THE CRUCIBLE

THE SALEM WITCH TRIALS

• Colonial Massachusetts
• 1692-1693
• More than 200 accused
• 20 were executed
• Mostly women

CONT.

• Salem Village-> Massachusetts Bay Company
• Reverend Samuel Parris was the first ordained minister
• Disliked by the people
• Tension and strain on resources in Salem
• The people believed that the Devil was causing this

EXAMPLES OF FINDING A WITCH

• People believed in the Devil
• They believed he gave power to people to harm others
• People who were accused of doing the Devil's work were called witches
• There were many ways to find a "witch"
• If they weighed heavier or lighter than a stack of Bibles, they were a witch

CONT.

• If a person talked to themself, they were a witch
• If someone had a pet or said hello to the neighbor's cat, they were a witch
• If someone had scars/marks/extra nipples, they were a witch

ARTHUR MILLER

• Born in 1915 in New York
• He was a life-long atheist
• His family lost everything in the Wall Street Crash (1929)
• First Broadway play (The Man Who Had All the Luck) was a failure
• It closed after only four performances

CONT.

• Wrote more than 20 plays in his life
• Was once married to Marilyn Monroe
• The Crucible received great feedback from critics
• He died in 2005 from heart failure

COLONIAL AMERICA

• John Smith and English settlers landed in Virginia in 1607
• Goals: gold and wealth
• Jamestown settlement almost failed because of the settlers' mindsets (gold)
• The English and Indians did not get along well (kept expanding west)
• Slavery eventually came to North America

CONT.

• Slavery existed in both the North and South
• Slaves had more rights in the North (could sue/be sued, make appeals)
• They were still treated horrible in the North and the South
• The North was more commerce-based and the South was more agricultural
• Eventually, the colonists would declare their independence from Britain

SOURCES

• http://mentalfloss.com/article/24090/quick-10-10-ways-identify-witch
• http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/a-brief-history-of-the-salem-witch-tr...
• http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/expedition-week/articles/sale...
• Arthur Asher Miller." Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2014. Web. 18 Sep. 2014.
• http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/colonial/jb_colonial_subj.html