Here is the link to the current BBC Arthur Miller season.
Notes from class:
The people of Salem held strict religious beliefs as a way of keeping their society together. However, because the religion was so strict, it inevitably led to the society breaking down, as people attempted to express their own personal desires and not those of the group.
The accusers could benefit by accusing a land-rival of witchcraft, and thus opening the possibility of purchasing their land cheaply. However, this could lead to counter-accusations. Those puritans who felt guilt for having “unacceptable” thoughts about their neighbours were also given the chance to express these ideas as part of an accusation, thus giving their inappropriate ideas a sense of legitimacy; they weren’t thinking them themselves, the witches were making them think them.
