Examples Of Jealousy In The Crucible

In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, there are many themes surrounding the Salem Witch trials that are discussed. However, jealousy seems to be the most detrimental to the entire city. After all, Abigail’s jealousy of the life that Elizabeth Proctor led with her husband John was the incendiary device that began the Salem Witch Trials. In The ssCrucible, jealousy is truly considered the root of all evil.

Abigail, a former house servant to the proctor family, began to imagine her life along side of John Proctor. She becomes infatuated with John and although he is married, she is intent on being with him. When their passion becomes too strong to resist, they have a torrid love affair and she becomes more or less obsessed with him. When he says to her “but I will cut off my hand before I reach for you again” (Miller 22) and refuses to speak any more of their affair, her jealousy rages out of control and she has to devise a plan to win him over.

Abigail sets out to find a solution ________.

She seeks the advice of her uncle’s slave, Tituba, a known witch doctor. Tituba describes the power of a charm of chicken’s blood to Abigail that she claims can kill Elizabeth; therefore Abigail could take her place in the Proctor household. Abigail teams up with her cousin Betty and Tituba takes them into the woods to cast the spell. All is going according to plan until Paris, Abigail’s uncle and Betty’s father, sees the light from the fire they are dancing around, and goes to find where it is coming from. After they were caught, in order to protect themselves, Betty pretends to be bewitched and Abigail starts to name other

“witches”.
As if the hysteria of the town is not enough to keep Abigail at bay, she puts a needle into her own side and accuses Elizabeth of stabbing her. Elizabeth is accused of witchcraft and was set to be hanged, however, it is found out that she is pregnant and her execution is postponed until her baby is born. Abigail becomes increasingly more frustrated that Elizabeth is able to avoid execution, and although John has promised that they will never touch again, she is still insisting on taking Elizabeth’s place.
Abigail’s jealousy towards Elizabeth Proctor caused more problems than she ever foresaw. Her lies led to the killing of many innocent people and yet she still never got what she originally wanted. Instead of facing the repercussions for what she had done, she ran off and was never to be heard from again. The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, shows how a small hint of jealousy can spiral out of control to become something much more deadly.