Salem Witchcraft Trials essays

Salem Witchcraft Trials essays Arthur Miller wrote the play The Crucible based on what happened during the Salem Witchcraft Trials. Is Arthur Millers projection of what happened during the actual trials accurate? As you will find out, Miller used more dramatic license then you might expect. Why did Miller decide to change some of the events that occurred Was it to intrigue the reader or were some of the events reflections from his own life.? In the play Reverend Parris has one daughter and a young woman, Abigail, who is under his care. In reality, the Parris family also included two other children, an older brother, Thomas (b. 1681), and a younger sister, Susannah (b.1687)(Brown). Another major difference is that in the play Betty claims that her mother is dead, but in fact she was not dead; she died in 1696 four years after the events(Brown). Miller admits in the introduction to the play that he boosted Abigail's age to 17 even though the real girls age was only 11, and he never mentions that John Proctor was 60 and Elizabeth ,his third wife, was 41. In fact Proctor was not a farmer but a tavern keeper. other members of the Proctor family were; a daughter aged 15, a son who was 17, and Johns 33-year-old son from his first marriage (Nissenbaum). Everyone in the family was eventually accused of witchcraft. Elizabeth Proctor was indeed pregnant during the trialls, and did have a temporary stay of execution after convi ction, which ultimately saved her life because it extended past the end of the period that the executions were taking place (Brown). In the play Reverend Parris says, I am a graduate of Harvard college. when in fact he had not graduated. He attended for a while then dropped out (Gragg). In the play Abigail says Uncle we did dance referring to the time Reverend Parris caught them in the woods. In actuality there never was any wild dancing in the woods led by Tituba, and certainly Reverend Parris never...