Transcript Salem Witch Trials - English First Additional Language

Salem, Massachusetts
1692
Why Salem Still Haunts Us
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Fascination with Witches
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A Stain on American History
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How Could an Entire Community Engage
in Such Horrific Acts?
Witches and Europe
Many people in early European society
relied on the local wise people to give an
explanation for good and bad fortune.
 It was believed that some people
possessed special powers that could cause
good or harm.
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In Times of Hardship
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In times of hardship, in tight knit communities, people began to
look for people to blame for their problems.
Hardships Blamed on Witches:
1.
2.
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4.
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Failed crops
The death of livestock
People becoming ill
Sudden accidental death
People believed that witches had a secret pact with the devil.
Most often the people accused of being witches were widows and
single women.
Puritan Life
Society centered around the church. The younger generation did
not share the same strict religious views.
Salem—the Village History
1630: John Winthrop is elected the first
governor.
 1641: English law makes witchcraft a
capital crime.
 November, 1689: Samuel Parris is named
the new minister of Salem, and Salem
Village Church is formed.
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The Accused
Tituba is a foreigner, given to storytelling,
confessed, perhaps because of fear for her life
and the enjoyment of being the center of
attention.
 Sarah Good was homeless, a social misfit who
would mumble incoherently when someone
failed to be charitable, and the death of livestock
was attributed to her curses.
 Sarah Osborne was an elderly woman who
hadn’t been to church in year and may have
been considered rather crotchety.
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Strange Behavior
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In January of 1692, a group of girls in Salem Village,
MA began to exhibit strange behavior, such as
blasphemous screaming, convulsive seizures, trancelike states and mysterious spells.
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Physicians concluded that only the influence of Satan
could be responsible for the girls’ afflictions.
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Pressured to identify the source of their affliction, the
girls named three women as witches: Tituba (the
pastor’s Caribbean-Indian slave), Sarah Good & Sarah
Osborne.
Causes for the Girls’ Actions
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Witchcraft
Jealousy
Repression
Hysteria
Guilt
Boredom
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Preliminary Arrests
February 29, 1692: Arrest warrants are issued for
Tituba, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne.
Map of Salem
Can any
deductions
be made
from this
map?
The Examination of a Witch
T.H. Matteson 1853
Indictments:
Rebecca Nurse and Martha Corey
At the trial of Rebecca Nurse jury first acquits, then told to
reconsider.
Characteristics of “Witch” Trials
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Pressure of Social Forces
Stigmatization of the Accused
Climate of Fear
Resemblance to a Fair Trial
Use of Simulated Evidence
Simulated Expert Testimony
Non-falsifiabile Evidence
Reversal of Polarity
Non-Openness
Use of Loaded Questions
Dorcas Good- a juvenile case
March 23, 1692:
 Marshal Deputy Samuel Bradbrook
arrests 4-year-old Dorcas Good because
of physical impairments.
 The arrest questioned the imprisonment
of the mentally and physically disabled.
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Many of those accused of witchery
awaited their fates inside small
prison cells, approximately 6 by 4
feet.
The sentences are carried out.
August 19: George Burroughs, John
Proctor, John Willard, George Jacobs, and
Martha Carrier are hanged. Elizabeth
Proctor is spared because she is pregnant.
 September 9: Six more tried and
sentenced to death, including Martha
Corey.
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Giles and Martha Corey
Giles Corey was a
prosperous, uneducated,
eighty-year-old farmer and
full member of the church.
He and his wife Martha
lived on a farm in the
southwest corner of Salem
village.
 In March of 1692, Martha
Corey made the mistake of
publicly questioning the
sincerity of the accusations
of the afflicted girls.
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Giles Corey Refused to Confess
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Giles Corey refused to give
testimony at the 1692
Witch Trials.
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He would neither confess
nor deny the charges
brought upon him.
Giles Corey is Pressed
So,
in order to obtain a statement, he was taken outside, a board
placed across his body, and heavy stones piled on top.
It is said that his only words before he was crushed to death were:
"More weight!"
Hanging of George Burroughs
George Burroughs recites Lord's Prayer perfectly at hanging.
Cotton Mather
Mather, a minister of Boston's North Church,
was a prolific publisher of pamphlets and a firm
believer in witchcraft.
Results of the Hysteria
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140 people had been accused of practicing witchcraft in
Salem, including a 4 year old girl and a man in his 80s.
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Twenty accused witches were executed, fifteen women
and five men.
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Nineteen were hung following conviction.
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One was pressed to death for refusing to enter a plea.
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At least 4 and as many as 13 prisoners may have died in
jail.
Why the hysteria ended
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1. Doubts grow when respected citizens are convicted
and executed.
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2. Accusations of witchcraft include the powerful and
well-connected.
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3. The educated elite of Boston pressure Gov. Phips to
exclude spectral
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Increase Mather points out the Devil could take the
shape of an innocent person: "It were better that 10
suspected witches should escape than one innocent
person should be condemned."
Arthur Miller’s Crucible
Composition Book
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The Examination of a Witch
T.H. Matteson 1853
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Portrayal of townspeople looking
for evidence of witchcraft.[
The Crucible by Arthur Miller
is a play based upon the
events in 1692, which led to
the Salem Witch Trials,
The play was written in the
early 1950s during the time of
McCarthyism, when the US
government blacklisted
accused communists.
Memorable Providences
A book by Cotton Mather that
describes witchcraft and how
to determine who is a witch.
The Salem Witch Trials vs. The
Crucible
So, What’s the Truth?
THIS IS FICTION:
1. Tituba led six girls into a nearby forest to cast charms and
2.
3.
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spells, followed by a wild dancing ritual.
Ruth Putnam was the first girl to become afflicted.
The only symptom of bewitchment was that the victim
could not be woken from a deep slumber.
John Proctor, Rebecca Nurse, and Martha Corey were all
hung on the same day.
The Parris Family
THIS IS FICTION:
1.
Mrs. Parris had been dead for years and the family consisted of
Betty (daughter), Mr. Parris, Abigail (niece), and Tituba (slave).
2.
Betty was present for the trials.
3.
Mr. Parris claimed to be a graduate of Harvard.
4.
Tituba was single and didn’t have family as a slave. Tituba
confessed quickly.
The Putnams, Nurses, & Giles
Corey
THIS IS FICTION:
1.
Daughter is named Ruth Putnam.
2.
Ruth was the only child of 8 to survive.
3.
Both of the Nurses were deeply respected and revered.
4.
Giles Corey was executed for refusing to reveal the name
of a witness.
The Proctor Family
THIS IS FICTION:
1.
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5.
John Proctor is young and is a farmer.
Elizabeth is his only wife.
John Proctor only has two young sons.
Mary Warren was 17 in the story
John and Abigail committed adultery. Abigail worked for the
Proctors before Mary
Salem Witch Trials Memorial
Salem Witch Museum
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In Salem, Massachusetts, the
witch-on-a-broomstick image is
everywhere—it even appears on
the badges of the town's police
officers.
Indeed, this site of colonial-era
witch hysteria is a modern-day
magnet for all things Halloween,
all year long.
Psychics and tarot card readers
flock to the town, and there are
numerous ghost tours and
haunted houses.
Witch Trial Jeopardy
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http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects
/ftrials/salem/scopesjeopardy%5B1%5D.h
tm
What would you do?
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It's the spring of 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts. You've just
been accused by "an afflicted girl" of being a witch. The
reason for the accusation against you might have been any
from a long list of possibilities. Perhaps you're reclusive,
talk to yourself, or exhibit some other form of eccentric
behavior. Perhaps you were involved in a previous dispute
with the family of the afflicted girl. Perhaps you don't go to
church, or go to the wrong church, or sided with the wrong
faction in recent congregational strife within the Salem
Village Church. Perhaps you speak French or are suspected
with having aided the Wabanakis in the recent Indian
wars. Or perhaps you expressed support for a recently
accused witch or--worse yet--accused the accusers of
lying. Whatever the reason, you're in big trouble
now. What do you do? (Pick an option below).
Choose One Option
1.Flee Salem
2.Accuse someone else.
3.Quick! Get pregnant!
4.Confess, even though you are innocent.
5.Plead innocent and stand for trial.
6.Refuse to stand trial and face the
consequences.
Flee Salem
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Good idea, if you can swing it. Several
accused witches did escape from jail and
survive the 1692 hysteria. They included
Philip and Mary English, John Alden,
Hezekiah Usher, and Mrs. Nathaniel
Cary. However, all these accused persons
had either money or influence that made
their escape possible. You don't have
either. Try your next option.
Accuse Someone Else
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The theory here is that if you're afflicted by
witchcraft, you can't be a witch yourself. This
theory even convinced some daughters to testify
against their own mothers. It's not a bad idea (if
you have no conscience), but--sorry--it's too late
now. You should have thought of this idea a few
days ago. Now, your accusation will look like an
obvious attempt to distract attention from your
own guilt. The accusation of witchcraft has been
made against you and you're still going to have to
deal with it. Pick another option.
Quick Get Pregnant
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This isn't as silly an idea as it sounds. Pregnant
women, even if convicted of witchcraft, would not
be executed so long as they remained
pregnant. The theory is that even if you deserve
death, the baby inside you does not--so the
officials will put off your execution. This was
called "reprieve for the belly."
Of course, you still might be executed eventually,
but the hope is that the hysteria won't last
another nine months.
One slight problem, however. Who will you find
in jail to impregnate you? Sorry, this option is not
available: Try another!
Confess Even Though Your Are
Innocent.
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This route, pioneered by accused witches Tituba
and Deliverance Hobbs, turned out to be a life
saver. Confessing witches weren't
executed. Instead, they were kept apart from
other prisoners, to be called upon in trials when
their testimony might be helpful to the
prosecution. The Puritans believed that once a
person made a full confession, his or her fate
should be left in God's hands, not man's. Fiftyfive persons in the Salem area confessed to
witchcraft in 1692, adding substantial credibility
to the initial charges of witchcraft made by the
afflicted girls.
Do you really want to admit to being a witch? Is
this something you want on your resume? If not,
try another option..
Plead Innocent and Stand Trial
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This is the approach that led to nineteen innocent persons
being carted off to Gallows Hill during the summer of
1692. If you plead innocent, you'll have to face trial
without a lawyer and without the ability to call witnesses
on your own behalf, answer unanswerable questions ("If
you're not a witch, how do explain the fact that these
afflicted girls fall into fits the minute you enter the room?")-all before a court that unanimously believes in witchcraft
and believes that you're guilty. (Even in the one case that
the jury came back with an acquittal, the trial of Rebecca
Nurse, the court sent the jury back to reconsider the
verdict. The second time around, the jury found Nurse
guilty.) You'll face spectral evidence--and how do you
propose to convince the court that your apparition was not
doing all this work on the part of the Devil? Just exactly
what was your apparition doing on the night of April 23
anyway?
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This approach looks hopeless. You better try another
option.
Refuse to Stand Trial
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Octogenarian Giles Corey gave this option a
try. Knowing the fate that awaited him if he
stood for trial, Giles refused to answer the ritual
question, "Will you be tried by your God and your
country (that is, a jury)?" The penalty for
refusing to answer was peine forte et dure, an
especially unpleasant way of going that involves
piling heavy stones on your body until you either
agree to stand trial or are crushed to death.
I don't think you want to go through with
this. Better try another option.