Crucible: What Transpires After The Girls Are Charged With Witchcraft?

The town’s youth, Abigail and other girls, are revered as instruments of God by the townspeople. Anyone who crosses them lives in fear of being accused of witchcraft. Abigail has achieved the power she desires and now can use it to obtain Proctor. Abigail and her troop name are arrested for bewitching the girls, and Proctor can barely believe the craze.

Several accusing girls were refugees from settlements destroyed by the Wampanoag nation, possibly suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome and fearing being attacked. Abigail and the girls again accuse Mary Warren, who recants again and claims that Proctor forced her to say that Abigail is lying. Martha Corey was hanged because she refused to admit she was a witch. If these accused witches do not confess, they will be hanged.

Eight women were convicted but released, including Elizabeth Proctor, who was with a child. Two of the accused women confessed to being witches, making the townspeople think witchcraft is involved. The girls play along with the idea, accusing other townspeople of being witches. When John Proctor testifies that the girls who have accused others of witchcraft have simply fabricated their statements, the judge refuses to hear her.

The townspeople suspect witchcraft, and they send for a minister named Hale from a neighboring town. Hale has experience hunting witches, so he is sent to investigate. The story begins when two young girls began having violent and unexplained fits and accused three townswomen of having used witchcraft on them. As more townspeople cross the girls, they face the danger of being accused of witchcraft and facing the consequences of their actions.

What happens to the girls in The Crucible?

Mary, confident about her confession, is taken to the Salem court to confess to the girls’ lies. However, the girls and Abigail, who were brought into the court, began pretending Mary’s spirit had come out of her body and attacked them. Mary proclaimed John, the Devil’s man, was the man to be hanged, fearing for her life. Reverend Parris and Reverend Hale tried to convince John to lie, but John chose to hang himself. The girls were not punished, but it is believed that Abigail, the ringleader, became a prostitute at a young age and died soon after.

What happened to the accused after the Salem witch trials?

The Salem witch trials in 1693 involved 144 to 185 people accused of witchcraft, with 54 confessing and 19 executed. The witch hunt aligned with New England folk beliefs and theology, particularly among Puritans who were strong believers in Providence, or the working out of God’s will on Earth. The Puritan community felt they were slipping away from their values in the 1690s, and the devil lurked. The idea that the devil had a hand in human affairs and could seduce people away from God was a normative belief in Puritan culture.

The belief that it was easy to slip into harmful relationships with Satan was a common belief, with the saying “Idle hands do the devil’s work” suggesting that one’s soul and community could be easily swayed by Satan’s influence. All accused were eventually pardoned by the end of 1693.

What will happen to the accused witches if they do not confess in The Crucible?

The accused witches, Abigail and her associates, were apprehended on charges of witchcraft for their purported role in bewitching the girls. Proctor, astonished by the frenzy, discloses to Elizabeth that Abigail had misrepresented her dancing as not being connected to witchcraft.

What happened to the accused in Salem witch trials?

The Salem witch trials, which occurred from June 1692 to May 1693, were a series of investigations and persecutions in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The trials resulted in 19 convicted witches being hanged and many others imprisoned. The trials were part of a long history of witch hunts that began in Europe between 1300 and 1330 and ended in the late 18th century. The Salem trials occurred late in the sequence, after the abatement of European witch-hunt fervor, which peaked from the 1580s and ’90s to the 1630s and ’40s.

Around 110, 000 people were tried for witchcraft, with between 40, 000 to 60, 000 executed. The number of trials and executions varied according to time and place, but it is generally believed that around 110, 000 people were tried for witchcraft.

What happened to those accused of being a witch?

This resource contains legal documents related to witchcraft trials, where accused individuals were accused, witnesses were called, and confessions were made, sometimes with torture. Those found guilty would be executed. However, not all accusations of witchcraft were believed, as people were suspicious of attempts to pretend to be bewitched or be a witch. For instance, Katherine Malpas’ relatives pretended she was a witch for financial gain. Witchcraft caused fear within society but also became a normal part of life.

Newcomers to a community might be accused of witchcraft due to suspicion from their neighbors, or people might pretend to be bewitched for money. The harvest failed, and people became more suspicious of witchcraft. Witchcraft trials became a platform for grievances and disputes to be discussed, and people stood in testimony for or against their neighbors. Understanding the history of witchcraft reveals more about everyday life for ordinary people in early modern England than the supernatural.

What was the punishment for being a witch in the Salem witch trials?

The Witchcraft Act of 1604, also known as An Act against Conjuration, Witchcraft and Dealing with Evil and Wicked Spirits, was the primary English law concerning witchcraft. This act made witchcraft a felony, with a minimum sentence of one year in prison for minor offenses and death for a second conviction. In 1641, the General Court drafted the Body of Liberties, a collection of civil and criminal laws and rights, which included twelve capital offenses, including witchcraft. The law on witchcraft was short and cited biblical sources for its authority. The law on witchcraft was based on Exod. 22. 188, Deut. 13. 6, 10, and Deut. 17. 2, 6.

Why does Tituba confess to witchcraft even though she is innocent?

Tituba confesses to witchcraft as a means of receiving clemency, cognizant that her objections will be inconsequential as a slave. She is unable to substantiate her innocence, as the town’s female population is inclined to ascribe blame to her for their difficulties.

What is the punishment for witchcraft in the crucible?

Tituba levels accusations of witchcraft against Sarah Good and Sarah Osborn, which result in their arrest and subsequent imprisonment. Sarah Good was convicted and executed, while historical accounts indicate that Sarah Osborn perished in prison. The play offers only limited information about Sarah Osborn.

Who was the girl accused of witchcraft?

Dorothy Good, the youngest person to be arrested and jailed in 1692, was accused of practicing witchcraft at the age of four. She was confined to a dungeon-like prison for nearly eight months, initially with her mother and infant sister. However, her comforts were later removed when her sister perished in the prison conditions and her mother was convicted of practicing witchcraft and taken away for execution. Dorothy’s father described her as “chargeable having little or no reason to govern herself”.

Historical accounts of the Salem witch trials often reference Dorothy’s status as the youngest person to be imprisoned and her story with reference to the reparation payment awarded to her father in 1712. Recent research by the Director of Education has revealed more information about Dorothy’s adult life, including her straying and rambling life, and her birth of two children without a husband to claim them as his own.

What happens if you were accused of witchcraft in Salem?

The Witchcraft Act of 1604 was the primary English law for witchcraft, deeming it a felony. A minor offense could result in a year of imprisonment, while a witch found guilty twice was sentenced to death. In 1641, the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay wrote the Body of Liberties, the first legal code in New England, which included witchcraft as a capital offense. The law stated that if a person was a witch, they would be put to death.

However, few witches were executed in Colonial America before the Salem Witch Trials. In the English tradition, clear and convincing proof of a crime was needed for conviction, with confessions and testimony from at least two trustworthy people being the best proof.

What happened to those accused of witchcraft in The Crucible?

In 1692, a jury sentenced Bridget Bishop to be hanged as a witch on “Gallows Hill” west of Salem Town. Over the summer, 27 convictions were returned, with 19 people executed, five dying in prison, and one man “pressed to death”. Eight women were convicted but released, including Elizabeth Proctor, who was pregnant. Two of the accused women confessed to being witches and were reprieved, with one woman, Tituba, being sold back into slavery. Authorities began questioning the proceedings in 1693, leading to acts of contrition, shame, and official exoneration.

As late as 1957, the Massachusetts General Court officially absolved one of the women of the crime of witchcraft, but the country was in the midst of another witch hunt. The court records of the time are clear, but the reasons behind this event remain unknown three centuries later.