Historical Witch Representation - Research Paper Example

Witch Representation  The Puritans of the Salem village believed that all aspects of human life were controlled either by God or by the Satan. Based on such a belief the incidents of witch-craft began in the year 1692 in the village Salem at the home of Reverend Samuel Parris. When Samuel Parris had come to Salem he had brought with him a West Indian Slave called Tituba, her husband John Indian with some other slaves. Historians are of the opinion that Tituba used to entertain the children of Samuel Parris by telling Caribbean fables whereas Samuel’s wife told them English fairy tales. Thus we can say that both the story telling traditions had elements of magic and mysticism incorporated into it. Suddenly in the year 1692 the family members of Samuel Parris suffered from strange fits and the cause of such fits were attributed to witch craft. Then in the process Tituba and two other women were condemned as witches and the cause of the suffering of the Parris family. During the trial the two other women said that they did not know anything about the witches. But Tituba gave detail descriptions of witches and told that she had tried to kill the children. As a result Tituba and the other women were sent to jails. By the end of May in the year 1692 the prisons were filled with women who were arrested because it was believed that they practiced witch craft. Those who were arrested were not tried for long years and when they were tried they were easily accused without any evidences. Only claiming a lady to be witch was enough to accuse her as a witch and hence started the trend of witch craft in the village of Salem. (Wilson, 17-37). “The Crucible” is a movie based on the play of Arthur Miller the significant characters are John Proctor, Abigail Williams and Reverend Hale. It was Abigail Williams who had set the tempo of the film. Abigail was an orphan unmarried girl and in the society of Salem her position was not more than those of the status of Tituba and the other servants. Therefore there was a growing frustration in her mind and she wanted to uplift her position and wanted to gain importance in the eyes of the society. She could easily achieve her desire with the hysteria she created with the witch craft. She was able to instigate all the other members of her group to use the theme of witch craft and with the help of her group members she was able to send nineteen members to the jail. After this the situation was such that just the words of the girls were enough to send anybody from Salem to the jail under the allegation of witch-craft. They were able to establish connectivity with God which they were long denied. And Abigail took full advantage of the situation and used to tarnish the image of anyone whom she felt was threatening to her well being. The main themes of the movie were reputation, empowerment, hysteria and intolerance. During that time the Salem society was strictly a theocratic society and it did not tolerate anything deviant in the social life whether it was in the private life or in the public life. Hysteria plays an important part in the sense that a hysteria raised by Abigail goes far enough to send nineteen people to the gallows. In the movie hysteria spreads like a fire. Thus we can say that the movie tries to show that elements of jealousy and the desire of power can make a person do a lot of things and in the movie “The Crucible” it was jealousy of Abigail, her desire of empowerment and irrational attitude of Reverend Hale that brought in the drama of witch-craft in the village of Salem. (“The Crucible”) and (Miller and Blakesley, 4-5). “I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem” by Conde is a fictional representation of the historical character called Tituba who was involved in the witch trials of Salem which had started in the year 1692. In the book the author has given emphasis on issues like racism and slave life which were very pertinent in the American society. The book has talked about the misfortune which Tituba had to face as she was coming from Barbados to Salem just because she was a slave. The book has also dealt with issues like branding which the black people in America had to face. The book has also talked about Christian fundamentalism, sexism and oppression of the women. The book is full of exploitations, slave revolts and massacres which have been caused. The main emphasis of Conde’s book was hypocrisy which was present in America related to racism. In the book we get evidences of situations where Tituba was victimized due to branding. We have also seen in the book that the author talks about the ill treatment the slaves received at the hands of the Whites and the fact that the Whites thought that they were the born masters. Conde has illustrated it well when in his book when Endicott told Tituba, “Lower your eyes when you speak to me”. (Conde, 3). We also find enough mention of the fact about how the women were deprived during that time. In the book we see that although Tituba had special powers to connect with the invisible which she had learnt from Mama Yaya during her stay in Barbados but still her fate was similar to others. She received the same unequal treatment that the other Blacks of her community received. The author has said that Tituba was very confused about the Christian religion she felt that it was something to be feared just as the Satan was someone to be feared and this was because she felt that it was the religion of the whites. In the book Conde has also given instances that during those days it was thought that women lead the men astray and this has been made clear through the words of Tituba’s husband when he said that Adam and Eve were forced to leave the earthly paradise because of the fault of Eve. The novel is also a very good example of representation of a strong identity through Tituba because Tituba tried to fight against patriarchy, Puritanism and status quo to give voice to her identity. (Hancock and Hugh, 2) The subject line of the movie “The Crucible” and the book “I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem”  by Conde is same in the sense that both deals with issues related to witch craft but the context on which the issues of witch craft develop in the book and the movie is different to some extent. The main emphasis of the movie remains on the issue of empowerment; it focuses how Abigail uses the concept of witch craft to uplift her position in the society. The issue of empowerment is of prime importance in the movie because it was the love of power that gave impetus to the issue of witch craft in the village of Salem. Another important theme of the movie was reputation and this was portrayed through the character of John Procton and Reverend Samuel who indiscriminately resorted to witch craft to save their reputations. If we take the book by Conde into consideration we will find that he focuses on the issues of racism in America. He tried to say that Tituba received a stereotyped treatment in Salem just because she was a Black and how the Puritans of the American society tried to treat the Blacks in an ill manner. The author even has said that the Americans mistreated the slaves to a large extent and slaves were closely related to race that means it was taken for granted that a Black person is born to be a slave and he or she has no right to lead a respectable life in the society and therefore the Whites can treat them in an inhuman manner. (“Books, Literature: "I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem”). Conde has also talked about the oppression of women during the sixteen hundreds but in the movie there is no mention of oppression of the women because we have seen that even John Proctor was called a witch in the movie. The movie “The Crucible” did not even mention the issue of racism whereas the main focus of the book was racism which was pertinent in America. The book was different from the movie in another way because the book has focused on the tenets of feminism which we do not find in the movie. Unlike the author the movie is believed to be synonymous with the era of Communists during the 1950s. It has been said that through the movie Miller wanted to show that the society wanted to get rid of the communists just as the society of Salem wanted to get rid of the witches. Moreover it is felt that in the movie as Reverend Hale encouraged the nineteen people under captivity to confess as witches it was a cue for the communists which indicated the communists to surrender to the society. The movie and the book have a line of similarity in the fact that both of them gave emphasis to Christian fundamentalism. Both wanted to say that the society was strictly a theocratic society and rigid Christian philosophies have influenced both the works to a great extent. Works Cited 1. Conde, Maryse, I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem, Ballantine Books, USA, (1994). 2. Hancock and Hugh, “Condes I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem”, Literary Reference Centre, Union County College, Heldref Publications, Washington, 2001, available at: http://weblib.ucc.edu:2116/lrc/detail?vid=6&hid=101&sid=c22e4015-9b66-40cb-8c6b-ffae70efda8b%40sessionmgr108&bdata=JnNpdGU9bHJjLWxpdmU%3d#db=lfh&AN=5011291(accessed on 02/07/2009). 3. Hytner, Nicholas (director), Daniel Day Louis and Winona Ryder (producers), “The Crucible”, Twentieth Century Fox, November 27, 1996 4. Miller Arthur and Blakesley Maureen, The crucible, Heinemann, New Hampshire, 1992. 5. Wilson Lori, The Salem witch trials, Twenty-First Century Books, USA, 1997. Read More