This essay is about the true stories of the "Salem Witch Trials".

Essay by JacksonjamesUniversity, Bachelor's November 2003

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Three Sovereigns for Sarah - True Story of the Salem Witch Trials

In the movie Three Sovereigns for Sarah, the characters came alive and the audience was really invited into the plot. It seems as though the author and or director's purpose in this movie was to coral the audience into one view and that was to see the girls as faking and the accused as sweet and innocent. Also, if the author had been devoutly religious, the vocabulary, and speeches by all the characters would have been different. When he wrote the screenplay, the author was implying that the people of the present day knew better than to believe in witches and diabolical possession. He modernized the movie in a way where the whole underlying deceit and manipulation was lost. It is as though he refused to admit people of that time could not have been fooled by young girls expressing their dissatisfaction in ways other than those considered straightforward.

Some specific things could have been done to create a more rounded vision of the witch trials in Salem Village. First, the story could have included some of the men who felt threatened by wealthier, more powerful women. This would have shown why the men involved in the trials were so insecure and eager to put the women back "in their place" and under their thumbs. Second, by showing the girls and their families interact as much as the accused families would have forced a little compassion for the accusers. After all, Anne Putnam was shown putting the names in the girl's heads but in such a discreet manner that the inexperienced audience member probably would not have caught it. This is an example of how the director/author was almost going out of this way to create a...