Salem%20Witch%20Trials

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Salem Witch Trials

• English 11
• Ms. Norris

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Salem, Massachusetts

• Founded in 1626
• Most famous for witch trials of 1692

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Suspicious Behavior

• Launched by the bizarre behavior of two young
  girls
• Betty Williams (daughter)
• Abigail Williams (niece)
• Both girls related to Salem Village minister,
  Reverend Samuel Parris

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Witch Hunt Begins

• February 1692 three accused women were examined
  by Magistrates Jonathan Corwin and John Hathorne

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Salem Witch Trials

• Hysteria began soon after girls were examined.
• 24 people died.
• Nineteen were hanged on Gallows Hill in Salem
  Town
• Some died in prison.

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Witch Hunts

• Paranoia and fear, mass hysteria ? witch hunts
• A witch hunt is a political campaign launched on
  the pretext of investigating activities
  subversive to the state persecution of innocent
  people, based on race, gender, religious belief,
  political belief, etc.

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Interrogation and Torture

• Giles Corey
• At first pleaded not guilty to charges of
  witchcraft
• Subsequently refused to stand trial.
• Refusal meant he could not be convicted legally.
• Examiners chose to subject him to interrogation
  by the placing of stone weights on his body.
• Survived this brutal torture for two days before
  dying.

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Witch Hunt

• Term used when a politician or the police go
  looking for someone with opposing views

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Holocaust
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Pearl Harbor
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Arthur Miller

• 1915-2005
• Playwright
• Wrote The Crucible and Death of a Salesman

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Joseph McCarthy

• Republican Senator from Wisconsin in 1950s
• Head of HUAC (House Un-American Activities
  Committee)

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McCarthys Witch Hunt

• February 1950 publicly charged that 205
  Communists had infiltrated the State Department
• Fed on the fears and frustrations of nation
• Korean War
• Communism Europe and China.

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McCarthys Witch Hunt

• Nationwide, militant anti-Communist crusade
• Supporters thought he was true patriot
• Detractors thought he was an irresponsible and
  self-serving.
• Failed to make a plausible case against anyone

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McCarthys Witch Hunt

• Many people lost jobs
• Many were blacklisted from getting jobs
• McCarthyism persecution of innocent persons and
  forced conformity that resulted.

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McCarthy vs. Miller

• Miller was Called before HUAC in 1950s
• Was asked to name possible communists in
  Hollywood
• Refused and was found in contempt of court
• Few of us can easily surrender our belief that
  society must somehow make sense. The thought that
  the state has lost its mind and is punishing so
  many innocent people is intolerable. And so the
  evidence has to be internally denied.

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McCarthys Downfall

• McCarthys claims were often unsubstantiated
• Members of the media began to get suspicious
• Went after Army in a nationally televised, 36-day
  hearing.
• Hearings exposed him, turned public opinion
  against him.

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The Crucible

• Set in Puritan-era Salem, Mass.
• Dramatization of Salem Witch Trials
• Meant as an allegory for McCarthys witch hunt

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Allegory

• The expression by means of symbolic fictional
  figures and actions of truths or generalizations
  about human existence
• Using an entire work to represent something about
  society, or commenting on society through an
  entire work.

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What is a crucible?

• a severe test
• a place or situation in which concentrated forces
  interact to cause or influence change or
  development

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The story of The Crucible

• Weird behavior followed by a rumor being spread
  leads to accusations of witchcraft against
  several citizens of the village.
• In 1950s, suspected un-American behavior
  followed by a rumor being spread leads to
  accusations of communism against several American
  citizens.