In 1692, a series of trials was held in Salem, Massachusetts, of persons accused of witchcraft. A number of people in the community and in surrounding areas had developed a disease resembling epilepsy, and suspicions arose that the afflictions
might be the work of witches. The governor of the colony of Massachusetts, Sir William Phips, began court proceedings. The proceedings were inflamed by accusations made by the daughters of a Salem minister named Parris. These daughters, along with Parris’s niece Abigail Parris, pretended to be possessed by spirits and made spectacles in the courtroom during examinations of the accused witches. In all, nineteen persons were hanged as a result of the trials, and one person was pressed to death. Many others were imprisoned and tortured.
Arthur Miller became interested in the Salem witch trials during the McCarthy Era of the 1950s, a time when a similar “witch hunt” occurred in the United States, this one for suspected Communists and other radicals in public office and the entertainment industry. Miller’s play explores the psychology of mob hysteria and guilt by association.
When have you felt social pressure to do something you knew was wrong?
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