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What do the characters in the play believe about witches? Cotton Mathers account of the witch trials reinforced colonial New Englanders view of themselves as a chosen generation of men. What Caused the Salem Witch Trials? - JSTOR Daily In Act 1, what explanation does Miller give as to why the witch hunts Through Abigails and Titubas actions of self-protection at the expense of others, Miller reveals the dangers of mass hysteria and its motivation towards self-preservation and false accusations. It would, over time, grow to be synonymous with mass hysteria, panic, and paranoia, referenced by those who believe themselves to be victims of unjust persecution; Salem. In Arthur Millers play, The Crucible, witch hunts empowered towns and consumed peoples lives with fear. Salem Witch Trials | The First Amendment Encyclopedia Most accused children had parents who had been accused of witchcraft. The Salem Witch Trials were a product of this fear and uncertainty that eventually overwhelmed the village for more than a year. []. The legal use of torture declined in the 17th and 18th centuries, and there was a general retreat from religious intensity following the wars of religion (from the 1560s to 1640s). In the gloomy courthouse there I read the transcripts of the witchcraft trials of 1692, as taken down in a primitive shorthand by ministers who were spelling each other. My own marriage of twelve years was teetering and I knew more than I wished to know about where the blame lay. Although these figures are alarming, they do not remotely approach the feverishly exaggerated claims of some 20th-century writers. Miller sums up his experience with the benefit of hindsight: "I am glad that I managed to write The Crucible, but looking back I have often wished I'd had the temperament to do an absurd comedy, which is what the situation deserved. When Arthur Miller published The Crucible in the early 1950s, he simply outdid the historians at their own game.. Understanding the Salem Witch Trials | NEH-Edsitement The third girl was Ann Putnam Jr., who was the daughter of a key supporter of Rev. A " witchcraft craze " rippled through Europe from the 1300s to the end of the 1600s. Elizabeth Proctor had been the orphaned Abigails mistress, and they had lived together in the same small house until Elizabeth fired the girl.