Miller transforms Tituba, a young Native American girl, into an African slave who led a group of young women into the forest to participate in magic rites. 2023 eNotes.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Essential Quotes by Character: John Proctor, Critical Context (Masterplots II: Juvenile & Young Adult Literature Series), Critical Context (Comprehensive Guide to Drama). Although many witchcraft theorists were not deeply misogynist, many others were, notably the authors of the infamous Malleus maleficarum. Why did Arthur Miller write The Crucible? Our summaries and analyses are written by experts, and your questions are answered by real teachers. On February 29, 1692, an arrest warrant was issued for Tituba in Salem Town. More differences existed among Protestants and among Catholics than between the two religious groups, and regions in which Protestant-Catholic tensions were high did not produce significantly more trials than other regions. 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. She may have served as a household servant and a companion to Betty. How Long Will Joe Goldbergs Rampage Be Left Unchecked? The setting of a literary work refers to the time and place in which the action occurs. In Salem people were afraid of not appearing christian enough, meanwhile during the 50s Americans feared of being accused of communism. In 20th Century America, it all started when a playwright named Arthur Miller had an affair with a Hollywood actress named Marilyn Monroe. Countries that were predominantly Catholic such as Spain, did not endure the scourge of witch-hunting to the same extent as those that experienced religious unrest. Another approach would be to have students read and analyze the following informational text by Miller, which recollects his personal experience with the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1956 when he refused to name names. Miller was convicted June 1, 1957 for contempt of Congress. To find out what was causing the afflictions, a local doctor (presumably William Griggs) and a neighboring minister, Rev. For instance Putnam accuses people whose land he covets, while Abigail wants rid of Elizabeth Proctor, her rival for John Proctor's affections. and Quakers; and between American Indians and Englishmen on the frontier. Accusations originated with the ill-will of the accuser, or, more often, the accusers fear of someone having ill-will toward him. 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. Written in the early 1950s, Arthur Miller's play "The Crucible" takes place in Salem, Massachusetts, during the 1692 Salem witch trials . In the long run it may be better simply to describe the witch hunts than to try to explain them, since the explanations are so diverse and complicated. This idea that when trouble comes, particularly when it comes to a man whos just trying to get laid, it comes at the hands of an unstable woman who should never be believed. The Salem witch trials, which resulted in several deaths in 1692 in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts, have never been adequately explained. Why did Arthur Miller name his play "The Crucible"? The "parochial snobbery" as well as a "predilection for minding other people's businesses" helped to make Salem a prime place for the trials to emerge and the charges of witchcraft to emerge on such a wide scale. Resentment and fear of the power of the hag, a woman released from the constraints of virginity and then of maternal duties, has been frequently described in Mediterranean cultures. Tens of thousands of supposed witches mostly womenwere executed. 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. John Proctor, as Miller portrays him, is a good man whos made a bad, but human, mistake. In Mexico the Franciscan friars linked indigenous religion and magic with the Devil; prosecutions for witchcraft in Mexico began in the 1530s, and by the 1600s indigenous peasants were reporting stereotypical pacts with the Devil. Classical authors such as Aeschylus, Horace, and Virgil described sorceresses, ghosts, furies, and harpies with hideous pale faces and crazed hair; clothed in rotting garments, they met at night and sacrificed both animals and humans. That Abigail started, in effect, to condemn Elizabeth to death with her touch, then stopped her hand, then went through with it, was quite suddenly the human center of all this turmoil. This definitely often refers to a courtroom trial in particular. To every guy out there today whose greatest concern is being falsely accused, youve been manipulated by a frustrated playwright into genuinely believing that being callous and abusive with women dont have consequences. eNotes.com will help you with any book or any question. Another was Abigail Williams, age 12, called "kinfolk" or a "niece" of Rev. 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. If witchcraft existed, as people believed it did, then it was an absolute necessity to extirpate it before it destroyed the world. The ensuing witch hunt would result in the executions of 19 men, women, and children, along with the deaths of at least six others, and the suffering, torment, and calamity of an entire community. To support my other endeavors, go here; http://patreon.com/teampomonok. A fire, a fire is burning! Already a member? The term 'witch-hunt' has become entrenched in our vocabulary and our consciousness to mean, metaphorically, any act which purposely seeks out to punish those who hold unpopular views or. This tendency to believe in the certainty of one's convictions as well as the belief that their practices of exclusion were justified among the cultural conditions of Salem. Already a member? Cotton Mather, a prolific author and well-known preacher, wrote this account in 1693, a year after the trials ended. Girls had specific roles in society and were expected to follow the rules of the church without question, so when they acted out and danced or strayed from the church, chaos was unavoidable. 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. ", In their book Salem Possessed, Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum remark upon the prominent place the Salem witch trials have in America's cultural consciousness. Miller wrote the play during the . Those who did believe saw witchcraft as something to be availed of at best and dismissed at worst. Whether she was aware of Rev. One theory which could explain the apparent madness of the trial and judicial hangings may be found in the bread the settlers were eating. As questions of, When witchcraft arose, the state began executing anyone affiliated with witchery. When Arthur Miller published The Crucible in the early 1950s, he simply outdid the historians at their own game.. Latest answer posted December 16, 2019 at 7:31:02 AM. 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. Samuel Parris, later to play a central role in the Salem witch trials of 1692 as the village minister, brought three enslaved persons with him when he came to Massachusetts from New SpainBarbadosin the Caribbean. Tituba was among the first three people accused of being a witch during the Salem witch trials of 1692. The overwhelming majority of processes, however, went no farther than the rumour stage, for actually accusing someone of witchcraft was a dangerous and expensive business. Thus creating the different movements to bring awareness to the situations and hope that the citizens will work to change and or stop these homicides from happening. The hunts were most severe from 1580 to 1630, and the last known execution for witchcraft was in Switzerland in 1782. Society was undeniably affected by witch hunts, as people did everything in their power to either free themselves from blame or accuse someone else. Throughout the ages, people repeatedly use witch hunts as a method for dealing with issues that are widespread. Parris was, at the time he was in New Spain, not yet married and not yet a minister. With The Crucible, Miller extrapolated that, citing womens instability when it came to the instability of an entire community. It drew upon preexisting rivalries and disputes within the rapidly growing Massachusetts port town: between urban and rural residents; between wealthier commercial merchants and subsistence-oriented farmers; between Congregationalists and other religious denominationsAnglicans, Baptists, and Quakers; and between American Indians and Englishmen on the frontier. The so-called 'confessions' by many of the accusers were an effort for them to purge themselves, as it were, of sin and thus find redemption. The effects of conflicts such as the Thirty Years War were exacerbated by the drastic Little Ice Age with which they coincided, especially in regard to the European witch hunts. The figurative 'witch hunt' of McCarthyism becomes literal in Miller's play, which is . In January of 1692, nine-year-old Betty Parris and eleven-year-old Abigail Williams, the daughter and niece of Salem Village minister Reverend Samuel Parris, suddenly feel ill. Making strange, foreign sounds, huddling under furniture, and clutching their heads, the girls' symptoms were alarming and astounding to . The witch trials offer a window into the anxieties and social tensions that accompanied New Englands increasing integration into the Atlantic economy. As students examine historical materials with an eye to their dramatic potential, they also explore the psychological and sociological questions that so fascinated Miller: Aligns withCCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.8- Evaluate an author's premises, claims, and evidence by corroborating or challenging them with other information. The "parochial snobbery" as well as a "predilection for minding. "Tituba and The Salem Witch Trials of 1692."