Exploring the importance of religion to the community of Salem

Authors Avatar

Chris Wilson 10JF

Exploring the importance of religion to the community of Salem

During the 1600s the Puritan community in England and was being gravely persecuted. The persecution was mainly due to the revolutionary view of the religion that the monarchy of the time had. The Puritan section of the protestant religion supported poor and uneducated people while at the same time attacking the power of Bishops. Puritan members of parliament were arrested if they did not agree with the official line. All known Puritans in England were spied on by Elizabeth’s secret police, and Puritan meetings were broken up by militia. The persecution stiffened the Puritans morale and some sort of action became inevitable. The persecution eventually caused many Puritans to flee to America, where they founded several colonies.

     The small town of Salem was founded in 1626 and its name comes from the holy city of Jerusalem. The events that appear in the play took place around 40 years later. The fact that the thousands of Puritans left Europe purely because of their religion shows how unbelievably devoted those people were. It seems that the devotion to their religion became the people of Salem’s downfall. Following the Bible through a literal interpretation caused obvious problems between the people and the church as well as between the people themselves. It was clear that some people knew that there religious views were causing problems but those people did not want to jeopardise their position in the highly important religion. Without their religion the people of Salem had nothing.

     The language that the Puritan people of Salem use shows how important religion was. The language as a whole almost repeats that of the King James Version of the Bible which was brought about because of the pressure put on the church by the Puritan section. That version of the Bible was authorised in 1611 and was used by Protestants for 350 years. This language can be seen when Giles Corey comments about his feelings by saying “It discomforts me” whereas normally you would say, “It makes me uncomfortable”. The language that is used gives an archaic feeling to what is happening although the events are set only 400 years ago. I think that shows how the strictly religious Puritan people have kept the language used by their forefathers to carry on the old religious and theocratic views. It also shows how much respect the people have for their religion to have kept the language used hundreds of years previously although all around them other languages were progressing.

     Throughout the whole play there are countless references to the Bible whether it be through quotations or comparisons showing that the people of Salem really knew their religion thoroughly. The references to the Bible again show how religion was the life of people in Salem. During act four Reverend Hale uses a well know quotation from the Bible when he compares his experience to that of Jesus when he says “I have gone this three months like our Lord into the wilderness”, this in the Bible, according to Saint Matthew, was when Jesus was “led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil” Meaning that he has taken time to think about the situation with no input from any other sources. Hale has gone alone to make a decision on what stance he should take in the village.  Other examples of the referencing are, when in act 2 Elizabeth speaks of Abigail by saying “where she walks the crowd will part like the sea of Israel”. This reference is relating to the parting of the red sea in the book of exodus when Moses led the Israelites away from Egypt. Elizabeth is indicating that the people in the village part to let Abigail through, this could mean that either they are parting because of her importance in bringing the witches to justice or they are doing so because they do not want to be implicated for standing out or “upsetting” Abigail.

Join now!

     When Danforth is asked to delay the executions, he tells Reverend Hale that “God have not empowered me like Joshua to stop the sun from rising” this refers to him not having the authority to let the other people go. Danforth believes that his duty in the village is to carry out his service to God by doing what is right according to the Bible. If he were to let the other people go he would be failing to fulfil his duty. In that part of the play it was shown how desperate the people of Salem were ...

This is a preview of the whole essay