Witch trials conformity

I, personally, conform blindly without thinking all the time. Another, more important, example is the problem of drinking and drug use with high school-aged kids.

Blind Conformity: Malcolm X In today's world it is often difficult to adjust to one type of lifestyle or another. The constant bombardment of outside opinions hamper our ability, as humans, to choose and be comfortable with a certain way of living.

Our way of living may consist of a look, a way of thinking, a religion, or any facet of our personalities that may not conform with whatever is the This type of blind conformity is not usually life threatening, but when it is taken to the level it was in Salem, it can be very deadly.

That is a prime example of why we must think before we act and be skeptical of certain situations, or else a tragedy like the witch trials could easily happen again. Salem was caught in the midst of evil even being a religious community. Their way of life made things the domain of evil. False claims of witchcraft by Abigail Williams and her group cause Salem to have hysteria, it ruined families, it caused havoc, and killed innocent people.

Part of the reason Abigail is such a nasty person who clearly has emotional issues could be because of the horrors that befell on her parents 9which she was forced to watch. Response- Mary Warren was also one of the girl 's to call out witchcraft.

Despite being a good and caring person who feels guilty about spreading lies about witchcraft, she continued to go along with it. She is spineless, and allowed Abigail to intimidate her and scare her into going along with Abigail 's games.

Her primary motivation for accusing people of witchcraft is so that she does not get punished by Abigail and the other girls.

This argument seems convincing at first but Reverend Parris is the person who is most responsible for the uncontrollable witchcraft situation by the end of act 1. Reverend Parris was not careful with his actions or words. He spoke carelessly in front of others that would spread gossip around the small village of Salem.

He accused his niece Abigail of witchcraft in front of Thomas Putnam without knowing the truth or having any evidence. His disregard for privacy further spread the rumor that witchcraft is afoot. The people of Salem were fearful of witches; they believed that witches were endangering their society. Fear guides us to take part in irrational measures. Fear has been a great part of our history; we always condemn those who we are afraid of. They abuse their power in the court convicting their critics.

Not only should the girls be blamed for all the convictions, but so should society and the judges for being so gullible into believing the girls. This happens, due to the fact that people thought that if any person looked at Abigail the wrong way, she would accuse them of witchcraft.

However, during the trials, John comes out with the affair to the court, and everyone is shocked. John was blackening his name to save his wife, so when Danforth questions Abigail about it she gets defensive. The events of the trials in the play are dramatically depicted, although the plot gives an accurate prediction of what would happen during a time of mass hysteria.

Many characters have contributed to the mass hysteria, but some are more to blame than others. The character Mary Warren is more to blame than the character Abigail Williams because Mary is easily manipulated, has switched sides during the trials, and was not forthright with evidence. Mary Warren is more to blame for the prolonging of the witch trials than Abigail because she is easily manipulated. The girls would have had great difficulty keeping up a lie for so long.

The bewildered community was blinded by their own class disputes and paranoia to put a stop to the girl 's lies. A painting created by T. Matteson displayed the emotion and public attention from witch examinations. This quote shows how even though Tituba was not a witch, her fear of punishment resulted in a false confession. This acted as a vivid visual representation of the hierarchy present in the society.

The closer one is to the reverend the more power one has and the more important one is to God. As could be expected, the first few women indicted were not of high standing in the society. For instance, Tituba, the slave of Samuel Parris was an especially easy target; her heritage, race, and social stature had already evoked suspicions and prejudices from the villagers; accusing her of bewitchment simply acted as a method of substantiating these beliefs.

The act of accusing itself played upon the widely held beliefs of the townsfolk. When Abigail and the other girls when into fits of convulsions and seizures the ultimate cause was accepted as bewitchment. Once asked who was the cause of these afflictions they pointed fingers, conveniently, to some of the most vulnerable individuals in town. Interestingly enough, once a new person was accused many of the other townspeople jump in and accuse that person of doing other evil deeds.

Seemingly ordinary and often charitable things that the alleged witch did for them are now reminisced as malicious acts. Since the popular reason for misfortune in those years was the Devil, bewitchment was automatically attributed to the cause. The group polarization phenomenon also explains why so many people jumped in to accuse. People tend to be more extreme in their opinions and decisions in groups in order to make a point and polarize from the opposing opinion.

Thus the more people joined Abigail in the frenzy, the stronger the pressure to make and maintain an accusation. The attribution error is a critical element in explaining why individuals sought to point the finger in the first place.