Morelos 1

.Debbie Morelos

Ms. Smith

English 11- period 1

29 January 2018

The Salem Witch Trial Hysteria

In the early 17th century, puritans were very involved with religion. They saw anything

“different” as a sign of the devil. In 1692-1693 Salem, Massachusetts, the Salem Witch Trials

occured. The Crucible is based on Arthur Miller’s point of view of the trials. The witch hysteria

was caused by the young girls, Abigail Williams and Betty Parris. They wanted revenge and

were fueled by jealousy. They claimed to be possessed by witches they went on to accuse many

people to be, mainly married women. This caused chaos and disruption in the village. Many

people were hung due to these false accusations. The Salem witch trial hysteria was largely

caused by fear, lust, greed, religious fanaticism, and a corrupt court system.

The Salem Witch hysteria was caused by fear. The puritans fears did not only involve not

knowing the unknown, but also fearing the devil, having a bad name in their town, and being

accused, knowing many innocent people were. “Abigail, I have fought three long years to bend

these stiff-necked people to me, and now, just now when some good respect is rising for me in

the parish, you compromise my very character” (Miller 464). This quotes describes how

Reverend Parris gets upset with Abigail because he seen her practicing witchcraft. She fears if

anyone else saw what they were doing, he would get in trouble and his name would be blackened

throughout the town. “Fear influences people to take extreme measures and act irrationally.

Abigail fearful of gaining a bad social status or being shunned because of events in the forest.

Accuses Tituba of witchcraft” (Davis 1). Abigail fears that her reputation would be destroyed if
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people find out what she did. Abigail is also scared that everyone will be against her. She

accuses other people to save herself. Fear played a major role in the Salem Witch hysteria.

Lust played a big role in the Salem witch hysteria. Abigail had strong feelings towards

John Proctor, though, the feelings were not mutual. “Though Abigail pretends she’s angry at

Elizabeth Proctor for damaging her reputation, the more powerful emotion is envy of Elizabeth

for her marriage to John Proctor” (Wallenfeldt 2). Abigail is upset because she has feelings of

lust for John, but he is a married man. The lust was so powerful, she envied Elizabeth Proctor,

which caused her to create a lot of chaos. “Abby, I may think of you softly from time to time.

But I will cut off my hand before I’ll ever reach for you again. Wipe it out your mind. We never

touched, Abby” (Miller 470). Proctor admits that he does not have feelings for Abigail anymore.

That angers her and causes jealousy towards Elizabeth. The lust Abigail had towards Proctor

made her do bad things which caused the hysteria. She revolts by telling the court that Elizabeth

is involved with witchcraft.

The people in Salem all acted innocent, as if they have never committed a sin, when in

reality, they all had and some even acted out of greed during the trials. The folks acted out of

greed for either acres of land, lust, and/ or just benefiting themselves. “...she mutilates her

stomach with a sewing needle and claims it to be Elizabeth Proctor’s voodoo spell. ‘And struck

two inches in the flesh of her belly, he draw a needle out she testify it were your familiar spirit

pushed it in.’ From this, it can be conceived that she would disastrously knock down any

obstacle to get what she wanted” (Collin 1). This shows how greedy Abigail is since she would

do possibly anything to get her way. She wants to hurt, and even kill Elizabeth just to be with

John Proctor. “Parris uses his high social status as a priest as an excuse to obtain that of which he

considers is a requirement for such a prestigious man as he believes to be. In an argument

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between Reverend Parris and Giles Cory, Giles disagrees on Parris having ownership of the

chapel house and the amount of money he gets for his services” (Collin 1). Reverend Parris’s

greediness is revealed since all he really wants to do is to save his own life. He allows Abigail

and other people to make assumptions, as long as his name is saved.

Another cause of the Salem witch hysteria is the religious fanaticism. Puritans were very

devoted to the bible and religion. They believed everything in the world was either caused by

God or the Devil. “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live” (James 37). This quote was adapted

from King James’ version of the bible. The puritans strictly believed in this, so if they ever saw

any “strange” activity, they would automatically assume it was a witch. The puritans would also

take the “witch” to execution, since it states to kill all witches or evil, in the bible. “These evil

spirits are all around us… Go tell mankind that there are devils and witches…. New England has

had examples of their existence…” (Cotton 39). A minister in New England stated this, and his

puritan followers took this very seriously. So seriously, the religion got the best of them by

making them believe that evil is everywhere and can only be rid of by execution.

A major issue that completes the Salem witch hysteria is the corrupt court system. If it

were not for them, the issue would have been handled much better. The judges judged out of

personal opinion instead of the truth. They were very narrow minded. Once they saw an action

and displayed their opinion on it, their opinion could not be changed. The judges seen the girls as

innocent and gave no genuine chance for the accused people to fully explain themselves during

the trials. People would affect their opinions by bribe or friendship. “Hawthorne and Danforth

are both presented with the truth several times, yet neither of them listen to it. They prefer to

remain ‘heroes’ to the town by exposing all of the dangerous witches” (George 1). This quote

shows how the judges had one motive- to make themselves look good; this is injustice and
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proves how corrupt the system is. “Danforth misuses his power to punish the innocent in order to

please the town’s majority. He makes an example out of John Proctor, and makes him confess to

being involved with witchcraft. John Proctor was a very important player in Danforth’s plan

because he is so well known throughout the town” (Florman 1). This represents the evil within

the court and how the judges only think to entertain and create a justified image for themselves.

Danforth was one of the main causes for the corrupt court system and the Salem witch hysteria.

To conclude, the Salem witch trials hysteria was very chaotic and had many causes. For

instance: fear, lust, greed,religious fanaticism, and a corrupt court system. The folks of Salem

just thought of ways to benefit themselves. They feared the devil was near them, which caused

the Salem witch hysteria. It was mainly a matter of people trying to save themselves. The entire

town was shook of the thought of evil amongst them. Abigail was the primary effect, if it were

not for her, the sickening events of the Salem witch trials may have not even occurred. A lesson

that can be learned from this event is to never make accusations and spread rumors about other

people if you do not know the truth. Jumping to conclusions can easily start unnecessary chaos.