Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
In the 1600s, Puritans settled on the East coast of the United States. They brought with them the hope of religious freedom, but instead became embroiled in hysteria over the existence of witches. They had been persecuted in their native England, but they created a theocracy and eventually persecuted others.
Many were without family, and this made them easy targets.
They were people who did not fit in with the mainstream for some reason.
One of the ways most witches were accused was with the use of spectral evidence. If someone said they had seen the accused with the devil in a dream, or that the accused had visited them in the night, or had hurt them, it was taken as evidence that the devil was at work.
20 executed
QuickTime an d a TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor are need ed to see this picture .
Quic kT ime and a T IF F (Unc om pres sed) dec ompres sor are needed to see t his pict ure.
Those accused of being witches were most often found guilty. Sometimes they were sentenced to be tied to a rock dunked in a pond, and if they sank, they were declared innocent. Innocent. If they somehow survived the dunking, they were obviously witches, and they were executed.
Most of those found guilty of witchcraft were hung.
One man was pressed to death with rocks because he refused to plead guilty or innocent, insuring that his sons still inherited his lands.
QuickT ime and a T IF F (Uncompressed) decom pressor are needed to see this pict ure.
Quic kT ime and a T IF F (Unc om pres sed) dec ompres s or are needed to see t his pict ure.
Senator McCarthy accused many people actors, writers, people in media, people in the military of being Communists. He held hearings where people were commanded to give names of other Communists in order for leniency. People were afraid they might be named as Communists, and it was called the Red Scare. (Red was a word used for a Communist.)
QuickTime and a TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor are needed to see this picture.
QuickTime and a TIF F (U ncompressed) decompressor are needed to see this picture.
QuickT ime and a T IF F (Uncom pressed) decompressor are needed to see this pict ure.
Quic kTime and a TIFF (Uncompress ed) decompres sor are needed to see this picture.
The Crucible was Arthur Millers way of protesting the House Unamerican Activities Committee hearings. He compared the Communist hearings to the witch hunts of Salem, where gossip, rumors, and fear were evidence enough to convict people. The term witch hunt now applies to any activity where people are looking for a scapegoat or where they are using accusations to get revenge or to get personal gain or attention.
REFLECTION (150 + words) Based on what youve heard about the Salem Witch Trials and the McCarthy hearings, write a paragraph detailing any connections you see between the two occurrences. Why do you think Arthur Miller chose to use the period of history (1692) that he chose? Why didnt he just write about the Red Scare and the McCarthy trials?s Are there any differences between the two occurrences (other than the obvious things, like time periods and clothes, etc.) How do you think both of these witch hunts were stopped eventually?