Who Is Katherine Branch's At Fault In The Salem Witch Trial

Salem Massachusetts was a town of quarrels in the early 1690s so it was no surprise the word of a single teenage girl set all the townspeople turning on eachother. In the years leading up to the Salem Witch Trials, miniscule tensions broke free between the people of Salem. This apprehension didn’t become a tangible threat; however, until a young girl named Abigail Williams cried witchcraft. Therefore, Abby was the most to blame for the events plaguing Salem in 1692.

ESCAPING SALEM: The Other Witch Hunt of 1692 In Richard GodBeers novel “Escaping Salem: The Other Witch Hunt of 1692” he tells of a witch trial that took place in Stamford Connecticut in 1692. GodBeer starts readers off with the setting taking place in Daniel and Abigail Wescots household. He tells of a dilemma going on in the household pertaining to their servant; Katherine Branch. She was experiencing hallucinated fits that caused her to convulse and scream in pain.

There are several incidences in history when someone was accused of witchcraft. Maybe they didn’t have anything to do with witchcraft but if someone said it, everyone believed them. Some many people’s lives were taken because of something they didn’t do not had a part in. From June – September 1692, 19 men and women have been convicted of witchcraft. They were carted to Gallows Hill, a barren slope near Salem Village for hanging.

Richard Godbeer introduced “the salem witch hunt” in which he addresses various tragic dialogues occurring in Salem during the early modern period. During the course of Puritans, many followed strictly through the concept of catholic religious beliefs leading to apprehension in contact of compulsive behaviour influencing supernatural assumptions. Commonly the society detected this manifestation as witchcraft, overbearing that most poor, widowed and oddly conducted women were generally associated with demonic figures. During the trails mentioned in the authors book, we can sense a shift of emotion overbearing the figure being held in front of the jury and also to the people witnessing this horrific perturbation since most of women at the time,

From 1692 to 1693, the Salem witch trials had Massachusettes in shambles because of the rising hysteria and madness. This madness was caused by many factors, including a corrupted justice system, personal grudges against one another, and one's willingness to lie for pride. The Salem government was considered a theocracy, in which the government was ruled in the name of God and the hands of the priest. Judge Danforth exemplifies unprofessionalism when he decides he cannot pardon anyone because they have already hung many others, which would be admitting his wrongdoing. “You misunderstand, sir; I cannot pardon these when twelve are already hanged for the same crime.

During the Salem Witch Trials, many people were accused of dealing with the devil and causing mischief among their neighbors and fellow citizens. These allegations caused rifts in the community and isolated nearly everyone from fear of being affected or accused themselves. Although it seems that they handled it as they saw fit, there are several ways that the community could’ve been a little more lenient. There are several courses of action that the Crucible should’ve taken that might have saved lives or more effectively condemned the accused: hold all court proceedings in private with an unbiased jury and judge, make sure all evidence was absolutely irrefutable in every aspect, also be sure to not to hold the accusers above the rest. Several people could’ve been spared and their personal standings upheld in Crucible, by Arthur Miller, if the trials would have been held in

Today, Your Honour we are here to exonerate the wrongfully convicted men and women of the 1692 Salem Witch Trials of Massachusetts. Men and women were accused of witchcraft, 19 well respectable people were hung. As we know religion has no place in court, therefore eliminating the conclusion of witchcraft. Leaving us to look for other reasons and motives that appeal to human emotion such a s fear, greed and jealousy. Emotions like this led to the deaths in Salem.

Pre-Classical Criminology in The Salem Witch Trials The Salem Witch Trials provide an ardent example of Pre Classical Criminology and the beliefs of the era. Demonic Possession and witchcraft are the dominant arguments for criminal activity. Puritans considered these spiritual practices as foretelling misfortune and “forces of Darkness.” (Sargent, 2003).

The Salem Witch Trials; Madness or Logic In Stacey Schiff’s, List of 5 Possible Causes of the Salem Witch Trials and Shah Faiza’s, THE WITCHES OF SALEM; Diabolical doings in a Puritan village, discuss in their articles what has been debated by so many historians for years, the causes of the Salem Witch trials. Schiff and the Faiza, purpose is to argue the possible religious, scientific, communal, and sociological reasons on why the trials occurred. All while making word by word in the writer’s testimony as if they were there through emotion and just stating simply the facts and theories. They adopt the hectic tone in order to convey to the readers the significance, tragedy, logic, loss, and possible madness behind these life changing events,

As the witchcraft hysteria grows in Salem, the court arrests Rebecca, which stuns many prominent members of the town. Justifiably upset, Francis, her husband and a very pious man, protests her arrest, defending her as “the very brick and mortar of the church”(77). Francis’s description compares Rebecca to the very base, the very foundation and key element in the church. His argument should be even more compelling due to the theocratic system of the Puritans, meaning that Rebecca being a good part of the church makes her a lawful member of the state. Reverend Hale, who has connection to the court, spurns Francis’s dissent, arguing , “Until an hour before the Devil fell, God thought

The unjustified deaths in Salem

Many people involved in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 are mockingbirds in history, especially the innocent women who were executed for witchcraft. Bridget Bishop, the first convicted witch to be hanged, “was a widow who lived in Salem town. [She] had a bad reputation because she had been accused of witchcraft years before and had frequent run-ins with the law. ”(Brooks, “Bridget Bishop”) When Bridget’s husband passed away she began to behave strangely, a common trait in witches.

In Massachusetts during 1692, Salem Village underwent a time of grief, trial, death, and Witchcraft. The chaos in Salem Village began when young girls would have what they called “fits” and they would scream vey vulgarly and fall onto the ground and shake uncontrollably (Magoon 6). These fits frightened the surrounding people and the Doctors of Salem couldn't find a diagnosis. After studying and trying to understand the illness they had, the people of Salem came to the conclusion that these girls were possessed by the Devil (Magoon 7). The result would lead to one of the most recognized events in American History, the Salem Witch Trials.

The play 'The Crucible' is set in the doctrinal society of Salem; a community that appeared to be religious but is poisoned by the wickedness of human nature. Such a society thrives on social reputation whilst seating the greatest amount of hypocrisy, intolerance and repression of individualism within it. These malignant manifestations reduces Salem to chaos and every character undergoes personal crucibles wherein their true character is revealed. The theocratic society of Salem pressured it's citizens to adhere to social conformity, regardless of how ludicrous or catastrophic they were.

A society falters when the internal connections, the ones of the people, falter. In the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the society of late 1600s Salem is a faltering one. The society was not stable from the beginning on account of the Royal Charter no longer being in place. The already weak foundation allowed for the unjust incarceration of countless citizens due to unpreparedness in the face of hysteria.