Witch Hunt Mysteries of The Salem Witch
Witch Hunt Mysteries of The Salem Witch
Witch Hunt Mysteries of The Salem Witch
com • page 1
Please Note: For other free study guides and free sample texts, visit
www.marcaronson.com
Introduction
This study guide is designed to enhance students’ mastery of key content and skills in
social studies, language arts, and other disciplines through examination of the Salem
Witch Trials. It is intended to be used in conjunction with Witch-Hunt: Mysteries of the
Salem Witch Trials by Sibert Award-winning author Marc Aronson, along with other
materials. The lessons will compliment curriculum in the social studies, particularly
early colonial American history and McCarthyism, but also language arts, focusing on
Arthur Miller’s portrait of the psychology of witch-hunts, The Crucible. Each lesson is
designed with multiple objectives in mind, to make the most efficient use of teacher’s
time.
The guide consists of six lesson plans drawn from topics investigated in Witch-Hunt. It
is organized around six guiding questions:
• What was the world-view of the accusers and their contemporaries?
• What was the relationship between individuals and authority in Puritan society?
• Why did the accusers do it?
• What is moral courage and what forms did it take during the Salem Witch Trials?
(This activity may be used in conjunction with the John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Library Foundation Profiles in Courage high school essay contest.)
• How were good, evil, and witchcraft understood by the accusers and their
contemporaries?
• How does the historian’s work differ from the dramatist’s work in writing about
the Salem Witch Trials?
Within each lesson plan you will find all or most of the following information:
• Synopsis of lesson
• National curriculum standards met by this lesson (based on Mid-continent
Research for Education and Learning standards and benchmarks,
www.mcrel.org)
• Time required
• Materials needed
• The lesson (with lesson-starter and lesson procedures)
• Additional resources
• Interdisciplinary activities
www.MarcAronson.com • page 2
Although the study guide is designed so that the six lesson plans provide an integrated
course of studies, it is not expected that students will complete all the listed activities.
Teachers may assign selected activities to their classes, allow students to choose an
activity for themselves, or set up independent learning centers with the material needed
for suggested activities. Also, teachers may wish to give students the opportunity to earn
extra credit by completing some activities as independent work. Recognizing the time
and accountability constraints facing classroom teachers, we encourage you to select and
adapt the Witch-Hunt activities that best meet your students’ needs and abilities,
curriculum requirements, and teaching style.
This study guide was written by Jean M. West, an education consultant in Port Orange,
Florida.
www.MarcAronson.com • page 3
Synopsis
The world-view of people living in 1692 was fundamentally different from our world-
view today. Contemporary understanding of the physical world through astronomy,
biology, chemistry, geology, geography, meteorology and physics would boggle the
minds of the people of 17th century Salem who saw the physical world through
theological assumptions. The modern view of the role of human beings under both civil
and divine law is far more relativist and secular than in late 1600s. This lesson provides
the opportunity for teachers across the curriculum to work in collaboration, enabling
students to research and prepare a multimedia series of displays and presentations to gain
understanding of the world-view of 1692. The lesson is designed for grades 9-12,
although it may be readily adapted by middle school teams, grades 6-8.
Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning has created standards and
benchmarks for language arts, math, science, geography, economics, and history.
This lesson meets Level IV (Grades 9-12) standards and benchmarks for:
United States History Standards (3rd Ed.) for Era 2 – Colonization and Settlement (1585-
1763) including benchmarks:
2. Understands how gender, property ownership, religion, and legal status affected
political rights (e.g., that women were not allowed to vote even if they held
property and met religious requirements)
3. Understands characteristics of religious development in colonial America (e.g.,
the presence of diverse religious groups and their contributions to religious
freedom; the political and religious influence of the Great Awakening; the major
tenets of Puritanism and its legacy in American society; the dissension of Anne
Hutchinson and Roger Williams, and Puritan objections to their ideas and
behavior)
Language Arts (4th Ed.) Standard 4: Gathers and uses information for research purposes
including benchmark:
2. Uses a variety of print and electronic sources to gather information for research
topics (e.g., news sources such as magazines, radio, television, newspapers;
government publications; microfiche; telephone information services; databases;
www.MarcAronson.com • page 4
Science (4th Ed.) Standard 11: Understands the nature of scientific knowledge
including benchmarks:
1. Knows ways in which science distinguishes itself from other ways of knowing
and from other bodies of knowledge (e.g., use of empirical standards, logical
arguments, skepticism)
3. Understands how scientific knowledge changes and accumulates over time (e.g.,
all scientific knowledge is subject to change as new knowledge becomes available;
some scientific ideas are incomplete and opportunity exists in these areas for new
advances; theories are continually tested, revised, and occasionally discarded)
4. Knows that from time to time, major shifts occur in the scientific view of how the
world works, but usually the changes that take place in the body of scientific
knowledge are small modifications of prior knowledge
This lesson also meets these Level III (Grades 6-8) standards and benchmarks.
United States History Standards (3rd Ed.) for Era 2 – Colonization and Settlement
(1585-1763) including benchmarks:
1. Understands ideas that influenced religious and political aspects of colonial
America (e.g., how the growth of individualism contributed to participatory
government, challenged inherited ideas of hierarchy, and affected the ideal of
community; whether political rights in colonial society reflected democratic
ideas; how Benjamin Franklin’s thirteen virtues in his Autobiography compare
to Puritan ideas and values)
5. Understands the role of religion in the English colonies (e.g., the evolution of
religious freedom, treatment of religious dissenters such as Anne Hutchinson,
the concept of the separation of church and state)
Language Arts (4th Ed.) Standard 4: Gathers and uses information for research
purposes including benchmark:
4. Uses a variety of resource materials to gather information for research topics
(e.g. magazines, newspapers, dictionaries, schedules, journals, phone
directories, globes, atlases, almanacs)
Science (4th Ed.) Standard 11: Understands the nature of scientific knowledge
including benchmark:
3. Knows that all scientific ideas are tentative and subject to change and
improvement in principle, but for most core ideas in science, there is much
experimental and observational confirmation
Time Required
This lesson will probably take three class periods, depending on the amount of planning
and research conducted outside of class and the length of student presentations.
www.MarcAronson.com • page 5
Materials Needed
Witch-Hunt: Mysteries of the Salem Witch Trials (Introduction, pp. 14-19; Prologue,
pp. 25-39; Chapter I, pp. 44-46; Chapter II, pp. 69-70; Chapter III, pp. 82-88; Chapter X,
pp. 203-205)
The Lesson
Lesson-Starter
1. Ask students to read “Skittering Shadows,” pp. 14-16.
2. In the world of 1692 people generally believed God was the “single clearest
‘cause’ for any effect in the world,” although the Devil or Satan and forces of evil
also were responsible for some of the problems in the visible world. Reason or
science might also provide explanations. Discuss as a class how people of the
17th century might have explained:
• A deadly disease
• A freeze that killed the spring crops
• A blue-eyed child born to brown-eyed parents
3. Discuss in the class how we as modern people try to recognize truth, falsehood and
superstition. Ask students whether the “seen” or visible world seems more real
than the “unseen” or invisible world, such as that in the cosmos or on the cellular
or atomic level. Ask students to consider whether science today explains “reality”
to our satisfaction as well as faith did for the people of 1692.
Procedures
2. Each group should research to find answers to questions about the 17th century
world-view of their discipline, for example:
world), terra incognita, and the vastness of the oceans. They should
consider what had been learned by sailors, explorers, and the
scholastic community as well as immigrants to the New World such as
the Puritans, but evaluate how widespread this knowledge was in
1692. Students should note what information is no longer accepted as
correct. Students may create a display or computer slide show to
illustrate the world of 1692.
• Astronomy: Students will examine what was known about the solar
system and universe, cosmic events such as eclipses and comets, and
the degree to which Copernicus and Galileo were accepted not only by
the scholastic community but also by the average country folk.
Students will also examine the Puritan theological assumptions that
there was a physical heaven and hell and their location. Students may
use annotated models, drawings, computer slide-shows, and other
illustrative material to explain how the universe seemed to people in
1692.
• Biology: Students will examine the status of knowledge about human
anatomy and cell pathology including theories about the “four
humors,” microbes, inherited biological traits (particularly in animal
and plant husbandry) and their impact on medicines and physician
practices in 1692. Students may create displays, skits, or computer
slide-shows to illustrate the prevailing knowledge of the time.
• Chemistry: Students will examine how Aristotelian and phlogiston
theories of matter colored the understanding of the world and the
degree to which earlier atomic theories and Boyle’s theories were
accepted by the educated community and peasantry. Information may
be presented in the form of posters, displays, or demonstrations.
• Physics: Students will examine what 17th century people knew about
motion, electricity, magnetism, gravity, light, and energy and create
displays or demonstrations to illustrate the understanding of people of
an earlier era.
• Psychology: Students will examine what people in the 17th century
believed about brain function, the mind-body connection, the role of
environment in human behavior, and differences in human perception.
They will also look at the theological issues of free-will and
predestination as understood by the Puritans, and the physical reality
of Satan and God since these influenced their views of human
behavior. They may present the information in the form of skits, a
debate, or chart.
• Civil and Religious (Canon) Law: Students should examine how
Puritan theology with its views of original sin and God’s selection of
saints (sinners and saints, unsaved and saved) interacted with the
presumption of innocence under civil law. They will also examine the
common law tradition of categorizing all the English subjects as
protected under the law or as “out-laws” (or wolf’s-heads, sub-humans
which could be hunted) impacted legal proceedings and what we
www.MarcAronson.com • page 7
3. The teams may plan and create multidisciplinary, multi-media displays and
demonstrations as suggested above to share their research. They may present
their findings within their individual discipline’s class, but if the school schedule
will accommodate it, ideally they could present to all participating classes.
Assessment
1. Once students have completed sharing their findings, ask them to express, from
the point-of-view of a person of the 17th century, their beliefs about “My World,
1692.” They may present the world-view in either written form (non-fiction, or
fictional narrative, poem, or drama) or illustrated form (captioned exhibit board,
model, artwork, or computer-slide show).
2. These may be evaluated on a twenty-point scale (which may be multiplied by five
to convert to 100-point scale or for conversion to letter grades) using the
following rubric:
www.MarcAronson.com • page 8
Additional Resources
Books
Bremer, Francis J. The Puritan Experiment: New England Society from Bradford to
Edwards (Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1995).
This is a useful survey book for teachers, an informed and fast-moving review of key
events, people, and ideas.
Deetz, James. In Small Things Forgotten: The Archeology of Early American Life.
(New York: Anchor Books, 1977; revised edition 1996).
“Don’t read what we have written; look at what we have done.” Deetz urges
historians to take in account the artifacts left in the archeological record which
provide insight into the early colonial mind. Especially useful are Chapter 2, “The
Anglo-American Past;” Chapter 6, “Small Things Remembered,” and Chapter 9,
“Small Things Forgotten” (which is Chapter 8 in the 1977 edition).
Howarth, David. 1066: The Year of the Conquest. (New York: Dorset Press, 1977).
The first few pages of the first chapter, pp. 11-13, recreate the mind’s-eye map of the
world of most of the peasantry not only of 1066, but also six hundred years later.
Manchester, William. A World Lit Only by Fire: The Medieval Mind and the
Renaissance, Portrait of an Age. (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1992).
This is an excellent reference for students trying to grasp the shift to the modern
world-view. Of general use are Chapter I, “The Medieval Mind,” pp. 3-28; and
selections from Chapter II, pp.45-66, 95-107. Additional material on Astronomy,
Biology, Physics, Geography and Civil/Religious Law are located on pp. 88-94,
116-117, 131-202, 228-233, 236-238, and 290-296.
Miller, Perry. The New England Mind: The Seventeenth Century. (Cambridge:
Harvard University Press, 1954).
Although Perry Miller is dense reading, he explains the Puritans in unrivaled depth.
www.MarcAronson.com • page 10
Stout, Harry S. The New England Soul: Preaching and Religious Culture in
Colonial New England. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986).
Internet Resources
The interplay between individuals and authority is central to the Salem Witch Trials.
Like many elements in the saga of the witch-hunts, the interplay was shaded by the
status of the individuals (farmers, merchants, children, women, slaves) and by the
nature of the authority—religious, civil, or economic. This lesson is designed to help
students investigate the Puritan’s beliefs regarding authority and the individual and
how they shaped the events of 1692. The lesson is designed for older high school
students, grades 11 and 12; although it may be adapted to use with grades 9-10 if it is
part of their curriculum.
Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning has created standards and
benchmarks for language arts, math, science, geography, economics, and history.
This lesson meets Level IV (Grades 9-12) standards and benchmarks for:
United States History Standards (3rd Ed.) for Era 2 – Colonization and Settlement
(1585-1763) including benchmarks:
2. Understands how gender, property ownership, religion, and legal status affected
political rights (e.g., that women were not allowed to vote even if they held
property and met religious requirements)
3. Understands characteristics of religious development in colonial America (e.g., the
presence of diverse religious groups and their contributions to religious freedom;
the political and religious influence of the Great Awakening; the major tenets of
Puritanism and its legacy in American society; the dissension of Anne Hutchinson
and Roger Williams, and Puritan objections to their ideas and behavior)
4. Understands the characteristics of the social structure of colonial America (e.g.,
the property rights of single, married, and widowed women; public education in
the New England colonies and how it differed from the southern colonies,
different patterns of family live; different ideas among diverse religious groups,
social classes, and cultures; different roles and status of men and women)
5. Understands the similarities and differences in colonial concepts of community
(e.g., Puritan’s covenant community, Chesapeake colonial emphasis on
individualism)
Language Arts (4th Ed.) Standard 6: Uses skills and strategies to understand and
interpret a variety of literary texts including benchmarks:
1. Uses reading skills and strategies to understand a variety of literary texts (e.g.,
fiction, nonfiction, myths, poems, biographies, autobiographies, science fiction,
supernatural tales, satires, parodies, plays, American literature, British literature,
world and ancient literature)
www.MarcAronson.com • page 12
8. Understands relationships between literature and its historical period, culture, and
society (e.g., influence of historical context on form, style, and point of view;
influence of literature on political events; social influences on author’s description
of characters, plot, and setting; how writers represent and reveal their cultural
traditions)
Time Required
This lesson will probably take two class periods, depending on the amount of outside
research time assigned.
Materials Needed
Amazing Grace, music by William Walker 1835 and lyric stanzas 1-3, 5-6 by John
Newton (1725-1807)
The Lesson
Lesson-Starter
1. Explain to students that they will be studying the Salem Witch Trials of 1692,
but that they are going to listen to two selections from about 50 years later and
decide whether they are Puritan or not.
2. Play Amazing Grace. If you only have an instrumental version, print out the
lyrics at http://ingeb.org/spiritua/amazingg.html.
3. Read aloud the following conclusion of Jonathan Edwards’ sermon, Sinners in
the Hands of an Angry God, preached at Enfield, Connecticut on July 8,
1741. The full text may be seen at
http://www.jonathanedwards.com/sermons/Warnings/sinners.htm
Are there not many here who have lived long in the world, and are not to this day
born again? and so are aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and have done
nothing ever since they have lived, but treasure up wrath against the day of wrath?
Oh, sirs, your case, in an especial manner, is extremely dangerous. Your guilt and
hardness of heart is extremely great. Do you not see how generally persons of
your years are passed over and left, in the present remarkable and wonderful
dispensation of God's mercy? You had need to consider yourselves, and awake
thoroughly out of sleep. You cannot bear the fierceness and wrath of the infinite
God.-And you, young men, and young women, will you neglect this precious
www.MarcAronson.com • page 13
season which you now enjoy, when so many others of your age are renouncing all
youthful vanities, and flocking to Christ? You especially have now an
extraordinary opportunity; but if you neglect it, it will soon be with you as with
those persons who spent all the precious days of youth in sin, and are now come
to such a dreadful pass in blindness and hardness. And you, children, who are
unconverted, do not you know that you are going down to hell, to bear the
dreadful wrath of that God, who is now angry with you every day and every
night? Will you be content to be the children of the devil, when so many other
children in the land are converted, and are become the holy and happy children of
the King of kings?
And let every one that is yet out of Christ, and hanging over the pit of hell,
whether they be old men and women, or middle aged, or young people, or little
children, now harken to the loud calls of God's word and providence. This
acceptable year of the Lord, a day of such great favours to some, will doubtless be
a day of as remarkable vengeance to others. Men's hearts harden, and their guilt
increases apace at such a day as this, if they neglect their souls; and never was
there so great danger of such persons being given up to hardness of heart and
blindness of mind. God seems now to be hastily gathering in his elect in all parts
of the land; and probably the greater part of adult persons that ever shall be saved,
will be brought in now in a little time, and that it will be as it was on the great out-
pouring of the Spirit upon the Jews in the apostles' days; the election will obtain,
and the rest will be blinded. If this should be the case with you, you will eternally
curse this day, and will curse the day that ever you was born, to see such a season
of the pouring out of God's Spirit, and will wish that you had died and gone to
hell before you had seen it.
4. Poll students, then tell them that Puritans wrote both Amazing Grace and
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. Discuss whether the tone is different
in the two pieces and, if so, why. Explain that we often overlook the Puritans’
joyous side, even though people around the world relate to Amazing Grace.
Procedures
Assessment
1. Discuss as a class whether the Puritans shape modern American values such
as:
• Time is precious
• Educate and inform yourself
• Work is good
• Government can’t be trusted
• Be true to your conscience
• In God We Trust
• We are all equal before God
• You cannon worship both God and money
• Modesty is best
• We are a “cittie upon a hill,” (an idea transformed from Puritan desire to be in
full view open to the judgment of all to being considered an example to the
world)
2. Ask students to write an essay detailing how our founding documents (the
Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights) and the premises
of modern government programs (from the Homestead Act and New Deal to the
present) preserve and perpetuate Puritan values.
www.MarcAronson.com • page 15
Additional Resources
Books
Boyer, Paul and Stephen Nissenbaum. Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of
Witch Craft (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1974).
Breslaw, Elaine G. Tituba, Reluctant Witch of Salem: Devilish Indians and
Puritan Fantasies (New York: New York University Press, 1995).
Hall, David D. Worlds of Wonder, Days of Judgment: Popular Religious Belief in
Early New England (New York: Knopf, 1989).
Hoffer, Peter Charles. The Salem Witchcraft Trials: A Legal History (Lawrence,
KS: University Press of Kansas, 1997).
Karlsen, Carl. The Devil in the Shape of a Woman: Witchcraft in Colonial New
England (New York: Norton, 1987; reprinted, 1998).
www.MarcAronson.com • page 16
Norton, Mary Beth. In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692
(New York: Knopf, 2002).
Willison, George F. Saints and Strangers. (New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, 1945).
Internet Resources
Interdisciplinary Activities
Music – Music has often been a medium for dissent by individuals against authority (p.
201). In addition to the obvious 1960s counter-culture musicians of rock and roll and
folk music (Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Odetta, Marvin Gaye, John Lennon),
consider music dissenters around the world, both past and present (Bob Marley, Víctor
Jara and Miriam Makeba to Public Enemy, Ani diFranco, Le Tigre, Sergei Prokofiev, and
Ludwig von Beethoven). Select examples of music by dissenters and create a tape, disc,
or digital collection of your selections with “notes” patterned after those on CD covers.
Include available information about the composer and/or lyricist, date of composition,
country of origin, instruments used, and additional historical information and musical
analysis.
Comparative Religions – Examine in depth the differences in the 17th-19th centuries
between the Puritans and one or more of their contemporaries: the Pilgrims (Separatists),
Baptists, Anabaptists, or Quakers. You may also compare the Puritans’ beliefs and
practices with those of their modern successors, the Congregationalists. Alternately,
investigate the early American experience of religious groups in other colonies such as
Maryland’s Catholics, Rhode Island’s Jews and Pennsylvania’s Quakers. Another route
of inquiry would be to compare the organization and beliefs of Judaism, Islam,
Buddhism, Hinduism, or another world religion with historic Puritanism.
Government – Study the series of Supreme Court decisions involving the First
Amendment religion clauses, both free exercise (Reynolds v. U.S., 1878) and
establishment (Minersville v. Gobitis, 1940; West Virginia v. Barnette, 1943; Everson v.
Board of Education of Ewing Township, NJ, 1947; or Engel v. Vitale, 1962).
Geography – Create a keyed map or series of maps showing the location of religious
groups in the thirteen colonies, indicating the most populous groups in each colony.
www.MarcAronson.com • page 17
Section B.
Mark on the continuum below where the Church of England, Puritans, Quakers, and
Roman Catholics fit in relationship to each other and the role of the individual and
authority. Use the key: E = Church of England, P = Puritans, Q= Quakers, R=Roman
Catholics.
Section C.
1. Were all individuals equal in the eyes of God, according to the Puritan’s interpretation
of the Bible? How could a minister like Parris own a slave, like Tituba?
2. In Puritan society, were children treated any differently than adults? Explain.
3. Were the Puritans “kill-joys” or was it an issue of conscience to reject Christmas
celebrations, gaudy clothes, and elaborate churches? Explain.
4. In Puritan churches, did women and children have the same status as respected men?
Explain.
5. Who were more respected in Puritan society, “visible saints” or wealthy people?
Explain.
6. Was the individual or the community more important to the Puritan leadership during
the Salem Witch Trials? Explain.
www.MarcAronson.com • page 19
Synopsis
At the heart of the story of the Salem Witch Trials is the central question: Why did the
accusers do it? Many of the accusers were teenagers, close to your students in age.
Some Salem teenagers may have knowingly acted in evil ways while others may have
had the moral courage to resist acting in evil ways. This lesson is designed to use
material in Witch-Hunt: Mysteries of the Salem Witch Trials to examine the many
theories about the motivations of the accusers of Salem in 1692 and consider whether
these same forces act upon people today. The lesson is most appropriate for high school
students, grades 9-12.
National Curriculum Standards
Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning has created standards and
benchmarks for language arts, math, science, geography, economics, and history.
This lesson meets Level IV (Grades 9-12) standards and benchmarks for:
United States History Standard (3rd Ed.) for Era 2 – Colonization and Settlement (1585-
1763) including benchmarks:
2. Understands how gender, property ownership, religion, and legal status affected
political rights (e.g., that women were not allowed to vote even if they held
property and met religious requirements)
3. Understands characteristics of religious development in colonial America (e.g., the
presence of diverse religious groups and their contributions to religious freedom;
the political and religious influence of the Great Awakening; the major tenets of
Puritanism and its legacy in American society; the dissension of Anne Hutchinson
and Roger Williams, and Puritan objections to their ideas and behavior)
4. Understands the characteristics of the social structure of colonial America (e.g.,
the property rights of single, married, and widowed women; public education in
the New England colonies and how it differed from the southern colonies,
different patterns of family live; different ideas among diverse religious groups,
social classes, and cultures; different roles and status of men and women)
5. Understands the similarities and differences in colonial concepts of community
(e.g., Puritan’s covenant community, Chesapeake colonial emphasis on
individualism)
Language Arts (4th Ed.) Standard 4: Gathers and uses information for research purposes
including benchmarks:
3. Uses a variety of primary sources to gather information for research topics
4. Uses a variety of criteria to evaluate the validity and reliability of primary and
secondary source information (e.g., the motives, credibility, and perspectives of
the author; date of publication; use of logic, propaganda, bias, and language;
comprehensiveness of evidence)
Time Required
This lesson will probably take two class periods, depending on the amount of reading and
written work assign assigned outside of class.
Materials Needed
Lesson-Starter
1. Ask students to read the Note to the Reader (pp. x-xiv.)
2. Read aloud the statement from p. xiii, “A group of individuals acted as a pack to
attack and destroy others.” Ask students for examples of this type of behavior
today (hazing, bullying, gang activities, prisoner abuse are recent examples from
the news.)
3. Discuss as a class whether these are cases where individuals “may have tasted evil
and liked it,” as scholar Bernard Rosenthal has suggested was the case in Salem
(pp. 198-199), or not.
Procedures
1. Return to p. xiii and read the following passage to the students: “Why did the
accusers do it? Why did they twitch and scream and bleed in court? Why did
they cause nineteen people to be hanged and a total of perhaps twenty-five to
die?”
2. Explain to students that they will be divided into teams to read Witch-Hunt:
Mysteries of the Salem Witch Trials and to investigate one of the theories that
have been suggested to answer these questions. The teams may be assigned or
allowed to select one of the following:
• Rebellion against Puritan severity and hypocrisy (Prologue, pp. 23-39;
Chapter 1, pp. 43-49 and 52-54; Chapter 4, pp. 99-100; Epilogue, pp. 210-
212 and 215)
• Greed and economic factors (Chapter 1, pp. 47-54; Chapter 5, pp. 114-
122; Chapter 7, pp. 143-147; Chapter 8, pp. 168-171; Chapter 10, pp. 191-
205; Epilogue, p. 213)
www.MarcAronson.com • page 21
Assessment
1. Ask each student to write an essay answering the question: Based on your
understanding of the motives behind the accusers during the Salem Witch Trials,
do you see humans as essentially good or evil beings?
2. The students’ papers may be evaluated on a twenty-point scale (which may be
multiplied by five to convert to 100-point scale or for conversion to letter grades)
using the following rubric:
www.MarcAronson.com • page 22
Additional Resources
Books
Boyer, Paul and Stephen Nissenbaum. Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of
Witch Craft. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1974).
Breslaw, Elaine G. Tituba, Reluctant Witch of Salem: Devilish Indians and
Puritan Fantasies. (New York: New York University Press, 1995).
Carlson, Laurie Winn. A Fever in Salem: A New Interpretation of the New England
Witch Trials. (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1999).
Demos, John Putnam. Entertaining Satan: Witchcraft and the Culture of Early
New England. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1982).
Hoffer, Peter Charles. The Salem Witchcraft Trials: A Legal History. (Lawrence,
KS: University Press of Kansas, 1997).
www.MarcAronson.com • page 23
Karlsen, Carl. The Devil in the Shape of a Woman: Witchcraft in Colonial New
England. (New York: Norton, 1987; reprinted, 1998).
Norton, Mary Beth. In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692.
(New York: Knopf, 2002).
Rosenthal, Bernard. Salem Story: Reading the Witch Trials of 1692. (Cambridge,
England: Cambridge University Press, 1993).
Internet Resources
Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project,
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft/home.html
DiscoverySchool.com’s Salem Witch Trials: The World behind the Hysteria,
http://school.discovery.com/schooladventures/salemwitchtrials
Religious Movements Homepage: The Salem Witch Trials,
http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu//nrms/salem.html
17th Century Colonial New England, http://www.17thc.us/
Famous American Trials: The Salem Witchcraft Trials – 1692,
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/SALEM.HTM
Interdisciplinary Activities
Geography: Create a map of Salem Town and Salem Village properties in 1692 with
color key indicating the accused and the accusers. What patterns emerge from a map that
might not emerge from just reading text accounts of the Salem Witch Trials?
U.S. Government or History: Examine other “witch-hunts” in U.S. history, such as the
communist hunting by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and
Joseph McCarthy and his Senate Committee on Government Operations. Examine the
motives behind the committees, the progress of the “witch-hunt,” those who displayed
moral courage during the accusatory phase, and the point where the witch-hunt collapses.
Biology or Health: Collect a list of archaic disease names and the descriptions provided
by contemporaries of symptoms and then evaluate how useful primary sources may be in
providing clues to medical researchers. ArtMedicine uses paintings from art history as a
medical resource: http://www.iacd.oas.org/Educa135/Espinel2000/espinel2000.htm.
Sociology and Psychology: Examine theories about hysteria and gang/mob behavior
offered by leading theorists such as Sigmund Freud, Gustave Le Bon, Wilfred Bion, and
Irving Janis (groupthink).
www.MarcAronson.com • page 24
Economics: From the beginning of New England’s settlement, colonists were under
pressure to make personal profits and also to make the colony profitable under the
mercantile system. Some of the economic imperatives in Massachusetts were examined
in the PBS program, Colonial House at http://www.pbs.org/wnet/colonialhouse/.
Investigate the sources of wealth available to the residents of Salem including timber,
fish, fur, as well as farming and commerce.
www.MarcAronson.com • page 25
2. What fact or interpretation most influenced you as you evaluated this theory and why?
www.MarcAronson.com • page 26
IV. What forms did moral courage take during the Salem Witch
Trials?
Synopsis
In the face of the Salem Witch Trials, some individuals displayed moral courage
declaring innocence or recanting confessions in the face of certain death, challenging
the court with petitions, actions, and even silence. Students will consider what
courage is by examining some of the individuals in Witch-Hunt to learn what for
their display of courage took and attempt to identify the source of that courage.
Students will also relate the examples from Salem to other courageous individuals of
the past and present. Students may also write an essay meeting the criteria for the
annual high school essay contest sponsored by the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library
Foundation about political leaders who demonstrate outstanding courage for possible
submission. This lesson is designed for students in middle school (grades 6-8) but is
readily adapted to high school (grades 9-12).
Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning has created standards and
benchmarks for language arts, math, science, geography, economics, and history.
This lesson meets these Level III (Grades 6-8) standards and benchmarks.
United States History Standards (3rd Ed.) for Era 2 – Colonization and Settlement
(1585-1763) including benchmark:
5. Understands the role of religion in the English colonies (e.g., the evolution of
religious freedom, treatment of religious dissenters such as Anne Hutchinson, the
concept of the separation of church and state)
Language Arts (4th Ed.) Standard 4: Gathers and uses information for research
purposes including benchmarks:
6. Organizes information and ideas from multiple sources in systematic ways (e.g.,
time lines, outlines, notes, graphic representations)
7. Writes research papers (e.g., separates information into major components based
on a set of criteria, examines critical relationships between and among elements
of a research topic, addresses different perspectives on a topic, achieves balance
between research information and original ideas, integrates a variety of
information into a whole, draws conclusions)
www.MarcAronson.com • page 27
This lesson also meets Level IV (Grades 9-12) standards and benchmarks for:
United States History Standards (3rd Ed.) for Era 2 – Colonization and Settlement
(1585-1763) including benchmark:
3. Understands characteristics of religious development in colonial America (e.g., the
presence of diverse religious groups and their contributions to religious freedom;
the political and religious influence of the Great Awakening; the major tenets of
Puritanism and its legacy in American society; the dissension of Anne Hutchinson
and Roger Williams, and Puritan objections to their ideas and behavior)
Language Arts (4th Ed.) Standard 4: Gathers and uses information for research
purposes including benchmarks:
4. Uses a variety of criteria to evaluate the validity and reliability of primary and
secondary source information (e.g., the motives, credibility, and perspectives of
the author; date of publication; use of logic, propaganda, bias, and language;
comprehensiveness of evidence)
5. Synthesizes information from multiple research studies to draw conclusions that
go beyond those found in any of the individual studies.
Time Required
This lesson probably will take one class period, depending on the amount of outside
research and writing required.
Materials Needed
Witch-Hunt: Mysteries of the Salem Witch Trials (Chapter IX, “That No More
Innocent Blood Be Shed,” pp. 175-187).
The Lesson
Lesson-Starter
1. Read the following lines from the conclusion of John F. Kennedy’s Pulitzer-
prize winning book on political courage, Profiles in Courage: “In whatever
arena of life one may meet the challenge of courage, whatever may be the
www.MarcAronson.com • page 28
sacrifices he faces if he follows his conscience – the loss of his friends, his
fortune, his contentment, even the esteem of his fellow men – each man must
decide for himself the course he will follow. The stories of past courage can
define that ingredient – they can teach, they can offer hope, they can provide
inspiration. But they cannot supply courage itself. For this, each man must
look into his own soul.”
2. Ask students to define courage. Discuss whether there is any special personal
quality, time period, place or circumstance that makes an individual
courageous.
Procedures
1. With scores imprisoned and over two dozen dead, the Salem Witch Trial
period is better recalled for mob hysteria rather than moral courage, yet there
were examples:
• Recanted Confessors – Sarah Church and Martha Jacobs, pp. 159-162
• Declarations of Innocence – George Burroughs (pp. 143-153); Martha
Corey (pp. 95-99, 105-111, 192); Rebecca Nurse (pp. 114-119, 133,
163-165)
• Petitioners – Mary Easty (pp. 175-181); Sarah Cloyce (pp. 177-178)
• Stood Mute – Giles Corey
• Letter – Thomas Brattle (pp. 181-182)
• Public deeds – Nathaniel Saltonstall (pp. 131-132, 165); Samuel
Willard (pp. 171, 182, 186); Cotton Mather (p. 133); Increase Mather
(p. 181); Samuel Sewall (pp. 184, 186-187)
2. Ask students to select one of these individuals and to determine a) how they
manifested their courage, b) the choices the individual made during the course
of the witch-hunt until taking a stand, and c) the source or sources of their
courage.
3. Discuss as a class the moral courage displayed by individuals of 1692 Salem
and Massachusetts. Was there an individual act that became the tipping-point,
which broke the hold of the accusers, or was it the accumulation of acts
together that broke the spell?
Assessment
1. Students should put their findings about the individual they have research into
the form of a first-person piece of writing composed from the point-of-view of
www.MarcAronson.com • page 29
Additional Resources
Books
Boyer, Paul and Stephen Nissenbaum. Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witch
Craft. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1974).
Burr, George Lincoln, ed. Narratives of the Witchcraft Cases, 1648-1706. (New York:
Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1914; reprint, New York: Barnes and Noble, 1968).
Gragg, Larry. The Salem Witch Crisis. (New York: Praeger, 1992).
Rosenthal, Bernard. Salem Story: Reading the Witch Trials of 1692. (Cambridge,
England: Cambridge University Press, 1993).
Internet Resources
The John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library Foundation, Profiles in Courage Award and Essay
Contest,
http://www.jfklibrary.org/pica_information.html
http://www.jfkcontest.org/info_eligibility.asp
Interdisciplinary Activities
“In less than 1,000 words, write an essay that is original, creative, and that uses a variety of
sources such as newspaper articles, books, and/or personal interviews to address one of the
following two topics:
A current elected public official in the United States, who is acting courageously to
address a political issue at the local, state, national, or international level.
OR
An elected public official in the United States since 1956 who has acted courageously to address a
political issue at the local, state, national, or international level.”
Art – Each year, recognize a member of the school or community who has
demonstrated courage in some manner by creating a “Portrait in Courage” for display
in the school awards case or other appropriate public venue.
Language Arts or Film Studies – Define “courage” and then create an annotated list
of your “top twenty” favorite depictions of courage, explaining why the piece of
writing or film effectively illustrates your perception of courage. You may consider
everything from the Cowardly Lion in the Wizard of Oz to Tennyson’s Charge of the
Light Brigade.
www.MarcAronson.com • page 32
V. How were good, evil, and witchcraft understood by the accusers and
their contemporaries?
Synopsis
Witch-Hunt: Mysteries of the Salem Witch Trials investigates in depth the Puritan
belief that good and evil both physically walk the world testing people’s souls. Students
will examine the remnants of these beliefs in the present and go back to look at the 17th
century folk and theological basis of the Puritans’ beliefs. This lesson is designed for
middle school students, grades 6-8, but may be adapted to upper elementary or high
school.
Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning has created standards and
benchmarks for language arts, math, science, geography, economics, and history.
This lesson meets Level III (Grades 7-8) standards and benchmarks for:
United States History Standards (3rd Ed.) for Era 2 – Colonization and Settlement (1585-
1763) including benchmarks:
1. Understands ideas that influenced religious and political aspects of colonial
America (e.g., how the growth of individualism contributed to participatory
government, challenged inherited ideas of hierarchy, and affected the ideal of
community; whether political rights in colonial society reflected democratic ideas;
how Benjamin Franklin’s thirteen virtues in his Autobiography compare to
Puritan ideas and values)
5. Understands the role of religion in the English colonies (e.g., the evolution of
religious freedom, treatment of religious dissenters such as Anne Hutchinson, the
concept of the separation of church and state)
Language Arts (4th Ed.) Standard 4: Gathers and uses information for research purposes
including benchmark:
6. Organizes information and ideas from multiple sources in systematic ways (e.g.,
time lines, outlines, notes, graphic representations)
This lesson also addresses the following Level II (Grades 5-6) standards and benchmarks
for:
United States History Standards (3rd Ed.) for Era 2 – Colonization and Settlement (1585-
1763) including benchmark:
3. Understands Puritanism in colonial America (e.g., how Puritanism shaped New
England communities, the changes in Puritanism during the 17th century,
opposition to King James I, why Puritans came to America, the Puritan family
structure)
www.MarcAronson.com • page 33
This lesson can also address the following Level IV (Grades 9-12) benchmark:
Time Required
This lesson will probably take two class periods, depending on the amount of outside
research time assigned.
Materials Needed
The Lesson
Lesson-Starter
4. Have a class session for students to share their findings while completing the Venn
diagram’s right side (Modern View) with information about the contemporary view
of the seen and unseen world.
Procedures
1. Ask students to read about the Puritan’s view of witchcraft, good and evil in the
world in Witch-Hunt. Remind them to record their key findings on the left side of
the Venn diagram (Puritan View) regarding 17th century Puritan’s views of the seen
and unseen world of good, evil, and witchcraft.
2. Direct students to compare the two sides of the Venn diagram to determine if there
are points where the Puritan and modern views overlap. If they do, complete the
central segment of the Venn diagram (Both Views).
Assessment
1. Direct students to write an opinion paper on whether they believe it was possible
for Puritans to reconcile their religious conviction about the struggle between good
and evil in the unseen and seen worlds with their Enlightenment capacity for reason
and skepticism about “superstition.”
2. The position paper may be evaluated on a twenty-point scale (which may be
multiplied by five to convert to 100-point scale or for conversion to letter grades)
using the following rubric:
www.MarcAronson.com • page 35
Additional Resources
Books
Bettleheim examines the role of fairy tales in preparing children for adult reality.
Beginning with The Blessing Way in 1970, Tony Hillerman has woven suspense
www.MarcAronson.com • page 36
Thomas, Keith. Religion and the Decline of Magic. (Oxford, England: Oxford
University Press, 1971).
Internet Resources
Interdisciplinary Activities
English – Shakespeare not only features witches and specters in Macbeth, but
examines the interplay between the seen and unseen worlds. Ask students to describe
how good and evil struggle in the seen and unseen world in one of the following
works: Macbeth, Hamlet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, or The Tempest.
Music – Good, evil, witchcraft and magic have inspired composers from Mozart (The
Magic Flute and Don Giovanni) to Wagner (The Ring of the Nibelung or Ring
Cycle), and Tchaikovsky (Sleeping Beauty) to Rodgers and Hammerstein
(Cinderella); Sondheim (Into the Woods), Wasserman, Darion and Leigh (Man of La
Mancha), and Bricusse and Wildhorn (Jekyll and Hyde). Select a composition and
explain the devices the composer uses to express the struggle between good and evil
and the seen and unseen world in their music.
Art – The visual arts are filled with expressions of the struggle between good and
evil, devils and angels. Hieronymus Bosch, William Blake, and Salvador Dali
produced artworks that are treasure troves of symbolism. Either ask students to fully
investigate the symbolism of Bosch’s Temptation of St. Anthony or to create a
computerized slide show, poster, or project board of 25 images by artists across the
breadth of art history that address the struggle in the seen and unseen world between
good and evil. Students should caption the artwork with title, artist, date (if known),
and an explanation of the rationale behind their selection of the piece.
Modern
www.MarcAronson.com • page 37
Puritan View
View Both Views
------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------
VI. How does the historian’s work differ from the dramatist’s work in
writing about the Salem Witch Trials?
Synopsis
Witch-Hunt virtually begins with the caution, “we must be careful with evidence” and
ends with the statement, “History is a mirror, fiction a portrait.” The legitimate problems
of working with early primary sources combined with careless recycling of false stories
has produced much confusion about the events which happened in Salem in 1692.
Furthermore, Arthur Miller’s drama of the Salem witch trials, The Crucible, is often
treated as an historical account of the lives of the people of Salem and the witch trials
rather than a compelling piece of fiction. In this lesson, students will examine the
historian’s craft and the dramatist’s art and determine how they are different. The lesson
is designed for students in high school, grades 9-12.
Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning has created standards and
benchmarks for language arts, math, science, geography, economics, and history.
This lesson meets Level IV (Grades 9-12) standards and benchmarks for:
United States History Standards (3rd Ed.) for Era 2 – Colonization and Settlement (1585-
1763) including benchmark:
3. Understands characteristics of religious development in colonial America (e.g., the
presence of diverse religious groups and their contributions to religious freedom;
the political and religious influence of the Great Awakening; the major tenets of
Puritanism and its legacy in American society; the dissension of Anne Hutchinson
and Roger Williams, and Puritan objections to their ideas and behavior)
Time Required
This lesson will likely take two class periods, depending on the amount of outside
research assigned.
Materials Needed
The Lesson
Lesson-Starter
www.MarcAronson.com • page 40
Procedures
1. Direct students to read the Notes on images, spelling word usage and dates (pp.
xiv-xvi) and then look at each of the following colonial sources:
Tattuba slave inventory, p. 64 or 65
Mary Easty petition, p. 174
Image of a witch and familiars, p. 85
Poppets, p. 34 or Pins, p. 110
2. You may wish to direct the students examination of the colonial materials using or
adapting worksheets from the National Archives’ Digital Classroom at
http://www.archives.gov/digital_classroom/lessons/analysis_worksheets/workshe
ets.html, including the Written Document Analysis for the inventory and petition,
adapting the Photograph Analysis for the image of the witch and familiars, and
the Artifact Analysis for the poppets or pins. If not, ask students to look closely at
each item and answer the following questions:
• What kind of source is this?
• Is this a primary or secondary source?
• What distinctive features does it have and what is it made of?
• Who created it? Why?
• Can we tell when was it created? If so, when?
• Who was it intended to be used by?
• Why is it a primary source?
• Is there any bias or point-of-view in this source?
• Does this source leave unanswered questions or create any confusion?
• What useful information does it contain?
• What does this source provide that might be lacking in your textbook?
3. Ask students to read the Epilogue, pp. 209-219, and to answer the following
questions:
www.MarcAronson.com • page 41
a. Why are there do so few documents, either written or visual, survive from the
17th century? Consider how many were created in the first place, the physical
perils of fire and storm, and the intentional destruction of surplus (or
embarrassing) paperwork. What impact does this have on a historian?
b. How do legibility, changes in calendar dates, archaic wording or spelling, and
physical deterioration impact the ability of a historian to work with an individual
document?
c. How does the passage of time (for example Hale writing five years after the
trials instead of immediately afterwards) impact the reliability of documents?
How does access to events (visibility, audibility, being able to witness some
events but not others) impact on the reliability of a witness? How does point of
view, bias or self-interest impact the reliability of documents?
d. Is a primary (17th century) document necessarily more reliable than a later
history? How can historians determine what documents are reliable?
e. Can an historian be objective when writing a history? How can historians
minimize their own cultural point-of-view to produce an honest history?
4. Direct students to read the Appendix, pp. 221-228 in conjunction with reading The
Crucible, focusing on Act III. Students may wish to examine the errors
mentioned in the text at the new web address: http://www.17thc.us/docs/fact-
fiction.shtml
5. Ask students to answer the following questions:
a. Demonstrate why Arthur Miller’s characters are inventions and not
historical figures.
b. Explain how Arthur Miller’s word choice during the trial is his invention
and not a historical re-enactment.
c. Provide examples of how Arthur Miller infuses symbolism into his drama
which was not part of the historic trials.
d. How does Arthur Miller use tone and setting to make the world he has
invented come alive?
e. Can a dramatist capture life as it is? How can dramatists express truth when
writing through the lens of their own experiences?
Assessment
1. Based on what the students have learned about the actual witch trial records and The
Crucible, ask students to write an essay reacting to the statement, “History is a mirror,
fiction a portrait,” comparing and contrasting the historian’s and dramatist’s disciplines.
2. The essay can be graded on a twenty-point scale (which may be multiplied by five to
convert to 100-point scale or for conversion to letter grades) using the following rubric:
www.MarcAronson.com • page 42
Additional Resources
Books
Video
In 1993, CBS News produced in VHS format Edward R. Murrow, The Best of See it
Now, 1951-1958, with Mike Wallace. This includes portions from the March 9, 1954
program on Joseph McCarthy and gives students the opportunity to look at the film
editing techniques used by Murrow to shape the audience’s perception of McCarthy.
In 2003, PBS broadcast a two-hour documentary Arthur Miller, Elia Kazan, and the
Blacklist: None Without Sin as part of its American Masters series. This show allows
students to trace the relationship between the two men before, during, and after the
communist witch-hunt and how their experiences with the HUAC were expressed in
Miller’s The Crucible and Kazan’s On the Waterfront.
Internet Resources
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible: Fact & Fiction (Or Picky, Picky, Picky…) by Margo Burns
http://www.17thc.us/docs/fact-fiction.shtml
http://warren.dusd.net/~dstone/Resources/11P/M_NY.htm
Interdisciplinary Activities
Art – Create set designs for The Crucible and then compare yours to the illustrations
from the first performance of The Crucible shown in Witch-Hunt (p. 221) considering
how each set uses design and space to echo the beliefs of their era; or create an
historically accurate illustration of an incident from the Salem Witch Trials; or compare
and contrast the five etched portraits of Puritan leaders in Witch-Hunt and identify what
they have in common, what distinct elements emerge, and what message the artist
intended the images to convey about the subjects.
Government – Create a flow chart of the criminal and judicial process followed by the
Puritans during the Salem Witch Trials, labeling each with the official’s or court’s name,
description of the authority’s power and legal procedures. Trace the process from the
time an accused witch was brought in for a pre-trial hearing to the execution of sentence
or pardon. Next, create a flow chart for a person accused of a felony crime today and
compare and contrast the two.
Media and Film Studies – Investigate the conduct of the McCarthy hearings in the U.S.
Senate. If possible either listen to or watch the segment from the Army McCarthy
hearings when attorney Joseph Welch, much like Mary Easty, confronted the power of
the accusers on live television. Or, you may wish to look early television journalist
Edward R. Murrow’s program, See it Now, about Joseph McCarthy. With its powerfully
edited script and visuals, it also serves as a documentary bridge between the raw primary
source of the televised hearings and Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. Either the Army-
McCarthy or Murrow segments will provide valuable insight into McCarthy’s technique
and impact.
OR
Examine the 1996 film version of The Crucible with screenplay written by Arthur Miller
starring Daniel Day Lewis and Winona Ryder, comparing and contrasting the original
play, the movie, and/or the historical record with each other.