The following demonstrates that superstitious evidence was used to render a conviction in 1692, and that there is a major difference between seventeenth century British Law and the Law today. ... In a formal trial during the seventeenth century, the accused were not represented by lawyers but could question accusers and witnesses. ... English law of the seventeenth century was not as well developed as law is today. These days we might think the 1692 trials were unfair but the people of the seventeenth century would have looked at it as the norm in their society. ... The seventeenth centu...

• Word Count: 876
• Approx Pages: 4

This is crucial to know because women of the seventeenth century were under social and religious pressure that left women in a vulnerable position, which consequently led to a search for power, sense of their own potency, and social reward.1 Many people have suggested multiple explanations by taking considering external factors. ... Moreover, half those men were not directly accused but were found guilty by association.3 Having said, pathological explanations, such as the idea encephalitis, also fail to elaborate on the sex-biased ratio.4 Therefore, there are a few facts that one must take in...

• Word Count: 950
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The European Witch Craze started roughly during conclusion of the 15th century and peaked during the first half of the seventeenth century. ... During the 16th century, Martin Luther proposed radical changes to the Catholic Church system, in an attempt to rid some of the hypocrisy he felt that the Church represented. ... For, saith he, such an old man or woman came lately to my door and desired some relief, and I denied it, and God forgive me, my heart did rise against her...and presently my child, my wife, myself, my horse, my cow, my sheep, my sow, my hog, my dog, my cat, or somewhat, was th...

• Word Count: 863
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum argue that the Salem witchcraft hysteria was caused by economic and social tension that emerged from commercial capitalism, conflicts between ministers and congregations, and loss of family land which divided the residents of Salem town and Salem villag...

• Word Count: 518
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

The Crucible: Cause & Effect One of the most awful chapters in human history, is oppression. Parallels between The Crucible, and more modern examples of oppression such as the McCarthy hearings of the 1950's, are appalling. Each in the midst of an emotional time, societies often trying to suppress ...

• Word Count: 579
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

John Proctor and Hester Prynne, two characters derived from a seventeenth century, puritan community have interesting views on life. John Proctor is selected from the play The Crucible written by Arthur Miller. Hester prynne comes from Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. John and Hester ali...

• Word Count: 630
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

Throughout all of Western Europe an extensive amount of witch hunts took place between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries. ... However towards the beginning of the eighteenth century witch hunts decreased dramatically. Reasons for the decline include a development in the intellectual mind of society, a stricter judicial system, changes in religion and the fact that quality of life increasingly improved compared to the life lived by those prior to the eighteenth century. ... (Thomas 1971, p. 684) Therefore with all these new theories challenging traditional views, by the eighteenth century...

• Word Count: 1972
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Nathaniel Hawthorne was one of the most brilliant writers of the 19th century. ... The unusual time of day, particularly in the end of the seventeenth century, "at sunset" (65), when Goodman Brown leaves his home and his wife Faith, who he describes as "a blessed angel" (65) and as his "sweet, pretty wife" (65), underlines that the destination of his journey has to be a sinful or at least an immoral place thus he calls himself a "wretch to leave her" (65). ...

• Word Count: 762
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

In a society where the main virtues of the townspeople include honesty, religious dedication, a structurally sound family life, and respect for others, it seems nothing can go wrong. Thus, when something or someone goes awry, the source of the fault must not be searched for in the town, rather to ...

• Word Count: 914
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

Anti-socialist movements in 1950's America fueled the hysteria and paranoia of the Cold War. Senator Joseph McCarthy, head of the House of Un-American Activities Committee, amplified the chaos and accused many Americans for being enemy spies. Innocent Americans were prosecuted for being communist sp...

• Word Count: 945
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

As seen in The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Salem Massachusetts in the seventeenth century was no different, many people wanted what their neighbors had, and because of these wants, the Salem witch trials became a weapon for people wanting to get personal satisfaction. ...

• Word Count: 753
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

(Woloch, 30) John Demos a New England witchcraft historian writes "a hidden theme of the lives of seventeenth-century women seems to reveal an intense hostility of younger women toward the power and control of older women. ... Why were women (and especially women over the age of 40) signaled out and punished disproportionately in seventeenth-century New England? ...

• Word Count: 1873
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Young women and men in the seventeenth century were looked down upon. ... Arthur Miller did not have the need to alter history's story of the witch trials in order for him to make the point that McCarthy's hunt for Communists was truly a twentieth century witch hunt. ...

• Word Count: 1223
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

During the seventeenth century, Religion was a way of life. ... In fact, the legal concept of "innocent until proven guilty" was not formally established until the late 18th Century (Asirvatham, 2002). ...

• Word Count: 1258
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

Power and the Capability to Kill The tragic circumstances which resulted from the Witch Crisis in the late seventeenth century was the effect of the mass amounts of power held by a group of individuals. ...

• Word Count: 993
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

Katie Goodenberger American Literature Conferenced Essay 2 The Infamous Trials of 1692 During the late seventeenth century, the strict Puritan ideals of the citizens of a small, New England town lead to the infamous Salem Witch Trials of 1692. ...

• Word Count: 1052
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

During the years 1692 in Salem Village, Massachusetts a young girl fell sick. Her "fits" or convulsion, contortions and outbursts of gibberish baffled everyone in the small town. When doctors failed to find a proper diagnosis, and several other girls were afflicted with the same fits, their fits we...

• Word Count: 1927
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

The drama, The Crucible, is based on a historical event, the Salem witchcraft trial, which took place in Massachusetts during seventeenth century. The entire play centers around Elizabeth, Proctor's wife, and John Proctor, who commits adultery with Abigail, a young, prominently independent girl. Bec...

• Word Count: 893
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Do you ever wonder why the world is like this? Humans have always had the curiosity to know and explain the world around them. Before the scientific era, people would turn to their faith for answers. In the Bible it states that unfortunate events are caused by demons and the devil. The word "wit...

• Word Count: 1676
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Miller used the Salem Witch Trials of the 17th century, to make an indirect, but assertive comment upon McCarthyism in American life (Richard Watt, Jr. 536). ... Thousands of people who refused to answer q stions and confess were executed during the seventeenth century. ... Arthur Miller was completely involved with the social and moral problems of American society and inevitably made an impact on the world. he danger from Russian subversion was a more obvious danger than the witch hunts of innocent people in 17th century Massachusetts (Watts viii). ...

• Word Count: 11015
• Approx Pages: 44
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Salem Witch Trials The Salem Witchcraft trials in Massachusetts during 1692 resulted in nineteen innocent men and women being hanged, one man pressed to death, and in the deaths of more than seventeen who died in jail. It all began at the end of 1691 when a few girls in the town began to experiment with magic by gathering around a crystal ball to try to find the answer to questions such as "what trade their sweet harts should be of ". This conjuring took place in the Parris household where a woman named Tituba, an Indian slave, headed the rituals. Soon after they had begun to practice these ...

• Word Count: 2568
• Approx Pages: 10
• Grade Level: High School

Salem Witch Trials I chose to do my project on the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. The Salem Witch trials in Masachusets in 1692 resulted in 19 innocent men and women being hanged, one man pressed to death, more than 17 deaths in jail. It all began at the end of 1691 when a few girls in the town began to play with magic by gathering around a crystal ball to try to find the answer to questions such as "what trade their sweet harts should be of ". This took place in the Parris household where a woman named Tituba, an Indian slave, headed the rituals. Soon after they had begun to practice these ...

• Word Count: 2567
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

The Play Crucible is a fictional re-call of events in the American history surrounding the Salem witch trials of the seventeenth century which also provide the metaphor for Miller's parable of the Mc Carthy trials of the 1950s, John Proctor's agonising struggle with guilt emphasises the restrictive nature of the Puritan society. ...

• Word Count: 2648
• Approx Pages: 11
• Grade Level: High School

Character Analysis John Proctor A local farmer who lives just outside town; Elizabeth Proctor's husband. A stern, harsh-tongued man, John hates hypocrisy. Nevertheless, he has a hidden sin - his affair with Abigail Williams - that proves his downfall. When the hysteria begins, he hesitates to expose Abigail as a fraud because he worries that his secret will be revealed and his good name ruined. In a sense, The Crucible has the structure of a classical tragedy, with John Proctor as the play's tragic hero. ...

• Word Count: 4038
• Approx Pages: 16
• Grade Level: High School