This portrait, however, is somewhat flawed as it appears that, in Ann’s case at least, the parents of the afflicted must have had a strong influence with the child, as did the other adult accusers. Initially, Ann was fed names by her parents and minister. Her father was an influential church leader and became an aggressive accuser of witches. Her mother was a fearful woman, still mourning the death of her infant daughter, and, later, she claimed that she herself was attacked by witches.
Though many of the people Ann accused were those that her family or the Rev. Parris had quarreled with, she had other sources for her accusations. Mary Beth Norton has recently uncovered a connection between George Burroughs (whom Ann first accused) and Mercy Lewis, a nineteen year-old servant in the Putnam’s household. Norton’s groundbreaking research reveals the fact that Burroughs had been minister to the Maine town of Falmouth where both of Mercy’s parents died during Indian attacks.
Moreover, the afflicted girls seem to have entered into something of a conspiracy as time went on, so that in the case of Burroughs the name provided by the older Lewis was quickly echoed by Ann who initiated the accusation. By the time the trials had come to an end, Ann was largely responsible for the deaths of several “witches” including Rebecca Nurse, Mary Easty, and George Burroughs. Her evidence sometimes added details post-hoc, and was crucial to the trials. Years later, in 1706, she stood with head bowed before the village church congregation, and the new minister, the Rev. Joseph Green, read aloud her confession.
The Essay on Thomas Putnam Burroughs Bayley Minister
Thomas Putnam Many of the characters in The Crucible have motives behind their accusations of witchcraft. They all seek some form of personal gain, such as preserving a good reputation or acquiring more land. Thomas Putnam is one of these characters. He is vindictive and bitter, and willing to do anything in order to attain more land. Salem Village, Massachusetts, was a small settlement begun by ...
In this document, which was likely written by Rev. Green, Ann begs forgiveness for her part in the trials, saying that she was “deluded by the Devil” and wishes “to lie in the dust”. Exactly how much guilt Ann was taking on in this apology is questionable, since it is more tailored to mending strife in the village than to allocating blame. In fact, the apology served as the spiritual testimony required to join the Puritan church and Ann was given Communion that same day. It is worth noting that she was the only one of the afflicted girls to make such a retraction. She died in 1715, unmarried.
