If you are or have been a student of the American school system, there is a good chance that you have had to read The Crucible by Arthur Miller. If you have not read it before, I highly recommend it, but here is a short summary for the cause of this article. There are some spoilers in here, so be warned.
The Summary:
In Salem, Massachusetts, a group of girls go dancing in the forest with a black slave named Tituba. The girls eventually get caught by local Reverend Parris. One of the girls, Parris' daughter Betty, falls into a coma-like state and rumors of witchcraft start to arise. That causes the town to look for Reverend Hale, an expert in witchcraft. Eventually, the group of girls and their leader, Abigail Williams, start to fein innocence by saying that they were not dancing wildly in the forrest on their own accord, they were controlled by the devil and by witchcraft. The continues on from there when Abigail and her group start to accuse people of being witches, which is taken very seriously by Reverend Hale and the other townsfolk. The story roughly ends with the accused being hung and the witch trials being brought to an ugly end.
As you read the story, it seems like an overdramatic version of the actual Salem Witch Trials that happened in Massachusetts. But, to much of a surprise, a lot of The Crucible was taken from history and a true story that happened in Salem, Massachusetts.
The Beginning:
The story begins in the 1670's in the area known as Salem, Massachusetts. In this area, there is the Town of Salem, which also controls a small village called Salem Village. The Town of Salem has grown up to be Salem, Massachusetts whereas Salem Village is now know as Danvers, Massachusetts.
Salem Village was much smaller than the Town of Salem, coming in with roughly 500 villagers. It was a parish of the Town of Salem, so any taxes or laws that they had came straight from the town. The Village was mostly rural with lots of farmland and the Town was more urbanized and it had a prosperous sea port.
In both Salem's, religion played a very important in everyday life. It was predominantly a Puritan society and much of the religion played into the government system that they had set up.
Eventually, Salem Village grew enough to have a Church built, which was a big deal since Salem Village did not have many government funded buildings. Soon, a small church committee was found and so was a reverend, whose name was Reverend Parris (whose name made it into The Crucible). Elected in 1689, Reverend Parris was a very controversial Reverend since he apparently spent the churches money in ways that the villagers did not deem fit.
Now, witchcraft was a widely believed concept, originating from the European witch hunts. Before 1691, roughly 300 witches were accused and roughly 30 were hung in the New England area.
What really ties the Salem Witch Trials into The Crucible is Reverend Parris' house, where a group of teenage girls engaged in fortune telling with Parris' West Indian slave named Tituba.
After the fortune telling event, the group of girls starting acting very strangely. They constantly rolled around on the floor, were hallucinating, barking and shouting at the other villagers.
The Aftermath:
Eventually, the group of girls accused Tituba (the slave), Sarah Goode (a beggar) and Sarah Osborn (a woman who did not regularly attend church). To condemn these women even more, the teenage girls used "spectral evidence" in court, which basically means that they claimed to "see" the accused in court, even though they were nowhere near the courtroom.
Much of what happened through this time period did make it into The Crucible by Arthur Miller. There were mentions of Reverend Parris, Sarah Goode, Sarah Osborne and Tituba throughout The Crucible. Despite the horrific witch hunt that actually took place, it is very interesting to see how it plays into the literature aspect of history.
Extra Facts About the Salem Witch Hunts:
All of the Salem Witch Hunts happened between 1691 to 1692, though Arthur Miller chose not to release The Crucible until 1953.
Around 200 people were accused of being a witch: 19 were hung, 4 died in prison and one was pressed to death.
In 1697, the judges and jurors that were a part of the Salem Witch Trials publicly apologized for their actions. One of the accusers apologized and admitted the innocence of her victims that she said were witches.
It wasn't until 1957 that all of the guilty sentences were reversed.
Many of the accusations made were made to help the accusers financial situations, to solve personal or political grievances or just for attention. If a villager was to say someone was a witch, it was basically so they can buy their land or to get rid of them
