What part might this physical separation have played in turning neighbors against one another and stoking fears of demons? Ecclesiastical and civil authorities usually tried to restrain witch trials and rarely manipulated witch hunts to obtain money or power. Copyright 2023 IPL.org All rights reserved. Throughout the ages, people repeatedly use witch hunts as a method for dealing with issues that are widespread. Analysis. They [residents of Salem] carried about an innate resistance, even of persecution. The Salem witch trials proved to be one of the most cruel and fear driven events to ever occur in history. In response to the mass hysteria over this communist infiltration, Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible. As competition flared up following the Reformation, churches turned towards offering salvation from sin and evil to their congregations. 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. Miller presents the idea that vengeance ruins peoples lives or reputation so that you can get what you want and be satisfied. In both The Crucible and in modern day witch hunts, witch hunts are caused out of fear or for personal gain. Those who did believe saw witchcraft as something to be availed of at best and dismissed at worst. The story of that peripheral village is one that has lodged itself into the cultural mindset of people everywhere as a cautionary tale against the dangers of extremism, groupthink, and false accusations, perhaps calling to mind Arthur Millers The Crucible or Cold War era McCarthyism. Updated on January 31, 2020. After an outbreak of hunts in France in 158788, increasingly skeptical judges began a series of restraining reforms marked by the requirement of obligatory appeal to the Parlement in cases of witchcraft, making accusations even more expensive and dangerous. My own marriage of twelve years was teetering and I knew more than I wished to know about where the blame lay. 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? why did the witch-hunts occur? With tensions running high, many turned to inculcate the more vulnerable members of society. It all began in 1692 and 1693 when Salem in the United States . What is a quote said by John Proctor in Act 3 in which he reveals his sin of adultery? The Crucible shows how fear can inspire hysteria, intolerance, and paranoia and mirrored what was happening in America in the 1950s when a different kind of witch hunt was afoot. She included in her confession complicated tales of witchcraftall compatible with English folk beliefs, not voodoo as some have alleged. 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. 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. As questions of, When witchcraft arose, the state began executing anyone affiliated with witchery. It would, however, be incorrect to suggest that witch-hunting was something wielded against ones opponents during the many cases of civil unrest ignited by the Reformation. Tituba served as a housekeeper. Margaret Atwoods theory that societies under a lot of stress will give in to a person or a group proves a struggle between weak people giving into stronger people. The setting of a literary work refers to the time and place in which the action occurs. What took place in Western society to allow for the popularity of the Malleus, and for such a drastic shift in attitude towards the very existence of witchcraft? Rev. Those who were unhappy with their lot and envious towards of who were not now had the chance to voice their suspicions and take revenge against them. The drastic effects of the Little Ice Age reached a height between 1560 and 1650, which happened to be the same period in which the number of European witch hunts reached their height. Some have speculated that this was a way of deflecting further suspicion of himself or his wife. In Greco-Roman civilization, Dionysiac worship included meeting underground at night, sacrificing animals, practicing orgies, feasting, and drinking. It was also believed that they rode through the air at night to sabbats (secret meetings), where they engaged in sexual orgies and even had sex with Satan; that they changed shapes (from human to animal or from one human form to another); that they often had familiar spirits in the form of animals; and that they kidnapped and murdered children for the purpose of eating them or rendering their fat for magical ointments. In this remarkably observed gesture of a troubled young girl, I believed, a play became possible. Headley proceeds to talk about Millers other works, and how they basically all tell the story of The Crucible (and of his own marriage and relationship to Monroe) in different ways. The accusations of witchcraft - at a time when many peope did actively believe in the supernatural - become both a means and a cover for the pursuit of private conflicts. . After the magistrates finished their examination of Tituba, she was sent to jail. A detailed study of a timeline accompanies their close reading of The Crucible. These can all be related back to The Crucible, in the way in which each character experienced. Miller cites the reason for the witch-hunts to be "a preserve of manifestation of the panic which set among all classes when the balance began to turn toward greater individual freedom" and "a long overdue opportunity for everyone so inclined to express publicly his guilt and sins." What does the overture imply about human nature? He says they were caused by everyone being paranoid of the witches. The story in The Crucible begins with how the paranoia and the following witch hunt started in Salem. He presents a situation of opposition where some characters are, In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, several innocent citizens were killed or harmed in some way for unjustified reasons. In each paragraph these traits will be further explained. The Devil was deeply and widely feared as the greatest enemy of Christ, keenly intent on destroying soul, life, family, community, church, and state. She is a tour guide in Glasnevin Cemetery Museum, a popular historical site in Dublin, and a published fiction and non-fiction writer. Witch trials continued through the 14th and early 15th centuries, but with great inconsistency according to time and place. The doctor diagnosed the cause of the afflictions as "Evil Hand.". Vengeful witch hunters left no time to spare when making accusations on their neighborhood enemies. 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. Jill Schonebelen wrote a research paper on Witchcraft allegations, refugee protection and human rights. For The Crucible, Miller aged Abigail up from her actual age of 11 to a more easily sexualized 17, while aging down John Procter, who was historically 60 at the time the trials went down to 35. Prior to the beginning of the early modern period, before the devastating impact of the Black Plague transformed European institutions and the political dynamic of the entire continent, many people throughout Europe may have believed in magic. It is nearly impossible to determine a correct estimate of how many people were tried and executed for witchcraft during this time. In the play "The Crucible," Arthur Miller uses a great trial in the Salem witch trials to describe how he felt during the Red Scare in the 1950's. The Red Scare was a national hunt for Communists, or "Reds" as they were called. By 143550, the number of prosecutions had begun to rise sharply, and toward the end of the 15th century, two events stimulated the hunts: Pope Innocent VIIIs publication in 1484 of the bull Summis desiderantes affectibus (Desiring with the Greatest Ardour) condemning witchcraft as Satanism, the worst of all possible heresies, and the publication in 1486 of Heinrich Krmer and Jacob Sprengers Malleus maleficarum (The Hammer of Witches), a learned but cruelly misogynist book blaming witchcraft chiefly on women. This began the Salem Witchcraft Trials. Although accusations of witchcraft in contemporary cultures provide a means to express or resolve social tensions, these accusations had different consequences in premodern Western society where the mixture of irrational fear and a persecuting mentality led to the emergence of the witch hunts. The Salem witch scare had complex social roots beyond the communitys religious convictions. In an article called The Single Greatest Witch Hunt in American History, For real by Stacy Schiff, a small village in Massachusetts is being accused of being involved with witchcraft and they are testing people and most are giving into the stronger people just to get out of trouble. By Katie BrownCurrent PhD Biblical Studies, BA Classics and ReligionKatie is a postgraduate research student in Trinity College Dublin, where she also received her Bachelor's Degree in Classical Civilisation and World Religions and Theology. 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. What is the setting for Act 2? The American and European witch hunts of the early modern era had a significant impact on Western societys history, politics, and culture. By this time, I was sure, John Proctor had bedded Abigail, who had to be dismissed most likely to appease Elizabeth. In the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the weak people are taunted by the stronger people to give in to admitting to witchcraft. Even though the clergy and judges in the Middle Ages were skeptical of accusations of witchcraft, the period 130030 can be seen as the beginning of witch trials. The Little Ice Age was a period of climate change characterized by severe weather, famine, sequential epidemics, and chaos. Describe a relatively recent historical event that resembles the situation that unfolded in Salem. Secondly, Miller states that 'The witch-hunt was a perverse manifestation of the panic which set in among all classes when the balance began to turn toward greater individual freedom.' 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. Tituba is depicted in Miller's drama as initiating witchcraft as play among the girls of Salem Village. Why did Arthur Miller write The Crucible? Tituba was accused by the young girls of appearing to them (as a spirit), which amounted to an accusation of witchcraft. Across New England, where witch trials occurred somewhat regularly from 1638 until 1725, women vastly outnumbered men in the ranks of the accused and executed. Arthur Millers play The Crucible, which forms the basis of many Americans knowledge of the trials, takes liberties with the story. Jone Johnson Lewis is a women's history writer who has been involved with the women's movement since the late 1960s. And it is my face, and yours, Danforth! But since the controversy included withholding salary and payment in firewood, and Parris complained about the effect on his family, Tituba probably would also have felt the shortage of firewood and food in the house. According to Miller, what caused the witch-hunts? (2021, January 5). Studying the American and European witch hunts today serves as a reminder of how hardship can bring out the very worst in people, turning neighbor against neighbor and brother against brother. Parris beat Tituba to try to get a confession from her. 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? Want more stories like this? A fire, a fire is burning! Why did Arthur Miller name his play "The Crucible"? They simply used accusations of witchcraft and magic to prove their moral and doctrinal superiority over the other side. No wonder the term witch hunt has entered common political parlance to describe such campaigns as that of the late Sen. Joseph McCarthy in his attempt to root out communists in the United States in the 1950s. Elizabeth Proctor had been the orphaned Abigails mistress, and they had lived together in the same small house until Elizabeth fired the girl. The witch executions occurred in the early modern period, the time in Western history when capital punishment and torture were most widespread. Educators go through a rigorous application process, and every answer they submit is reviewed by our in-house editorial team. Witch Hunts In Arthur Miller's The Crucible. Cotton Mathers account of the witch trials reinforced colonial New Englanders view of themselves as a chosen generation of men. 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. But the events surrounding the witch trials of Salem in 1692 were not in any way unique or isolated. The first hanging for witchcraft in New England was in 1647, after the witch hunts had already abated in Europe, though a peculiar outbreak in Sweden in 166876 bore some similarity to that in New England. It would, over time, grow to be synonymous with mass hysteria, panic, and paranoia, referenced by those who believe themselves to be victims of unjust persecution; Salem. 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. The same person may have enslaved John Indian; they both disappear from all known records after Tituba's release. When Samuel Parris moved to Boston from New Spain, he brought Tituba,John Indian, and a young boy with him as enslaved persons forced to work in a household. Men who brand women as dakan capitalize on deeply rooted superstitions and systems built on . Still creepy, but slightly less creepy? Our summaries and analyses are written by experts, and your questions are answered by real teachers. When Arthur Miller published The Crucible in the early 1950s, he simply outdid the historians at their own game.. all rights reserved, History U: Courses for High School Students, Cotton Mathers account of the Salem witch trials, 1693, Located on the lower level of the New-York Historical Society. Furthermore, people could now freely express their hatreds for neighbors and take vengeance under the the guise of an attempt to identify those who communed with the devil. Other peers of Miller's, such as playwright Clifford Odets and actor Lee J. Cobb, also testified. However, it must be taken into account that different regions experienced a flare-up of witch trials for a variety of localized reasons. The malevolent sorcery more often associated with men, such as harming crops and livestock, was rarer than that ascribed to women. Anyone who failed to subscribe to Puritan social norms could become vulnerable and villainized, branded as an outsider, and cast in the role of the Other. These included those that were unmarried, childless, or defiant women on the fringes of society, the elderly, people suffering from a mental illness, people with a disability, and so forth. Because accusations and trials of witches took place in both ecclesiastical and secular courts, the law played at least as important a role as religion in the witch hunts. Tituba was among the first three people accused of being a witch during the Salem witch trials of 1692. Students can make very profitable comparisons between the two tragic heroes: The Manchurian Candidates Staff Sergeant Raymond Shaw, and The Crucible's John Proctor. The town of Salem in The Crucible, can relate to our nation today, through the way we target the Muslim religion as terrorist. In 1374 Pope Gregory XI declared that all magic was done with the aid of demons and thus was open to prosecution for heresy. Miller sums up his experience with the benefit of hindsight: "I am glad that I managed to write The Crucible, but looking back I have often wished I'd had the temperament to do an absurd comedy, which is what the situation deserved. 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. 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. How Long Will Joe Goldbergs Rampage Be Left Unchecked? In a piece over at The Daily Beast, Maria Dahvana Headley writes about Arthur Millers history with Marilyn Monroe, and how that affected his plays, which perpetuated very specific ideas about women through the American literary canon. As a result of such ideas, by the late 15th century, witches were considered as followers of the Devil. They could now publicly state their own iniquities and were praised for seeking purification. People thought without a trace of logic, accusing and punishing innocent, witches, left and right. Charges of maleficium were prompted by a wide array of suspicions. While people were being falsely accused of witchery without definite facts. The witch trials offer a window into the anxieties and social tensions that accompanied New England's increasing integration into . The Protestant Reformation and Catholic Counter-Reformation heightened the fear of witchcraft by promoting the idea of personal piety (the individual alone with his or her Bible and God), which enhanced individualism while downplaying community. The decline of witch hunts, like their origins, was gradual. The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, takes place in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692 and recounts one such witch hunt. For example, if something bad happened to John that could not be readily explained, and if John felt that Richard disliked him, John may have suspected Richard of harming him by occult means. The girls accused a lot of people and got a lot of people of hang for being witches. They believed that witches were quite real and a gateway into the dark side, the Devil and all that. Through their reactions to the witch trials, characters in Arthur Millers The Crucible portray two major themes of self-preservation and mass hysteria. As the trials wore on, Miller traveled between Massachusetts and New York, researching what he saw as a clear correlation between the Red Scare and the Salem witch trials, both of which depended on a mass hysteria propelled by fear. These beliefs changed drastically, however, towards the end of the Middle Ages, as witchcraft came to be associated with heresy. What is it about this particular tragic segment of American history that appeals to the creative imagination? Soon, people feared, communist ways would come to the United States and would quickly corrupt the government system. The play results in a mob mentality and hysteria taking over because people believed a lying girl. It certainly was not deemed to be a threat, even by the leaders of the Catholic Church, who simply denied its existence. In 1691, a group of girls from Salem, Massachusetts accused an Indian slave named Tituba of witchcraft, igniting a hunt for witches that left 19 men and women hanged, one man pressed to death, and over 150 more people in prison awaiting a trial. Three-fourths of European witch hunts occurred in western Germany, the Low Countries, France, northern Italy, and Switzerland, areas where prosecutions for heresy had been plentiful and charges of diabolism were prominent. Tituba apologized for her part, saying she loved Betty and meant her no harm. Latest answer posted November 22, 2020 at 10:36:50 AM. For many peopleespecially New Englanders (wicked or not) and fans of Daniel Day-Lewis or Winona Ryder (stars of the 1996 movie version of Arthur Miller's The Crucible)17th-century Salem, Massachusetts, comes to mind when they hear the word witch hunt.The persecution of witches goes back to ancient times, but it was during the 16th and 17th centuries that witch hunts intensified. Torture was not allowed in witch cases in Italy or Spain, but where used it often led to convictions and the identification of supposed accomplices. Already a member? In 1964, Ann Petry published "Tituba of Salem Village", written for children 10 and older. An additional activity would be to ask students to compare two or more recorded or live productions of Arthur Millers The Crucible to the written text. Cotton Mather, a prolific author and well-known preacher, wrote this account in 1693, a year after the trials ended. Local courts were more credulous and therefore more likely to be strict and even violent in their treatment of supposed witches than were regional or superior courts. A few histories mention a daughter, Violet, who remained with the Parris family. One was Elizabeth (Betty) Parris, the 9-year-old daughter of Rev. Christian theologians and academics entwined together the superstitious worries people held about the supernatural with Christian doctrine. 'The witch-hunt was not, however, a mere repression. Nevertheless, the reasons for the decline in the witch hunts are as difficult to discern as the reasons for their origins. The settlers of New England faced innumerable struggles and hardships. ThoughtCo, Jan. 5, 2021, thoughtco.com/tituba-salem-witch-trials-3530572. The events in 1692 parallel the witch hunts in 1950s. People such as John Proctor, Giles and Martha Corey, and Rebecca Nurse epitomize this desire for individuality. A combination of multiple different forces came together to create the circumstances in which these witch hunts took place, so there are numerous reasons to consider. eNotes.com will help you with any book or any question. A fire, a fire is burning! The responsibility for the witch hunts can be distributed among theologians, legal theorists, and the practices of secular and ecclesiastical courts. This unrest also contributed to the witch-hunting hysteria in another way. King James VI of Scotland, a monarch notorious for his role in Scotlands witch-hunting craze, believed that he had been personally targeted by witches who conjured dangerous storms while he sailed across the North Sea to Denmark. Clearly, both definitions apply to the title of the play. According to author Carol F. Karlsen . While she was imprisoned, two others accused her of being one of two or three women whose specters they'd seen flying. She is a former faculty member of the Humanist Institute. Many historians see its publication as a watershed moment in witch-hunting history. They were Christians who originally left England because they felt persecuted. How does Abigail turn the court against Mary Warren in The Crucible? The witch hunts varied enormously in place and in time, but they were united by a common and coherent theological and legal worldview. He tells the story of a man in a cold marriage who because of this is pushed into an affair with a much younger girl who then goes crazy and accuses him of wrongdoing. Scapegoating can be viewed as the main reason behind the American witch hunts.