Salem is a TV series set in 17th century Salem, Massachusetts. It portrays the (in)famous witch trials from another angle - what if witches and supernatural forces were real?
Historical background
Salem is a coastal city in Massachusetts. It was a significant seaport in Puritan American history. The city is most known for its witch trials of 1692-1693, which led to the executions of 20 people, mostly women.
The witch trials are an example of mass hysteria and religious extremism, but they were typical of witch trials in the early modern period. In 17th century Europe and America, most people, ranging from peasants to the educated to the clergy, believed that there were supernatural forces present in everyday life.
The Puritans in England opposed many of the traditions of the Church of England, including use of the Book of Common Prayer, the use of priestly vestments, the use of the Holy Cross during baptism, and kneeling during the Sacrament. They believed that these constituted popery. The Church of England tried to suppress these views in the 1620s and 1630s. Eventually, the Puritans departed from England to the Netherlands and from there went on to America. The Puritans set up several of the earliest colonies in New England, one of which was Massachusetts Bay Colony. This was one of the largest and most economically important of the colonies. This was where Salem Village and Salem Town were. The colony built a society based on Puritan values. Their leaders were elected by the freemen of the colony based on the candidates' religious beliefs. The leaders often consulted with the local Puritan ministers. In the 1640s, a civil war broke out in England. The Puritans were victorious and the Crown was supplanted by the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell in 1653. Charles II came back to the throne in 1660. Later emigrants to New England were largely merchants who were not as religiously motivated as the earlier emigrants.
Salem was governed largely according to Puritan ideals. Instrumental music, dancing, and celebration of holidays such as Christmas and Easter were forbidden. The only music allowed was the unaccompanied singing of hymns. Dolls and toys were also forbidden. Villagers were expected to attend three-hour sermons twice a week.
In Salem Village in 1692, Betty Parris (age 9) and her cousin Abigail Williams (age 11), daughter and niece of Reverend Samuel Parris, began to have fits. They screamed, threw things about the room, and contorted themselves into strange positions. They claimed that they were being pinched with pins. Other young women in the village started to have the same symptoms. Sarah Good, Sarah Oborne, and Tituba were accused. Good was a homeless beggar. She was accused of rejecting Puritan ideals of self-control by scorning children. Osborne rarely attended church meetings. The citizens disapproved of her trying to control her son's inheritance from her previous marriage. Tituba was a black or Indian slave. She was accused of luring girls with stories of enchantment and sexual encounters with demons. All three women were outcasts of a sort. Martha Corey voiced skepticism about the credibility of the accusations and was herself accused. She was a full covenanted member of the Church. Church membership was no longer protection against accusation. Dorothy Good, the daughter of Sarah Good, was accused, even though she was only four. Her answers were construed as implicating her mother. Bridget Bishop was accused of not living a Puritan lifestyle because she wore black and odd clothing and led an 'immoral' lifestyle.
Giles Corey was the only one who was pressed to death. He was a 71-year-old farmer who was accused of witchcraft. He refused to enter a plea and the judges applied an archaic form of punishment - peine forte et dure, to have stones piled on his chest.
One of the ways to identify a witch was spectral evidence, or the testimony of the afflicted who claimed to see the apparition of the person afflicting them. Opponents claimed that the Devil could use anyone's shape but the Court said that the Devil could not use a person's shape unless that person permitted it.
Another way to identify a witch was to bake a witch cake. The cake was made from rye meal and urine from the afflicted, then fed to a dog. The witch would cry in pain as the dog ate the cake. Mary Sibly asked John Indian, one of the minister's slaves, to bake a witch cake. Parris the minister addressed his congregation saying that using white magic was still 'going to the Devil for help against the Devil.' Sibly later confessed to the congregation and the congregation were satisfied with her acknowledgment of error.
Yet another way to identify a witch was the touch test. As the afflicted was having a fit, the accused were asked to lay their hands on the afflicted. If the affliction stopped, that person was the witch.
TV series
The TV series is loosely based on the historical Salem witch trials. The pilot sets up the story well. The story follows a few main characters:
Mary Sibley - A witch. She once had a secret affair with John Alden. When John Alden went off to war, she feared the Puritan leaders would punish her for getting pregnant before marriage. Tituba her slave helped her abort her baby by supernatural means in the woods. When John Alden returns seven years later, she is the wife of George Sibley, the Puritan leader. She still has deep feelings for John Alden.
John Alden - A captain and war veteran. He returns to Salem after seven years in a war. He defends the innocent accused in the witch trials.
Cotton Mather - A reverend. He is educated, pious, and hypocritical. He has an affair with a prostitute, Gloriana.
Mercy Lewis - A girl once tormented by Mary Sibley's witchcraft who later becomes a witch.
Tituba - Mary Sibley's black slave. She convinced Mary Sibley to offer her unborn baby to the Devil as a sacrifice and turned Mary Sibley into a witch.
Magistrate Hale - A witch and chief magistrate. He leads a double life as a witch and a magistrate presiding over the witch trials.
Anne Hale - A rebel witch. She is Magistrate Hale's daughter. She does not believe in sacrificing innocent victims.
Isaac Walton - A fornicator. He was charged for fornicating and had a large F burned onto his forehead.
