The Devil Visited Salem Witch Trials - 1597 Words

The devil visited Salem in 1692, or did he? Nicholas Hytner’s The Crucible depicts the 1692 witchcraft epidemic in Salem, Massachusetts. The film was adapted from a play written by Arthur Miller in 1953. The film’s producers, Robert A. Miller and David V. Picker, released the film along with Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation in 1996. The film focuses on one female resident of Salem and her revenge against her ex-lover. The revengeful girl and her group of friends begin to accuse other members of Salem when the group of girls are caught in a ceremonial dance in the woods and one girl becomes very ill. The film depicts various themes, but cause and effects in history and gender and history are two themes that challenge why the Salem Witch Trials took place. Did the devil visit Salem or did one manipulative act lead to a deadly conclusion? The film opens with a scene of a group of young girls and a Caribbean slave in the woods at night. The girls are participating in a ceremonial dance around a boiling pot. This opening scene suggests that the girls really are witches and participate in dark magic rituals. Although, through the remainder of the film, the girls do not demonstrate any other witchcraft practices. One of the girls becomes sick and when she is visited by a doctor and a minister they suggest that she is sick because of the devil. To draw suspicion away from them, the group of girls begin to accuse other residents of Salem of being witches. The girls areShow MoreRelatedThe Salem Witch Trials Essay902 Words   |  4 Pagestranspired in Salem, Massachusetts occurred between the years of 1688 and 1693 constituted the most significant witchcraft outbreak in the history of the New England colonies. The entire event was quickly labeled as â€Å"colossal mistake† by the government after they had passed.(Ray, 2010) With this in mind the question remains; how did it get started and how did it get out of hand so quickly? Salem is a town in Massachusetts that has unfortunately earned its reputation from these trials. It was foundedRead MoreWitch Hunt : Mysteries Of The Salem Witch Trials884 Words   |  4 Pages Witch-Hunt: Mysteries of the Salem Witch Trials. Marc Aronson. (New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, November 1, 2003. 272.) Written in 2003, Marc Aronson’s Witch-Hunt: Mysteries of the Salem Witch Trials tells of the truths and misconceptions of the horrors that occurred in 1692. In this book, Aronson examines the stories of the accused witches, the people who persecuted them, and the ones harmed by the supposed witchcraft. Marc Aronson opens his book by telling of how fairy tales andRead More Salem Witch Trials Essay876 Words   |  4 PagesSalem Witch Trials The Salem Witch Trials was probably considered the darkest time for the New England Colony. This was a mass murder of women and a few men that were supposed witches. All of this started from two little girls and a bacteria in the bread that affected the brain. This all started on January 20,1692 when nine-year-old Elizabeth Parris and eleven-year-old Abigail Williams started to exhibit strange behavior. Blasphemous screaming, Seizures, Trance-like states and MysteriousRead MoreSignificance Of The Salem Witch Trials1284 Words   |  6 PagesThe Salem Witch Trials, which started in 1692 and ended in 1693, was a major event that changed history and affected America greatly. A young group of puritan girls accused many lower class women of practicing witchcraft. There were many trials held to see if there was proof of this. 20 people died during this time and many others were held in jail until they could go to trial. This really affected us because it showed how poorly built the trials were; this made us see that we should change and giveRead MoreThe Judicial System of the Salem Witch Trials803 Words   |  4 Pagesduring the Salem Witch Trials, a series of hearings over a witchcraft scare that took place from June through September of 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts. The writer shall include a brief history of the events, explain the judicial system of the Trials, and give detail to what methods were used to determine fate of a victim. Additionally, the writer will explain how the Trials were based on false views that were not supported. The Trials began soon after a few young girls living in Salem began throwingRead MoreThe Controversy Of The Salem Witch Trials Essay1555 Words   |  7 Pages The Salem Witch Trials have been sensationalized as of late, becoming a highly popular television show, and an event that many movies have been loosely based upon. Without doing the proper research, one would think that the trials were more violent than they became. There were no witches burning at the stake, or daily hangings, or drownings, but people of the time were frightened nonetheless. The acts of just a few key people drove a whole town to hysteria and fear. Throughout the trials over aRead MoreThe Trials Of Salem Witch Trials1069 Words   |  5 PagesEven though the Salem witch trials were made to seem formal, they were actually subjective and not based on fact. Since there were multiple people being accused of witchcraft, the trials were short and quick to sentence. The witch trials lasted less than a year. The fir st arrests were made on March 1, 1692, and the final hanging day was September 22, 1692. The Court of Oyer and Terminer was dissolved in October of 1692. The Salem Witch Trials occurred in the spring of 1692, when a groupRead MoreThe Controversy Of The Salem Witch Trials Essay1548 Words   |  7 PagesStates of America. The Salem Witch Trials have been sensationalized as of late, becoming a popular show, and an event that many movies have been made of. Without doing the proper research, one would think that the trials were more violent than it became. There were no witches burning at the stake, or daily hangings, or drownings, but people of the time were frightened nonetheless. The acts of just a few key people drove a whole town to hysteria, and fear. Throughout the trials over a hundred peopleRead MoreThe Salem Witch Trials1274 Words   |  6 Pages During the seventeenth century Salem, Massachusetts is a seaport town populated mostly by Puritan colonists who came over from England in the seventeenth century. Beliefs of witchcraft came over with the settlers who, if caught practicing, was punishable by death. The Salem Witch Trials were a series of court cases in 1692 revolving around witchcraft where over hundred people were accused, nineteen were hanged, and one was pressed to death. England had accused people of witchcraft datingRead MoreReligion Can Make People Do Crazy Things At Times2107 Words   |  9 Pagescalled Salem, Massachusetts. People believed that Satan had visited Salem and was turning people into witches. It was later known as the Salem Witch trials, and current day Massachusetts has a statue to prove it. The Salem Witch Trials showed that people take religion very seriously by how they accused people of being witches, how they reacted to the supposed witches, and what the trials did to the town of Salem, Massachusetts. In-between the years of 1692 and 1693, all of the people in Salem feared