is valid: the unique character of the witch hunts was consistent with the prevailing worldview of intelligent, educated, experienced people for more than three centuries. With our Essay Lab, you can create a customized outline within seconds to get started on your essay right away. Widely influential, it was reprinted numerous times. B.A. Its hard to imagine that there was once a time when witches were not seen as cackling women with pointed hats, black cats, and bubbling cauldrons. 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. Now, after more than three-quarters of a century of fascination with the great snake of political and social developments, I can see more than a few occasions when we were confronted by the same sensation of having stepped into another age. Calling all K12 teachers: Join us July 1619 for the second annual Gilder Lehrman Teacher Symposium. Our summaries and analyses are written by experts, and your questions are answered by real teachers. Tituba and The Salem Witch Trials of 1692. The ultimate purpose of such a system was to create unity and, therefore, to fight any force that sought to break it. Our summaries and analyses are written by experts, and your questions are answered by real teachers. People such as John Proctor, Giles and Martha Corey, and Rebecca Nurse epitomize this desire for individuality. Parris beat Tituba to try to get a confession from her. The play is about human weakness, hypocrisy, and vindictiveness. Although the lurid trials at Salem (now in Massachusetts) continue to draw much attention from American authors, they were only a swirl in the backwater of the witch hunts. "In Act 1, what explanation does Miller give as to why the witch hunts developed in such a community in The Crucible?" The witch-hunt provided the perfect opportunity for the settlement of old scores. This was a time when paranoia, hysteria, and deceit gripped the Puritan towns of New England. Arthur Miller felt as if it were a . Moving crabwise across the profusion of evidence, I sensed that I had at last found something of myself in it, and a play began to accumulate around this man. Whereas womens sexuality has long since been tied to the idea of personal hysteria, Miller updated that by singling out womens desire for love and sex as a direct cause of mass hysteria. These courts reduced the number of witch trials significantly by 1600, half a century before legal theory, legislation, and theology began to dismiss the notion of witchcraft in France and other countries. These accusations would also be made by the Romans against the Christians, by early Christians against heretics (dissenters from the core Christianity of the period) and Jews, by later Christians against witches, and, as late as the 20th century, by Protestants against Catholics. By the late 16th century, many prosperous and professional people in western Europe were accused, so that the leaders of society began to have a personal interest in checking the hunts. In The Crucible, with Hales transformation Miller is emphasizing that humanity will always seek redemption, the truth will triumph the lies, and people will constantly try. Educators go through a rigorous application process, and every answer they submit is reviewed by our in-house editorial team. The Puritans were marked by inflexibility and extremism. Many critics described Death of a Salesman as the first great American tragedy, and Miller gained an associated eminence as a man who understood the deep essence of the United States. Why might their age make them particularly susceptible to accusations of strange behavior? The witch-hunt also provided those who were greedy for land, such as the Putnams, to seek satisfaction. Copyright 2023 IPL.org All rights reserved. People thought without a trace of logic, accusing and punishing innocent, witches, left and right. Moreover, just as the growth of literacy and of reading the Bible helped spread dissent, so did they provoke resistance and fear. In the Near Eastin ancient Mesopotamia, Syria, Canaan, and Palestinebelief in the existence of evil spirits was universal, so that both religion and magic were thought to be needed to appease, offer protection from, or manipulate these spirits. One theory which could explain the apparent madness of the trial and judicial hangings may be found in the bread the settlers were eating. Witches were considered Satans followers, members of an antichurch and an antistate, the sworn enemies of Christian society in the Middle Ages, and a counter-state in the early modern period. Samuel Parris, later to play a central role in the Salem witch trials of 1692 as the village minister, brought three enslaved persons with him when he came to Massachusetts from New SpainBarbadosin the Caribbean. In the play, the people of Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 sought to destroy the devils influence by seeking and destroying witches. How Rye Bread May Have Caused the Salem Witch Trials. Countries that were predominantly Catholic such as Spain, did not endure the scourge of witch-hunting to the same extent as those that experienced religious unrest. EDSITEment lesson Dramatizing History in Arthur Millers The Crucible, offers an engaging series of activities for students to examine the ways in which Miller interpreted the facts of the witch trials and successfully dramatized them. The "parochial snobbery" as well as a "predilection for minding other people's businesses" helped to make Salem a prime place for the trials to emerge and the charges of witchcraft to emerge on such a wide scale. The events in Salem and other towns in New England took place in a region of isolated villages and towns. Drawing on research on the witch trials he had conducted while an undergraduate, Miller composed The Crucible in the early 1950s. Ultimately, 19 individuals who had refused to admit guilt were hanged and another was pressed to death. The witch trials offer a window into the anxieties and social tensions that accompanied New Englands increasing integration into the Atlantic economy. Latest answer posted November 22, 2020 at 10:36:50 AM. Start your 48-hour free trial to get access to more than 30,000 additional guides and more than 350,000 Homework Help questions answered by our experts. Poor agricultural success, conflict with Native Americans, tension between different communities, and poverty were not what the Puritan communities envisioned when they set out. John Hale, were called in by Parris. The story in The Crucible begins with how the paranoia and the following witch hunt started in Salem. In the play some girls get in trouble for dancing in the woods. In act 4 of The Crucible, why does John Proctor decide to confess but refuse to sign a written confession? How does he describe the witch-hunts. Because we are all taught that if we listen to women too closely, that way lies the unraveling of the fabric of society. The economic theories of the Salem events tend to be two-fold: the first attributes the witchcraft trials to an economic downturn caused by a "little ice age" that lasted from 1550-1800; the second cites socioeconomic issues in Salem itself. In Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible, witch hunts empowered towns and consumed people's lives with fear. The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling., Have a tip we should know? She may have served as a household servant and a companion to Betty. Some have speculated that this was a way of deflecting further suspicion of himself or his wife. Lewis, Jone Johnson. While any number of marginalized groups could, in theory, have served as a scapegoat, the shift in attitudes towards witchcraft as heresy created the conditions that allowed populations to turn upon those accused of witchcraft instead. Part of their belief system was awareness for anything "evil". Children were often accusers (as they were at Salem), but they were sometimes also among the accused. How can history be dramatic, and how can drama bring history to life? By this time, I was sure, John Proctor had bedded Abigail, who had to be dismissed most likely to appease Elizabeth. This was a dissertation that endorsed witch-hunting and is believed to have inspired Shakespeares Macbeth. Sermons and didactic treatises, including devil books warning of Satans power, spread both the terror of Satan and the corresponding frantic need to purge society of him. Most Americans knowledge of the seventeenth century comes from heavily mythologized events: the first Thanksgiving at Plymouth, Pocahontas purportedly saving Captain John Smith from execution in early Virginia, and the Salem witch trials of 1692. What was it about the time period that made such hysteria, and ultimately tragedy, possible.