Negative Effects of Witch Trials on Salem
Rice 1
Taylor Rice
Miss Perk
American Literature
December 18, 2014
The Negative Effects
The crucible is a 1953 play that dramatized and partially fictionalized what happen during the Salem witch trials in Province of Massachusetts Bay during 1692 and 1693. In the play The Crucible
, by Arthur Miller, the town of Salem is involved in what some might say the “witch trials.” These trials negatively affected the community, the authority, the church, and the individuals. Many people in the town were being tested for their faith and their lives. The community of Salem was negatively affected by the witch trials. For instance, at the beginning of the play Miller informs the reader, "The witchhunt was a perverse manifestation of the panic which set in among all classes when the balance began to turn toward greater individual freedom." The people of Salem wanted more individual freedom and they did this by speaking up and accusing others of witchery. This led to mistrust and rivalries within the community. Also, people who had hatred for others began to accuse them, “Longheld hatreds of neighbors could now be openly expressed, and vengeance taken, despites the Bibles charitable injunctions.” The witchtrials served as a purge, people accused others just because they could. Even though they knew what they were doing was wrong, the people in Salem still turned on each other for their lust for land. The witchtrials had a negative effect on the people in Salem and negatively affected relationships within the town.
Rice 2
Salem’s authority was negatively affected from the trials. For example, Danforth and Hathorne were the judges of the trials and due to all of the mass hysteria they were forced into being “black and white,” Miller shows this by having Danforth state, “But you must understand, sir, that a person is either with this court or he must be counted against it, there be no road between.” By having this in the
Taylor Rice
Miss Perk
American Literature
December 18, 2014
The Negative Effects
The crucible is a 1953 play that dramatized and partially fictionalized what happen during the Salem witch trials in Province of Massachusetts Bay during 1692 and 1693. In the play The Crucible
, by Arthur Miller, the town of Salem is involved in what some might say the “witch trials.” These trials negatively affected the community, the authority, the church, and the individuals. Many people in the town were being tested for their faith and their lives. The community of Salem was negatively affected by the witch trials. For instance, at the beginning of the play Miller informs the reader, "The witchhunt was a perverse manifestation of the panic which set in among all classes when the balance began to turn toward greater individual freedom." The people of Salem wanted more individual freedom and they did this by speaking up and accusing others of witchery. This led to mistrust and rivalries within the community. Also, people who had hatred for others began to accuse them, “Longheld hatreds of neighbors could now be openly expressed, and vengeance taken, despites the Bibles charitable injunctions.” The witchtrials served as a purge, people accused others just because they could. Even though they knew what they were doing was wrong, the people in Salem still turned on each other for their lust for land. The witchtrials had a negative effect on the people in Salem and negatively affected relationships within the town.
Rice 2
Salem’s authority was negatively affected from the trials. For example, Danforth and Hathorne were the judges of the trials and due to all of the mass hysteria they were forced into being “black and white,” Miller shows this by having Danforth state, “But you must understand, sir, that a person is either with this court or he must be counted against it, there be no road between.” By having this in the