The Crucible by Lance Gabriel Bautista

The Accusers

99058696_1 — 2024-11-15 16:53:12 UTC

The Salem Witch Trials started from a group of 5 girls accusing multiple people of witchcraft. Their names were Abigail Williams, Ann Putnam Jr., Elizabeth Hubbard, Mary Walcott, and Mercy Lewis. The hysteria over witches because these girls had started exhibiting weird symptoms, and they started to blame several people for being witches. By the end of the trials, about 200+ were jailed or accused, and about 25 had died. We don't truly know why they started accusing people of being witches, maybe they were just bored or they legitimately believed these people were witches.

Puritanism

99058696_1 — 2024-11-15 16:56:14 UTC

Puritanism was a reform movement that wanted to rid the Church of any Catholic residue and build upon John Calvin's ideas. They had several beliefs, such as total depravity, predestination, limited atonement, etc. One of their beliefs was that Satan was acting in the world, whether through diseases or natural disasters, or other misfortunes, and that he would recruit witches and wizards to work for him. This fear of Satan and witches eventually led to the Salem Witch Trials.

The Red Scare and McCarthyism

99058696_1 — 2024-11-15 17:00:59 UTC

An author, Arthur Miller, was accused of being a communist by Senator McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee during a time where America had feared there were communists among them. As they accused him with zero evidence, Miller saw this as being similar to the Salem Witch Trials in 1692, and wrote a play to criticize America's response to communism. The play was called The Crucible, and took place in both the trials in 1692 and Washington in the 1950s during the Cold War, comparing both situations to display the ridiculousness of what America was doing at the time of the play's release. While unsuccessful at first, it is now one of Miller's most famous and reproduced plays.

Hysteria over Witches

99058696_1 — 2024-11-15 17:09:40 UTC

After the 5 girls started accusing people of being witches, paranoia and hysteria had struck the town. Anyone could be accused of being a witch, and if the girls sought them out for being one, they were guaranteed to lose the trial no matter what. Outcasts and people who were feuding with the accusers were often targeted as they were easy to accuse of being witches. Individuals who had prior charges against them were also accused of being witches as it would add credibility to their crimes. The accusations only became suspicious when people of higher status or generally admired people were accused of being witches.

The Accused

99058696_1 — 2024-11-15 17:16:04 UTC

One of the first to be accused of being a witch was Tituba, a slave of Salem Village's minister Samuel Parris. She had taught the kids Haitian vodou and similar practices and confessed to being a witch after being beaten by her master, as her status as a slave would likely mean no one would come to her defense. She also accused Sarah Good, a beggar, and Sarah Osborne, someone who hadn't attended church in a while, of being witches. She said that she saw a book with their names, and more people's names but that she could not read. This sent mass panic over the town, as they believed there were more witches in the town.