Witchcraft in Salem Essay -- Salem Possesed Witchcraft Witch Trials Es

Witchcraft in capital of OregonIn the past, the word Salem has always been fairly synonymous with the infamous witch trials. Thanks to whole shebang much(prenominal) as Arthur Millers The Crucible, many pack find it hard not to envision a community lacerated apart by chaos, even though Millers piddle away was not so much about the witch trials but kinda a commentary on the rampant McCarthyism going on at the time he wrote it. Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum, however, see a very distinct find out when the Salem witch trials are mentioned. Rather than overlook the run-of-the-mill people living in the towns in which they write about (in the lineament of Salem Possessed, the town of Salem, Massachusetts), they instead take the instance of the witch trials of 1692 and point of departure from them into a detailed inquisition into the entire history of the sm each hamlet of Salem or, in their own words, Boyer and Nissenbaum have exploited the focal events of 1692 somewhat a s a stranger might make use of a lightning flash in the night better to observe the contours of the landscape which it chances to get through (xii). That is to say, the authors strive to show how the witch trials were not simply a all spontaneous event, but rather a long, horrible process by which individuals were singled out, tried, and executed in order to vent emotions of hostility towards change. The way in which the authors go about this, however, is in a somewhat difficult to extend style that goes back and forth between the years, forcing one to rethink all the facts thus far each time a new chapter is introduced. In addition, the authors tend to focus mostly on the social and economic aspects of witchcraft, with elfin to nothing as far as further explanation of the actions of the women accused.In the year 1692, the small farming village of Salem, Massachusetts saw a social phenomenon that would propel the village into the history books the calamity that was witchcr aft. The witch trials were initiated whenever terce young girls, Betty Parris, Abigail Williams, and Ann Putnam were caught performing fortune telling rituals in the woods, trying to profit information on what type of man would be best for them. in brief thereafter, the girls began experiencing hysterical fits, prompting Betty Parriss father, Reverend Samuel Parris, to call in the government activity to confirm the cause of the girls symptoms. ... ...rought into the case would treat it as though it were a completely rational occurrence. But then again, this is perhaps more of a fault of my own than of the authors.In the end, Salem Possessed did indeed recant me with more of an understanding of the events that took place in Salem Village, even though that understanding did seem a little shallow, as I matt-up it only focused on one aspect of the whole. But irrespective of my unpleasant viewpoint on said novel, Mr.s Boyer and Nissenbaum have through with(p) an admirable thing by taking the Salem witch trials and examining them by todays standards. By going strictly from church records and personalised accounts, the authors have brought a whole new light to what was once percieved as a purely tyrannical act of prejudice against seemingly ergodic people, letting the public know that it was in fact a cypher attack on many radical individuals. And, while the book did at times fall short on offering a complete picture of the events, it was still a fairly succinct guide to the economic factors manifold with the village of Salem and its fifteen minutes, as it were, and as such would be reccommended to history buffs around the world.