This is like a science fiction movie, where everyone is moved by motives that make no sense. The actors speak in stilted period English but it is not that hard to understand.
There is no defence against a charge of witchcraft. If you had an alibi you were nowhere near, that does not count, since your spirit could have done it. If the victim were surrounded by people, who saw nothing, then you did it by making yourself invisible. The victim just announces who did the witchcraft, even when they have no reason to suspect any particular culprit. The victims are never asked how they know X did it. They are never asked to show physical injury.
You just accuse someone. That is all that is required to presume their guilt. The motives for accusing are petty jealousies, petty revenge, sadism, mischief, playfulness... With just a little acting and drama, you can kill off anyone you please. One horrible schemer of a girl accuses a married man's wife, and caps the deal by planting some evidence, hoping she can have her husband for herself.
The young girls at Salem were far from innocent. They were vicious little bitches. They were calculating murderers. They did it primarily for fun. They seemed to get sexual pleasure from watching the hangings.
Refusal to confess association with the devil is proof of guilt and leads to hanging. By "confessing" and implicating others you can get off with a punishment less than death. The villagers are torn between creating false confessions and sticking to the truth. Before calm returns, they have hanged 19 people, a substantial proportion of the village.
Modern day Creationists remind me of this mad logic when they refuse any evidence to counter the validity of the bible or the validity of evolution.
The characters all harbour insane ideas about the bible, witches and Christianity. The books about witchcraft, which are just fiction, are treated as the ultimate authority. Ditto for the bible. The villagers are nearly all evil, vicious, vindictive, suspicious, hateful bastards. It is hard to pay attention to anything else going on in the movie (a reconstruction of Salem village life) but those crazy spiteful beliefs.
The court is no better, seeing the devil behind every tree, deciding ahead of time that everyone even indirectly mentioned is guilty.
It is amazing we managed to grow out of this way of thinking.
Paul Scofield as Judge Thomas Danforth plays a wonderful villain. He so authoritative in his own universe, but completely mad relative to ours. He is so utterly sure of his rightness.
Winona Ryder as Abigail Williams also plays a great villain. She starts out innocently enough, as the jilted lover, but she is willing to kill off all her acquaintances in her mad scheme to get him back. She is infinitely self-centred, a real psychopath.
The whole madness is so stressful, it makes saints of some people and petty monsters of others. It is interesting watching them change.
There is no defence against a charge of witchcraft. If you had an alibi you were nowhere near, that does not count, since your spirit could have done it. If the victim were surrounded by people, who saw nothing, then you did it by making yourself invisible. The victim just announces who did the witchcraft, even when they have no reason to suspect any particular culprit. The victims are never asked how they know X did it. They are never asked to show physical injury.
You just accuse someone. That is all that is required to presume their guilt. The motives for accusing are petty jealousies, petty revenge, sadism, mischief, playfulness... With just a little acting and drama, you can kill off anyone you please. One horrible schemer of a girl accuses a married man's wife, and caps the deal by planting some evidence, hoping she can have her husband for herself.
The young girls at Salem were far from innocent. They were vicious little bitches. They were calculating murderers. They did it primarily for fun. They seemed to get sexual pleasure from watching the hangings.
Refusal to confess association with the devil is proof of guilt and leads to hanging. By "confessing" and implicating others you can get off with a punishment less than death. The villagers are torn between creating false confessions and sticking to the truth. Before calm returns, they have hanged 19 people, a substantial proportion of the village.
Modern day Creationists remind me of this mad logic when they refuse any evidence to counter the validity of the bible or the validity of evolution.
The characters all harbour insane ideas about the bible, witches and Christianity. The books about witchcraft, which are just fiction, are treated as the ultimate authority. Ditto for the bible. The villagers are nearly all evil, vicious, vindictive, suspicious, hateful bastards. It is hard to pay attention to anything else going on in the movie (a reconstruction of Salem village life) but those crazy spiteful beliefs.
The court is no better, seeing the devil behind every tree, deciding ahead of time that everyone even indirectly mentioned is guilty.
It is amazing we managed to grow out of this way of thinking.
Paul Scofield as Judge Thomas Danforth plays a wonderful villain. He so authoritative in his own universe, but completely mad relative to ours. He is so utterly sure of his rightness.
Winona Ryder as Abigail Williams also plays a great villain. She starts out innocently enough, as the jilted lover, but she is willing to kill off all her acquaintances in her mad scheme to get him back. She is infinitely self-centred, a real psychopath.
The whole madness is so stressful, it makes saints of some people and petty monsters of others. It is interesting watching them change.