What a Witch

The Salem Witch Trials is a part of history I've always been incredibly fascinated by. Perhaps that's why when I was talking with my sister about my project and she mentioned that as one of the concepts to look into, I felt like my personal Cinderella's Mother ("Into the Woods" reference!) came to smack my face to say, "Amanda Ribnick, this is perfect [time period] for you."

The Salem Witch Trials began during the spring of 1692 in Salem Village, Massachusetts. The people in this village were Puritan, meaning that they believed that the Catholic practices of the Church of England were not complete, but that their religion could purify them. Puritans had rigid structure in their lives, their religion based on the concepts expressed by Calvinism, a branch of Christian theology that believes in the "doctrines of predestination and of the absolute sovereignty of God in salvation of the human soul from death and eternal damnation," according to Wikipedia's page on John Calvin, the creator himself. These people lived their itching with spiritual anxiety, considered constantly "searching for signs of God's favor or anger," according to this PBS article.

Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author of "The Scarlet Letter," highlights what life was like during this time period by illustrating how American Puritans lived their lives. Much like in this fictional novel, the Puritans were majors gossips, known for having constant disagreements. As I had the pleasure of analyzing this novel for my AP English Language class last year, I'm fortunate enough to have a basic understanding of the Puritan community and how they react to people who don't conform with their ideals, how they isolate and ostracize those who have made what they perceive to be mistakes. With this knowledge, I can gain insight into how their community functioned as utilize this knowledge in the creation of my film opening and the characters and relationships that I choose to present.

As I was reading through Wikipedia's page on the Trials themselves, I came across a link for the timeline of the events! According to the page, this event began in January of 1692 when cousins Abigail Williams and Elizabeth Parris began experiencing what seemed to be invisible torture, the two complaining of pricks and pinches with no visual evidence. More girls soon joined them in these fits, the first question of whether they were caused by witchcraft appearing in February after a local doctor suggested it. It was then that John Indian, the husband of Tituba, was told to make a "witch cake," a recipe told of in English folklore that is made of the possessed's urine and rye meal and then fed to a dog in the hopes of learning who the witch was. At the end of this month, Elizabeth Parris accused Tituba, her father's slave, as a witch. After that, Sarah Osborne and Sarah Good were accused, and the craziness of these accusations grew like wildfire. Throughout my research I have read a myriad of different explanations for how the next few months developed. The timeline posits that Tituba confesses herself as a tormentor and Good and Osbourne as her accomplices. However, I found this upon reading over Tituba's page on Wikipedia, 

"[Tituba] was also the first to confess to witchcraft in Salem Village. Initially denying her involvement in witchcraft, Tituba later confessed to making a "witchcake"... When questioned later, she added that she knew about occult techniques from her mistress in Barbados, who taught her how to ward herself from evil powers and how to reveal the cause of witchcraft. Since such knowledge was not meant for harm, Tituba again asserted to Parris she was not a witch, but admitted she had participated in an occult ritual when she made the witchcake in an attempt to help Elizabeth Parris." 

Then, I decided to look into the links that were present at the end of that paragraph to see if I could confirm anything. The first link was for a book produced by the New York Press, but unfortunately it costs $89 to read, so I figured that wouldn't work. I ran into similar issues with the other citations, all of them being from novels that required money that I just don't have.

Okay, wait. I might have gotten a little ahead of myself. At the top of Tituba's page I somehow managed to neglected this,

"However, she became a pivotal figure in the witch trials when she confessed to witchcraft while also making claims that both Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne participated in said witchcraft."

Nice one, Amanda.

But hey, I found the confirmation I was looking for! Back to our glorious timeline. As other young ladies began to show these symptoms (Ann Putnam Jr., etc.), more people are accused an imprisoned. Nobody seems safe from these accusations anymore, four-year-old Dorothy Good arrested towards the end of March, John Proctor in the beginning of April, and a former minister of Salem, George Burroughs at the end of April. On June 10, Bridget Bishop is the first to be hanged at Gallows Hall. Over the course of these trials, 19 are hanged. Despite that, a few died in prison as well, one of these people being Sarah Osbourne. The entire affair ends in May of 1963, but despite that many have lost their lives as well as any trust or companionship that could have grown in this community, the toll of the trials ruining any faith they could place in one another on account of the constant accusations and anxious tensions.

While I could spend hours (literally) analyzing the effects this situation had on each individual recorded to take part in the Salem Witch Trials, I'll keep it simple. This Puritan community's value of structure and belief that they are always on trial was multiplied exponentially by the accusations made during this time period, cutting all basic ties of trust, friendship, and drive to be morally righteous. When I say "drive to be morally righteous," I am referring to how there is a high possibility that people became selfish, looking out for themselves in order to avoid conviction. Because they have become selfish, they are thereby rebelling against the religion that they aim to follow so perfectly, thereby causing more tension internally amid the quick heart beats many in their ears at all times.

Thanks for tuning in to this blog post!

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• Rent from "Rent"
• In from "Carrie"

Baker, E. W. (2016). The Salem Witch Trials. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.013.324

DeMaiolo, J. F., & Hawthorne, N. (1996). The Scarlet Letter. New York: Applause.

God In America. (n.d.). Retrieved March 09, 2018, from http://www.pbs.org/godinamerica/people/puritans.html

John Calvin. (2018, March 06). Retrieved March 09, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Calvin

Puritans. (n.d.). Retrieved March 8, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puritans.

Salem witch trials. (n.d.). Retrieved March 07, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem_witch_trials.

Salem Witch Trials Webquest. (n.d.). Retrieved March 10, 2018, from https://sites.google.com/site/witchtrialswebquest/

The Puritan Divorce Allows Escape From the Chain of Matrimony. (n.d.). doi:10.1075/ps.5.3.02chi.audio.2f

The Scarlet Letter. (n.d.). Retrieved March 09, 2018, from https://classicalconversationsbooks.com/products/1s030

Timeline of the Salem witch trials. (2018, March 06). Retrieved March 10, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Salem_witch_trials

Tituba. (2018, February 18). Retrieved March 10, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tituba