The purpose of this book was to examine the history and social life of Salem Village to try to figure out what was the cause of the events that occurred there. I believe that the authors achieved their objective at least they did to me. Boyer and Nissenbaum's explanation for the outbreak of witchcraft accusations in Salem hinges on an understanding of the economic,…
Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" and Charlotte Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" are both centralized on the feministic views of women coming out to the world. Aside from the many differences within the two short stories, there is also similarities contained in Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" and Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper," such as the same concept of the "rest treatment" was prescribed as medicine to help deal with their sickness, society's views on the main character's illness, and both stories parallel in the main character finding freedom in the locked rooms that they contain themselves in.…
The Devil in the Shape of a Woman is broken down into three sections the first section contains chapter 1 and deals with the world of New England witchcraft. It examines the beliefs and religious ideals of the settlers that shaped their views of witchcraft. The second section contains chapters 2-4 and deals with more closely with examining the characteristics and individual cases of the accused. The reader will find myriad cases of the women who were accused. Three major ideas are examined and each is given a chapter, the ideas are that demographics, economics, and personalities each played a major role in determining who was accused of being a witch. The final section contains chapters 5-7 and deals with interpreting the characteristics of witches within the gender system of Colonial New England. This is broken down by looking at Puritan beliefs about women in general, the relationship between witchcraft beliefs and the social structure of the time period, and focusing on examples of women that the Puritans thought were witches.…
Trying to get to know people is like reading a book; you have to figure out every detail. Shirley Jackson’s story, “The Possibility of Evil”, is a way for the readers to learn more about Miss Strangeworth. She is a woman who loves her town, but can be a bit discouraging to the people in her town. Miss Strangeworth’s character can be analyzed by considering what she does and says, what the narrator says about her, and how other characters interact with her.…
She is a young 17 year old girl who is sexually active and has an affair with John Proctor ,a farmer in Salem.She is heinous and is never honest with the church nor with her uncle Reverend Paris.She manipulated her friends to say fabrications and threatening them when they were in Betty’s room before her uncle came.She lied that she never commit witchcraft but she did,while drinking the blood and wishing Elizabeth Proctor ,John’s wife to die.They accused many people of having contact with the devil from Abigail’s fault, such as when she accused Sarah Good, Elezabeth Proctor and Tituba for having in contact with the devil. Abigail was acting so innocent that she didn’t do anything.Last but not least, the majority of the people were dishonest to each other and saying false accusations but Abigail is the main…
The author, Arthur Miller, of a timeless classic play The Crucible tells us the story of a small town not too far from Salem where a young girl by the name of Abigail Williams brings witchcraft claims on the most highly respected and innocent people in the town. Eventually others close to Abigail and other envious locals in the town begin to accuse nearly half the town of witchcraft for personal gain. The harsh, yet true reality of human behavior when faced with jealousy and greed is displayed throughout this play to show the evilness of humans true hearts.…
Abigail Williams, a teenage girl who started the whole scare about witches in Salem, blamed everyone else for her witchcraft practices and ultimately caused many of her village members to be wrongly executed. She took advantage of the judges trust to frame people for her actions. Abigail Williams was once caught performing a ritual dance in the forest, and to save herself she blamed her so called friends. Abigail began doing witchcraft to fight for John Proctor's love, and she wanted to get rid of Elizabeth who was Proctor’s wife. “You did, you did! You drank a charm to kill John Proctor's wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor!”(The Crucible, Act One 13). Abigail is known for being mischievous, and selfish. She was definitely not possessed,…
The movie Grand Torino shows a Hmong family that has immigrated to the US and that…
Jealousy causes individuals to falsely accuse their innocent neighbors. Abigail Williams is envious of John Proctor’s wife, Elizabeth, and accuses her of witchcraft in order to resume her illicit affair with the married man. She frames Elizabeth with a poppet stabbed with a needle, which is discovered later on by Reverend Hale. She expresses her heart to John, saying, “I cannot sleep for dreamin’; I cannot dream but I wake and walk about the house as though I’d find you comin’ through the door” (23). Her expression shows her continuous hope for John to leave his wife for her. Abigail’s jealousy leads to the false accusation against Elizabeth, who is said to be hung. However, it is not only the jealousy that leads to false accusation, but pride as well.…
Life in Salem was very restrictive for any one, any variations of having fun were a sign of the devils work, like dancing. So the villagers were very serious in all matters. For example if verbal threats or curses came true, it was seen as the devils influence. They also had a wearied way of judging people. If somebody confessed to seeing the devil and wanted to be blessed by God, then they would not be punished. However, if they didn't see him or had any influence, then they were considered a devil worshiper. It was therefore better in those days to say that you were in the devils influence, and wanted to be blessed than saying that you were not. There are a number of characters to which some degree of blame could be attributed. One of these characters is Abigail. Abigail is the character who really gets the whole thing started e.g the leader of the group/ girls she also kept them in line by (in knower day term) black mail by that they had don the dance together and they were as much to blame as she was even though she is the one that took it to the next level by drinking the animals blood. She first openly admits to dancing in the woods to her uncle and when the pressure is put on her she says that it was to be blame on witchcraft. She uses the situation to her advantage and manages to get back at Elisabeth Proctor who has blackened' her name in the village She influenced them more by one or two where running around wile unrevealing there clothes witch will be also seen as the next step up of the devils influence but she twisted it to any one can get the finger of blame. She always blamed other people for her misfortune never did she blame her self for what she made happen. She was very clever with her words. She twisted her words so good that she eventually terns it back on her self destroying the one true thing she loved. Rev Parris was to…
To begin, Elizabeth Proctor was twisted in a way that was out of love for her husband and his keeping safe. In the beginning, Elizabeth was a character that was known for never lying. She was a woman of Salem that could do no wrong and loved her husband abundantly. Soon, though, her incorruption was challenged when she was brought to court to prove her husband’s innocence. Instead of telling the truth, she lied about the affair that John had previously confessed about. Thinking what was best, detrimental to herself or not, Elizabeth broke the one thing that made her consistent. She chose hurting her own conscience and fate over seeing her husband be punished for a crime he actually committed. As a result of this, Elizabeth’s whole character was altered, changing from a purely good woman to a liar.…
Abigail Williams was an eleven year old girl who belonged to Salem, Massachusetts, a strict Puritan town where the church was the central authority. She lived with her uncle Samuel Parris, the town’s minister, and his daughter Betty. Abigail was the first accuser, along with her cousin Betty, during the Salem Witch Trials and gave formal testimony at seven cases and made over forty legal complaints (Ray 1). Of the accused were John and Elizabeth Proctor, Rebecca Nurse, Martha Cory, George Burroughs, Bridget Bishop, Mary Easty, John Willard, and Mary Witheridge (Caporael 3). When the trials finally ended around…
I find myself wanting to go to Salem almost everyday, the longing for Abigail is so strong, so hard to fight. I know I have to be strong against the urge. I am wanting so badly to be open with Elizabeth. But I a m not. I often find myself remembering the night with Abigail behind my house. My wife had gone into town, I was chopping wood, she had come out for company, for she was done with the work she was given. I had been watching her for a while. I could tell she had been as well, for the subtle hints she would make. The way she would touch me in passing, so tender. The longing in her eyes, well that night was different. It changed that night. She came out to my chopping station, closer than usual. She wanted to learn how to chop wood. So I handed her the ax. I took my grip around hers, her hands so gentle, so delicate against my hard worked hands. This went on for a while, then she turned and looked into my eyes. Those beautiful longing eyes, looking into my wanting eyes. She wrapped herself around me. I returned this act of affection, I leaned in an started to passionately kiss her, clutching the small of her back. She returned the passion. She smelled faintly of the flowers she was working with that day. I pushed her against the wall, sweating at this point I was being aroused by Abigail Williams, a seventeen year old, who had probably never done this before. As she started to take my shirt off, I touched her in her special places. I resumed to kissing her, her beautiful lips that tasted of cider, the small of her neck, and her beautiful breast. As I did this I could hear the soft moans escaping her mouth. This only excited me more. Slowly I started to unbutton her dress one by one. The ribbon she was wearing started to fall from her hair. I pulled it out and placed it in my pocket. Then she undid my knickers and I was nude, as she was at this point as well. We did go further that night, much further. I am ashamed to think about it. But I think about it every…
In addition, Sarah Good, a social pariah in the small village of Salem, well-known for her eccentric behavior, was also accused of being a witch on the claims from neighbors that the family had stayed with during hard times, that when the Goods’ had left, their livestock would sicken to the point of death. They chalked this up to Good bewitching their livestock, but these weren’t the only claims brought against her. A number of families also claimed that she could make objects disappear into thin air. When questioned on this topic, Good came across as tight-lipped and aggressive in her answers to the villagers and her fellow Puritans, further imbedding the already present belief that Good herself was a witch and resulted in her arrest, alongside…
The girl Abigail Williams allegation begins to go a little too far when she blames witchcraft on one of the judges wife. This might have triggered a little bit of disertenty in the judges minds on Abigail's accusations on the townspeople. This is because a judge's wife can't be touched by the devil. When Mary Warren suggested that they confess about dancing in the woods. The next day all the girls turned on her in court and said that her spirits trying to kill them.…