Anyone who expressed an opinion different to that of the Church would be accused of heresy. Many people may have had different but silent opinions. Most people were against anyone with opinions against the church; people were keen to believe that women in the village were compacting with the devil because it took any suspicion of heresy away from themselves i.e. people may have wanted any suspicion of this different opinion to be taken away by the focus being put on someone else. Hale visited John Proctor to ask why Proctor hadn’t been attending Church often. Proctor replied that it was because he believed Parris was not a good minister. He gives the example “Since we built the Church there were pewter candlesticks upon the alter; Francis Nurse made them, y’know and a sweeter hand never touched the metal. But Parris came, and for twenty week he preach nothin’ but golden candlesticks until he had them.” Because Proctor expressed a strong opinion against the Reverend it followed that he was under suspicion of not being an orthodox Christian. Also the fact that he is not a hypocrite leads to his undoing.
Landowners were jealous of the amount of land owned by others as they tried to expand their own land mass. Putnam used the courts’ belief in the girls’ innocence to his own advantage by asking his daughter Ruth to accuse a man, with lots of land, of compacting with the Devil i.e. witchcraft and he uses the witch trials to increase his own wealth by accusing people of witchcraft and then buying up their land.
Betty, another of the girls who made false accusations says, “I saw George Jacobs with the Devil! I saw Goody Howe with the Devil!” What she said was not true. And she just said it so that the town wouldn’t find out that what she was really doing in the woods, which was making a spell with the other girls. This meant that once the man was accused and put in jail, Putnam would be able to buy his land. This jealousy would allow the girls’ stories to be believed because landowners would get more land if more people were accused and put in prison or hung resulting in their land and cattle being available for sale. John Proctor says “If the crop is good I’ll buy George Jacob’s heifer”. This illustrates that Jacob’s land was available for purchase because he had been accused of compacting with the devil and put into jail.
In was intended that Putnam’s brother-in-law was to be appointed minister but Parris was appointed instead. Putnam holds a grudge that his brother-in-law was a candidate for the Salem ministry, but a small faction thwarted his ambition. This may have resulted in Putnam’s feeling of anger towards Parris as he was jealous of Parris’ position which had been ‘snatched’ away from his brother-in-law. “Some time before, his wife’s brother-in-law, James Bayley, had been turned down as a minister of Salem.” Act One (an overture) As a result of this Putnam would have been against Parris and would not have supported him therefore it is not surprising that Putnam tells Parris to admit to the people waiting downstairs in his house that he's seen witchcraft even though Parris says he'll be ruined.
Mrs Putnam was jealous of Rebecca Nurse. This was because Rebecca had a large healthy family with all living children whereas all but one of Mrs Putnam’s children had died. Mrs. Putnam had seven babies that each died within a day of its birth. “You think it God’s work you should never lose a child, nor grandchild either, and I bury all but one?” said Mrs Putnam who channelled her anger into blaming Rebecca for their deaths as she was convinced that Rebecca used witchcraft to murder them. This eventually lead to Rebecca’s death because as Rebecca was Mrs Putnam’s midwife and seven of Mrs Putnam’s babies died, Rebecca was wrongly charged with being a witch and that accusation was believed.
Abigail wanted Elizabeth Proctor dead. This was because following her and Proctor’s affair, all she wanted was to be with John Proctor. She hoped that if his wife was out of the way she could have John. Betty accused Abigail saying: “You did, you did! You drank a charm to kill John Proctor’s wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor!” Abigail’s vanity also led her to believe that John Proctor would want her to be his wife rather than Elizabeth. This makes her think that if Elizabeth was out of the way she could have Proctor. “She thinks to dance with me on my wife’s grave.” Also Abigail was found with a needle stuck in her stomach. She accused Elizabeth of using a poppet as a sort of voodoo doll to stick the needle in her. Cheever told Proctor, when Elizabeth showed him the poppet that Mary had made for her earlier that day “stuck two inches in the flesh of her belly, he draw a needle out. And demandin’ of her how she come to be so stabbed, she testify it were your wife’s familiar spirit pushed it in.” Cheever wouldn’t have thought that Abigail would stab herself and that made him believe Abigail’s untrue story that Elizabeth’s ‘spirit’ pushed the needle in and therefore was a witch.
Dancing was entirely forbidden and was linked with the Devil. When the girls were caught casting spells whilst dancing they blamed others so they wouldn’t be punished. In one scene, all the girls screamed that they had seen other women from the village with the Devil as a diversion that sought to draw the attention away from the girls themselves, “I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget with the Devil!” People were more that willing to accept witchcraft so were easily able to believe stories told to them.
Parris was willing to accept that his daughter Betty’s illness was unnatural rather that risk his reputation. The unknown illness was considered linked to the Devil as there was no cure and it followed the night of dancing and casting spells.
Pride in his scholarship and his belief in witchcraft makes Hale willing to accept the girls’ accusations (of innocent women) as genuine. Even though he quite likes the Proctors, the girls have accused Elizabeth of witchcraft, which makes him question the Proctor’s faith, “I thought, sir, to put some questions as to the Christian character of this house, if you’ll permit me.” But in the end Hale does come to question the girls’ accusations following his interrogations of Abigail and later he returns to the town to try and stop the trials because he becomes deeply troubled, claiming that if Rebecca Nurse is tainted, there is nothing to stop the whole world from burning.
The two judges Danforth and Hathorne had so much pride that they couldn’t accept that the girls had manipulated them with false accusations. They were too interested in being strict in court and asking question after question until the accused person broke down and confessed to save their own life (or deny and be killed). Even after Abigail had vanished, Danforth and Hathorne found it very difficult to believe that the girls had been lying and they still hung John Proctor and Rebecca Nurse. Danforth cried “Hang them high over the town!” Instead of believing what Proctor says about the girls being fakes, the judges condemn him to death. However, the judges did begin to doubt the truthfulness of the girls’ stories when Abigail takes all of Parris’ money and runs away with Mercy but their doubt came too late to save the life of Rebecca Nurse and John Proctor. Proctor’s pride also leads to his death as he would not falsely confess to witchcraft to save his own life.
Once the girls denounced the women it was very difficult to retract their accusations. This was because so many villagers believed the accusations and the girls were frightened of what the court might do when they were discovered to be liars. When one of the girls, Mary, confessed none of the other girls support her and it back fired because the other girls accused her of witchcraft. In the end the easiest way out for Mary was to withdraw her confession. “(Pointing at Proctor): You’re the Devils man!”
The girls’ accusations were believed because circumstances in Salem allowed people to have revenge upon others to hide their own wrongdoings, for example, when Abigail shouted “I saw Sarah Good with the Devil!” This took the focus away from her.
Conclusion
All these factors in Salem society allowed the girls stories to be believed and taken so seriously that innocent lives were taken. After John Proctor had been imprisoned, Abigail found that it was all too much. She couldn’t retract her accusations and she could continue with them so she fled. Parris said “My niece, sir, my niece- I believe she has vanished.”Once the girls had accused other women in the village of witchcraft and the executions had begun, it was very difficult for those involved to admit that dreadful mistakes had been made.
But there are three main reasons why the girls’ stories were readily believed. One is the fact that there wasn’t a really strong leader in the town although Parris was supposed to be a leader.
Two, Salem’s court system seems faulty especially as there was no hearing for the victim, even if they were really innocent they had two choices of either confessing or being put into jail or denial which got them executed. Once they were accused they couldn’t win. Land and cattle also became available when people were hung after being accused of witchcraft too.
Three, people were not allowed to have beliefs and views that were different. When the girl’s lied about dancing in the woods, they did it to protect themselves and their families. The girls said that they saw members of the town standing with the devil as they believed they could put the blame on to others and not be held responsible for their own sins.
Although Abigail and the other girls started the accusations, the responsibility for the deaths of many innocent people lies with the whole community which broke down.
