Transcript Puzzle_of_Salem_PP_Crucible

“Putting the Pieces Together...
The Puzzle of Salem”
“If ever there were witches, men and women in covenant with the
Devil, here are multitudes in New England.”
- Rev. Samuel Parris, 1692
Based upon an article by Eric Miller,
angliacampus.com, and Mr. Younger’s brain
Salem Witch Trials of 1692
•
141 people were put on trial for witchcraft and 20
were executed.
– How could these barbaric acts happen less than one
hundred years before the revolution of our “civilized”
country?
1)
2)
3)
4)
Medieval witchcraft beliefs,
Sexism,
Witchcraft laws
A mysterious illness of fits and unconsciousness
•
These four puzzle pieces fit together to answer this
enigmatic question.
1) Medieval Witchcraft Beliefs
• A belief in witchcraft germinated
during the medieval time period.
• People were largely uneducated and
lived in a hostile, cold, dark, and
primitive environment. Hardship,
mysterious diseases, and
unexpected deaths were
commonplace.
• To cope with these miseries, a
scapegoat was created: Witches!
•
Witches were blamed for
"maleficium,” misfortunes like:
1) the spoiling of cheese
2) the family cow drying up
3) the deaths of people, especially
the unexpected death of babies
• Witches supposedly made a
contract with the Devil. The Devil
would then work through them
and their “familiars” (evil spirits in
the form of an animal).
The belief in witches was very real, and
horrifically, thousands of Europeans were
accused of being witches and executed
during the time span from the Middle Ages
through the 1700’s.
The Puritans carried their belief
in witchcraft with them to the “New
World,” and this belief is the first piece
of the puzzle!
Quiz: Puzzle Piece One
1) What year did the Salem witch
trials take place, and how many
people were put to death?
2) What are two of the “puzzle
pieces” that explain the cause of
the Salem witch trials?
3) What is one act of “maleficium”
witches were blamed for?
4) What is a familiar?
5) Bonus: Which Shakespeare play
contains witches?
Puzzle Piece 2: Sexism
• In New England, the majority of those
convicted of witchcraft were female.
• Most were elderly and of "humble" social
status.
• Many were widowed or married.
Widows
• The Puritan social order was very
biased toward males, who made all
decisions and “ruled the household.”
However, many widowed women in
Salem owned property, and this upset
the Puritan social order, making these
women targets of witchcraft
accusations.
• The deteriorated appearance and
sometimes eccentric behavior of
widowed women fit the stereotypical
witch prototype, making them easy
prey for witch accusations.
Married Women
• Married women were sometimes accused of witchcraft
to harm the husband, to destroy his reputation and
social status.
– For example, during a neighborly feud over property
boundaries, one neighbor may accuse the other’s wife of being
a witch in order to harm his neighbor and ultimately seize his
the disputed property.
• The women were easy prey, as they had no defense
but their word.
– And because their social status was low, their words of defense
were seldom trusted over the words of an accusing man.
Puzzle Piece 2: Sexism Quiz
1. What aspect of Puritan social order
made women easy targets for witch
accusations?
2. Why were widows witchcraft targets?
3. Why were married women sometimes
targeted?
4. Bonus: What unusual facial feature did
the Macbeth witches possess?
Yikes!
Puzzle Piece 3: Witchcraft Laws
• While witchcraft was both a
traditional concept and a theological
concept, it was also a legal concept.
– In other words, actual laws made it
illegal to be a witch!
• During the 1500s-1700s, several
statutes were created, repealed, and
recreated that outlawed witchcraft.
• The first statute against witchcraft was implemented in 1542.
– It was called an "Act agaynst Conjuracions Inchantments
and Witchcraftes."
• In 1604, a new and more brutal act against witchcraft was
passed and remained in force until 1736.
– If found guilty under the 1604 statute, the sentence was
death!
• Being a witch was against the law, as illegal as speeding or
robbing a bank is today. Therefore, if someone accused you
of being a witch, you could be arrested and even executed.
Imagine the paranoia this would have caused!
Puzzle Piece 3 Quiz
1) What are the first three pieces of the Salem
Witch Trials puzzle?
2) During what year was the first legal statute
against witchcraft created?
3) What was the severe punishment for being a
witch according to the statute of 1604?
4) Explain how these witchcraft laws created
paranoia among Puritan townspeople.
5) Bonus: What are the witches’ three familiars in
Macbeth?
Puzzle Piece 4: Mysterious Illness
•
In the kitchen of the Reverend Parris, a
group of young girls and a slave from the
Caribbean named Tituba were trying to
determine their future husbands by utilizing a
crystal ball. They “saw” a coffin-like image
that scared them.
• Soon after, the girls began to experience
"odd postures," "foolish, ridiculous
speeches," "distempers," and "fits."
• As the Spring went on, more people became
afflicted with this strange illness.
• What was happening to them? Were they
possessed as the townspeople thought? NO!
Two Theories
•
It is undisputable that the victims were afflicted
with an illness, but the cause(s) of this illness
are still unresolved. There are two major
theories:
1) Mass Psychosis brought on by the trauma of
“seeing” the image in the crystal ball and/or
being caught participating in fortune-telling, and
then intensified by the stress caused from the
witch accusations. (Psychosis is a mental
disorder characterized by symptoms such as
delusions or hallucinations.)
Psychosis Examples
• Mass psychosis is a hard-to-believe but
very real phenomenon. Two Examples:
--In Belgium in 1999, a student fell ill after drinking a contaminated Coca-Cola
that smelled like sulphur. Several other students who had drunk Coca-Cola
also fell ill. Over the course of a few days, more than one-hundred children
were sent to the hospital, all complaining of the same symptoms: nausea,
dizziness, and headaches.
--Chemical testing on the contaminated Coca Cola showed it contained a trace
amount of sulphur that was completely harmless—it just smelled bad—and
more amazingly, over half of the hospitalized children had not even drunk
any Coke.
--What happened? Mass Psychosis!
-- Incidentally, studies have shown that children are more susceptible to mass
psychosis than adults. In the past two hundred years, there have been more
than 115 documented mass psychosis cases in schools.
One more example:
• In 1787, a group of millworkers in England
suddenly fell ill when they were told
(incorrectly!) that they had been poisoned
by tainted cotton.
Ok, but it couldn’t happen to me,
could it?
• First, you see someone nearby suddenly fall ill.
• You feel anxiety that maybe you will “get” whatever he’s
got!
• Your anxiety makes you feel dizzy and nauseous.
• With increased anxiety, you begin to hyperventilate
(breathe too quickly and deeply.
• Guess what? Hyperventilating causes numbness or tingling in
the hands, feet, and lips, dizziness, headache, chest pain,
slurred speech, and sometimes fainting.
• You pass out! Your friend looks at you and…you get the
idea.
• Are you feeling any anxiety yet?
Mysterious Illness Theory Number 1 (Continued)
•The world of Salem was a world in which the powers of
demons were rarely questioned. It may be that the girls truly
thought that they had seen or were being attacked by evil
spirits, and this mental belief began to cause physical
symptoms.
--Anthropologists have observed similar possession behavior in many
primitive (superstitious) cultures.
•Clinical hysteria exhibits many of the same kinds of behavior
reported by the people of Salem. These “hysterical” behaviors
(feelings of choking, being bitten, strange postures, etc.) can
emerge in times of severe stress, which the accused
townspeople certainly were experiencing.
Illness Theory #2
2) The “witches” were suffering
from Ergotism
– Ergotism is a disorder which comes
from eating contaminated rye
bread, a bread which was prevalent
in Salem
– Ergot poisoning causes muscle
spasms and vomiting.
– Ergot also contains some elements
of lysergic acid diethylamide, or
LSD, which can cause delusions
and vivid hallucinations.
Last Quiz
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
What is psychosis?
What may have caused the girls’ psychosis?
What is Ergotism?
How might the victims have contracted Ergotism?
What is a primary symptom of Ergotism?
List the four puzzle pieces that complete the Salem
Witch Trial Puzzle.
Bonus: Complete the following famous witch line from
Macbeth: “By the pricking of my thumb, __________
_____________ _______ ________ ________.”