PURITAN REVIEW

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PURITAN REVIEW

• Theocracy Government by divine guidance or by
  officials who are regarded as divinely guided.
• In many theocracies, government leaders are
  members of the clergy, and the state's legal
  system is based on religious law.
• Contemporary examples of theocracies include
  Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Vatican.

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PURITAN REVIEW

• Theism the belief that gods or deities exist
• Atheism a belief that gods or deities do not
  exist at all
• Deism the belief that a god(s) exists, but does
  not interact with human events
• Agnosticism the belief that it is not possible
  to know whether gods or deities exist, or the
  belief that one does not know

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PURITAN REVIEW

• Human beings are corrupt and sinful by nature.
• God determines a persons fate.
• Salvation belongs to the elect, or Gods chosen,
  who can be identified by their virtue.
• Hard work and worldly success are signs of Gods
  grace.
• Education is essential in order to read the Word
  of God.
• A person should be thrifty, modest, and simple.
• Society should be ruled by covenants that
  parallel Gods covenant with his people.
• The Bible is the literal word of God.

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SALEM WITCHCRAFT TRIALS

• To pass the cold winter days of 1692, several
  girls began meeting at Rev. Parris home.  
• Tituba, the Parris slave from Barbados,
  entertained the girls with her stories of
  witchcraft and demons.
• Soon, Rev. Parris daughter, Betty, and her
  cousin, Abigail Williams, became frightened by
  the stories, and they began to act strangely.  

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SALEM WITCHCRAFT TRIALS

• They had terrible fits screaming, crying, and
  writhing as if they were in pain.  
• Rev. Parris called Salem Villages doctor, Willam
  Griggs, because he thought the girls behavior
  might be an illness.  
• The doctor failed to find any medical cause for
  their fits, so he concluded that the girls must
  be bewitched.

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SALEM WITCHCRAFT TRIALS

• During that time period, most people believed one
  could make an agreement with the devil in
  exchange for evil powers. This was considered a
  great sin.
• At the end of February, the girls began to accuse
  Tituba and other women in Salem Village of
  conspiring with the devil and practicing
  witchcraft.  

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SALEM WITCHCRAFT TRIALS

• Other girls in the village, including Ann Putnam,
  Elizabeth Hubbard, Susannah Sheldon, and Mary
  Warren, began to have similar fits, and they
  joined in the accusations.  
• Soon, many villagers were arrested and jailed on
  charges of witchcraft.  

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SALEM WITCHCRAFT TRIALS

• Trials for the accused began in March.  
• In order to receive a lesser sentence, some of
  the accused confessed their guilt and also spoke
  out against others.  
• Because there were so many accused witches in
  jail, the governor set up a new court, the court
  of oyer and terminer," specifically for the
  witchcraft cases.  

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SALEM WITCHCRAFT TRIALS

• In the cases against the accused, spectral
  evidence (testimony that one was afflicted by
  someones specter, or ghost) was admitted, as
  were hearsay, gossip, and assumptions.  
• The testimony of the girls was given great
  weight.  
• If an accused person began to deny charges of
  witchcraft, the girls would immediately go into
  fits, claiming that the suspect was harming them.

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SALEM WITCHCRAFT TRIALS

• The accused were made up of people from all walks
  of life some were rich, some were poor, some
  were well respected by the community (one was
  even a former minister), and some were publicly
  shunned.  

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SALEM WITCHCRAFT TRIALS

• Overall, nineteen men and women were hanged as a
  result of their trials.
• One man was pressed to death under heavy stones
  for refusing to stand trial.
• Four people died in prison.
• One to two hundred others were jailed.
• Two dogs were executed as suspected accomplices
  to the witches.

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MCCARTHYISM

• the term describing a period of intense
  anti-Communist suspicion in the United States
  that lasted roughly from the late 1940s to the
  late 1950s.
• This period is also referred to as the Second Red
  Scare, and coincided with increased fears about
  Communist influence on American institutions and
  espionage by Soviet agents.

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MCCARTHYISM

• During this time, many thousands of Americans
  were accused of being Communists or communist
  sympathizers and became the subject of aggressive
  investigations and questioning before government
  panels, committees, and agencies.
• The primary targets of such suspicions were
  government employees, those in the entertainment
  industry, educators and union activists.

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MCCARTHYISM

• Suspicions were often given credence despite
  inconclusive or questionable evidence.
• Many people suffered loss of employment,
  destruction of their careers, and even
  imprisonment.
• Most of these punishments came about through
  trial verdicts later overturned.

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MCCARTHYISM

• Miller himself has stated that he wrote the play
  to comment on the parallels between the unjust
  Salem witch trials and the Red Scare from 1948 to
  1956.
• Under McCarthyism, the United States was
  terrified of Communism's influence.
• Like the witches on trial in Salem, Communists
  were viewed as having already silently
  infiltrated American life and security,
  presenting a clear and present danger to the
  community at large.

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MCCARTHYISM

• The implication of a person's name offered up to
  the House Un-American Activities Committee by a
  testifying witness carried the same weight as
  irrefutable evidence of guilt.
• A refusal to name names by a witness was a clear
  sign of a Communist conspiracy.
• Miller, seeking to protect his business and
  personal friends, refused to testify to the
  Committee and was blacklisted by the American
  entertainment industry.

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MCCARTHYISM

• Many of Miller's peers, fearing the wrath of the
  US Congress and the US courts, provided the names
  of their associates to the Committee in an
  attempt to save themselves from public and
  professional disgrace.
• Miller shows the similarity between the
  collaborators of both the McCarthy era and the
  Salem witch trials.

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MCCARTHYISM

• He depicts cowardly neighbors accusing each other
  falsely to save themselves from the high court of
  Salem.
• To Miller, only those who refuse to cooperate
  hold onto their honor and sense of self and die
  as vindicated martyrs.

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What is a Crucible??

• a container made of substance highly resistant to
  great heat for melting, fusing, heating, or
  transferring molten material
• a severe test of patience or belief a trial