Elizabeth+Parris+(Betty+Parris)

"I saw George Jacobs with the devil"-Elizabeth Parris(The Crucible). At nine years old, Elizabeth Parris, daughter of Salem Village minister Rev. Samuel Parris, played a key role in the beginnings of the witchcraft trials. Curious to know her future marital status, Elizabeth, together with her cousin Abigail Williams, cautiously experimented with fortune telling. Her behavior led to the first three accusations of witches. Trying to shield the involvement of his immediate family, the Rev. Samuel Parris, took Abigail from home and placed her in the home of Stephen Sewall in Salem, where she eventually recovered. She could not have predicted that these innocent attempts at predicting the future would lead to the largest and most deadly witch-hunt in American history (Walsh).
 * Introduction **



Elizabeth Parris was born in Boston on November 28 of 1682 and Died in Concord, MA on March 21, 1760. Elizabeth moved to Salem with her family and slave Tituba in November of 1689, when her father, Samuel Parris was appointed the new minister of Salem Village (Brooks). Her and her cousin Abagail Williams began to undertake experiments in fortune telling, using a device known as a “Venus glass” (Walsh). The Salem girls Abigail and Betty were members of a Puritan preacher’s family. Elizabeth Parris was brought up by the strictest of puritans (Sebald).
 * Personal Background **

Elizabeth (Betty) Parris was nine years old when the witchcraft epidemic broke out in Salem, and she actively participated in its beginning. Elizabeth, a sweet girl, had difficulty facing the stark realities of predestination and damnation that her father, Reverend Samuel Parris, preached to her. Elizabeth Parris lived in a period of economic uncertainty and yearned to know what lay in her future (Walsh). Elizabeth “Betty” Parris was the first afflicted girl and one of the chief accusers during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. According to the book “A Modest Enquiry Into the Nature of Witchcraft” by local minister, Reverend John Hale, on one of these occasions the girls became terrified when they saw the shape of a coffin in the glass. Shortly after the incident, Betty began behaving strangely in January of 1692, when she hid under furniture, complained of fever, barked like a dog, screamed and cried out in pain. Soon after, Abigail Williams also started showing the same symptoms (Walsh).

Concerned, Samuel Parris called for a local doctor, who is believed to be Dr. Griggs, to examine them. Unable to find anything physically wrong with the girls, the doctor determined they must be bewitched. Hale described the events in his book “A Modest Enquiry Into the Nature of Witchcraft”:“In the latter end of the year 1691, Mr. Samuel Parris, pastor of the church is Salem Village, had a daughter of nine, and a niece of about eleven years of age, sadly afflicted of they knew not what distempers; and he made his application to the physicians, yet still they grew worse: And at length one physician gave his opinion, that they were under an evil hand. This the neighbours quickly took up, and concluded they were bewitched. He had also an Indian man servant, and his wife who afterward confessed, that without the knowledge of their master or mistress, they had taken some of the afflicted persons urine, and mixing it with meal had made a cake, & baked it, to find out the witch, as they said. After this, the afflicted persons cryed out of the Indian woman, named Tituba, that she did pinch, prick and grievously torment them, and that they saw her here and there, where nobody else could. Yet they could not tell where she was, and what she did, when out of their humane sight. These children were bitten and pinched by invisible agents: their arms, necks and backs turned this way and that way, and returned back again, so as it was, impossible for them to do of themselves, and beyond the power of any epileptick fits, or natural disease disease to effect. Sometimes they were taken dumb, their mouth flopped, their throats choaked, their limbs wracked and tormented so as might move an heart of stone, to sympathize with them, with bowels of compassion for them”(Walsh).

Elizabeth Parris has many different personality traits. Traits in which people were deceived to think. Everyone in the village of Salem thought “she was a sweet girl” (Walsh). They all saw her as a child, who was very “young and innocent” (Brooks). There was so much the village of Salem missed by only seeing what they saw and nt trying to look past Elizabeth’s facade. Salem only worried about what was happening at the time, but did not bother to look back at Elizabeth’s behavior. All the villagers saw was the minister’s daughter being hurt. To them she was a child who was “sheltered” (Brooks).
 * Personality Traits **

Where in reality the young and innocent child “was said to be a delinquent” (Winder). The sweet ministers daughter really only “focused on her future social status” (Walsh). The so called sheltered child was really a “curious” person. Elizabeth, her cousin Abigail, and friends “dabbled in Fortune telling techniques such as Venus glass” (Brooks). If the people in Salem had even bothered to see the real her they might have not prosecuted so many innocent people. People can be deceived of what’s on the outside. But they also need to see what’s on the inside.

Elizabeth Parris went through many hardships in life. With not only her family, but her whole village being extremely religious, her curiosity was looked down upon. This was an obstacle for her because she was a curious child who did not understand the seriousness in their religion (Walsh). This was also a hardship for her because she was said to be strangely ill. So when the doctor came by for her checkup, he not only said that she was possessed by demons but her friends were possessed too (Winder). This led to a mass uproar in the village of Salem.
 * Obstacles **

Elizabeth’s strange illness led her to hid under furniture, bark like a dog, and cry out in pain (Brooks). This brought worry and ciaos throughout Salem. With the whole village being extremely religious they thought prayer would relive Elizabeth of her demon illness, but it only made it worse. She would yell out in pain every time she heard prayers. People started getting restless and wanted to put blame on someone (Walsh).

This put a lot of pressure on Elizabeth and her friends. They would say that “witches” wanted to push them into signing a contract with the devil (Winder). With everyone wanting to know who was doing this it made them prosecute whoever they thought were demonic. This led to many deaths of innocent people (Walsh). As this kept going on more and more people died some innocent and others not.

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Elizabeth Parris had done many things to make her important in history. Her being a curious, young, and innocent person made everyone panic at what happened to her (Brooks). Afflictions started innocently in January when she began to forget errands, was unable to concentrate, and seemed rapt in secret preoccupation. She could not concentrate at prayer time and bark like a dog when her father would rebuke her. She would scream wildly when she heard the “Our Father” prayer and once hurled a bible across the room (Walsh).
 * Historical Significance **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">The local physician, William Griggs, diagnosed Elizabeth Parris as being afflicted by the “Evil Hand,” commonly known as witchcraft (Walsh). She was not only the youngest, she was the first afflicted girls, and one of the chief accusers during the Salem Witch Trials (Brooks). Elizabeth Parris testified at these trials that she was tormented by spectral visions of these women. During their trials, Elizabeth would cry out when the accused moved her arms, legs, or head, as if the accused was injuring her from across the room. Elizabeth Parris was also involved in the conviction of Martha Corey (Walsh).

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Talk of witchcraft increased when other playmates of Elizabeth, including eleven-year old Ann Putnam, Twelve-year old Abagail Williams, Seventeen-year old Mercy Lewis, and Mary Walcott, began to exhibit similar unusual behavior. The girls turned themselves from a circle of friends into a gang of juvenile delinquents. The girls contorted into grotesque poses, fell down into frozen postures, and complained about biting and pinching sensations. February 29, when arrest warrants were issued against Tituba and two other women, Elizabeth Parris and Abagail Williams named their afflicters and the witch hunt began. At the examinations, the girls described attacks by the Spector’s of the three women (Linder).

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">In an attempt to cure Betty and prevent her from getting further involved in the witch trials, her parents sent her away from Salem Village. She went to live in the home of Samuel Parris’ cousin Stephan Sewall in Salem Town. Elizabeth Continued to have fits in the Sewall residence but eventually recovered. The Salem Witch Trials in 1693 and Samuel Parris later resigned from his job in 1697, claiming he was tired and worn out of the Salem Witch Trials. Parris then moved Elizabeth and his family to Sudbury, Ma where Elizabeth lived until adulthood (Brooks).

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">In 1710, Elizabeth Parris finally found the answer to the question she had been searching for. She married Benjamin Baron, a yeoman, trader, and shoe maker, in Sudbury and led a very ordinary existence. She and Benjamin bore four children, Thomas, Elizabeth Jr., Catherine, and Susanna. Elizabeth Parris survived her husband by six years, succumbing to illness in their Concord home on March 21, 1760(Walsh). Elizabeth Parris went through many hardships throughout her childhood, but she worked hard and made it through the hardships. Even through all of her hardships she still looked past all of them and lived her life, how she wanted to live it.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">References **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Brooks, Rebecca B."Betty Parris: First Afflicted Girl of the Salem Witch Trials." History Of Massachusetts. 19 Jun. 2013. Google Scholar. Web. 16 Oct. 2014.**SE#3**

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Linder, Douglas."The Witchcraft Trials in Salem: A Commentary." Social Science Research Network. 15 Oct. 2007. Google Scholar. Web. 2 Oct.2014.**SE#2**

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Sebald, Hans."Witch-Children: The Myth of the Innocent Child" //IPT Journal// Google Scholar. Web. 6 Nov. 2014.**SE#4**

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Walsh, Sarah N."Elizabeth Parris." Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project. 2001 Google Scholar. Web. 18 Nov. 2014.**SE#5**