During the early years of the colonies, there was a mad witch hunt striking the heart of Salem. Anger, reputation, and even religion play an important part during the play of The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller. The author allows us to witness the vivid idea of the hysteria taking place in Salem, Massachusetts, and why it was so vulnerable during the time. Throughout the many acts of the play, we sense the anger rolling off Abigail’s words. “I never knew what pretense Salem was, I never knew the lying lessons I was taught by all these Christian women and their covenanted men! And now you bid me tear the light out of my eyes? I will not, I cannot! You loved me, John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet!” By these words, we know that Abigail Williams is angry. She’s angry at John Proctor for trying to hide the crime he committed with her, and for the lack of closure she …show more content…
has, and soon her anger overflows. It becomes the root of the destruction leading up to the Salem Witch Trials. But anger is the only key point we see through the duration of the play. Reputation is also involved too, believe it or not. We know by reading the play, that John and Abigail had an affair while his wife, Elizabeth, was sick. But John is desperate to hide the act! He wants no one to know of what he has done, and tries his hardest to deny the affair. But soon, he breaks, and spills about his moment of weakness after trying and failing to expose Abigail of her fraud without revealing himself to the town of Salem. “A man may think God sleeps, but God sees everything, I know it now. I beg you, sir, I beg you-see her what she is… She thinks to dance with me on my wife’s grave! And well she might, for I thought of her softly. God help me, I lusted, and there is a promise in such sweat.” John Proctor had said, and with this one moment of truth, his reputation is soon tarnished. If he had only put aside his pride much earlier, he might have been able to save the undoings of his own consequences. But the most important concept of all, is religion.
The people of this time, believe in witchcraft, and if you are apart of it, you must confess and redeem yourself or be hanged for your crimes. The girls use the ‘confession’ as a way out of casting charms in the forest, and then shout random names to shift the blame off of them. This becomes a good advantage for the girls. During the play, we notice that anyone who opposes the court and testifies against it, is soon labeled as the enemy of God and must be a servant of the Devil. Giles Corey and John Proctor happened to be two of the many associated with designation. The authorities felt the need to ‘purify’ the village, and therefor hang anyone connected to such crimes. Religion was such a major role in this time frame, and because of various viewpoints, several have died. The Salem Witch Trials marks a vulnerable era in history. The play allows us to see that uncontrolled rage, pride, and even religion at times, can lead to destruction and mayhem. With these factors, it’s quite clear to see why Salem was vulnerable to these
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Towards the middle of the play Hale has begun to see that abigail is out for vengeance than actually finding witches. “Only this consider: the world goes mad, and it profit nothing you should lay the cause to the vengeance of a little girl” (Miller 74). Hale has now realized that the Devil may be at work in Salem but if he is it is not on Abigail and the girls. Once the girls but mainly Abigail accuse Elizabeth Proctor most people especially John Proctor and Reverend Hale begin putting two and two together that these girls are out for blood and not revealing who is conspiring with the
A motivation can be described as a character having a reason to behave or act in a particular way. Someone or something can be someone's motivation. A child obeys its parents to avoid punishment or a clerk works overtime so that he can afford a better car are examples of motivation. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, characters illustrate several types of motivations. Throughout the play, Abigail is motivated by jealousy, power, and attention.
May it please the court, counsel, members of the jury; this is a case of conspiracy of the murder of Elizabeth Proctor. In the spring of the year 1692, Abigail Williams was accused of plotting the murder of Elizabeth Proctor.
Many of the characters in Arthur Miller's The Crucible have specific human flaws that cause the tragedy of the Salem Witch Trials. The Salem villagers exhibit failings, including greed, vengeance, and fear, which eventually lead to the downfall of their town. Many villagers, especially Abigail Williams, take advantage of the opportunity to seek vengeance on others through the trials. Greed for power and land often holds precedence when the hysteria takes over. Fear of being arrested or put to death is the key motivation in turning others in as witches. From these three human flaws, the town of Salem falls into chaos with many innocent people paying the price.
In Arthur Miller's The Crucible, the main character Abigail Williams is to blame for the 1692 witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts. Abigail is a mean and vindictive person who always wants her way, no matter who she hurts. Through out the play her accusations and lies cause many people pain and suffering, but she seemed to never care for any of them except John Proctor, whom she had an affair with seven months prior to the beginning of the play. John Proctor and his wife Elizabeth used to employ Abigail, until Elizabeth found out the affair and threw Abigail out. Although John told Abigail that the affair was over and he would never touch her again, she tried desperately to rekindle their romance. "Abby, I may think of you softly from time to time. But I will cut off my hand before I'll ever reach for you again." (Page 23) She claimed that she loved John and that he loved her. Before the play began, Abigail tried to kill Elizabeth with a curse. She thought that if Elizabeth were dead John would marry her. Further into the play, Abigail accused Elizabeth of witchcraft. She saw Marry Warren, the Proctor's servant, making a poppet. Mary put a needle into the doll, and Abigail used that for her accusation. She stabbed herself with a needle and claimed that Elizabeth's soul had done it. Although Abigail claimed she loved John, she may have just loved the care and attention he gave her. John cared for her like no one else had. In a way he could be described as somewhat of a father figure to her. When Abigail was just a child, she witnessed her parents' brutal murders. "I saw Indians smash my dear parent's heads on the pillow next to mine..." (page 20) After her traumatic experience, she was raised by her uncle, Reverend Parris, who is somewhat of a villain. In the play it was written, "He (Parris) was a widower with no interest in children, or talent with them." (Page 3) Parris regarded children as young adults who should be "thankful for being permitted to walk straight, eyes slightly lowered, arms at the sides, and mouths shut until bidden to speak." (Page 4) Therefore, it is obvious to see that Abigail grew up without any love or nurturing.
Abigail Williams is manipulative and wants everything to go her way. She is the main character and causes trouble everywhere she goes. The Salem Witch Trials is about hearings and prosecutions of people who were accused of witchcraft. In The Crucible Abigail is a no good villain. Abigail first commits adultery with Elizabeth’s husband. Later on Abigail begins to accuse innocent people of doing witchcraft which causes them to die. Abigail Williams uses the Salem Witch Trials to put out all the resentment she has toward everyone.
Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, is set in Salem village where an atmosphere of enmity and mistrust has been created through the conflicts and disagreements many villagers experience throughout the play. Many of these are caused by or, similar to the conflict between Parris and Proctor, are inflated by the many accusations of witchcraft occurring in the village.
It was easier for them to blame the devil for the problems of society than fix the problems of their own strict way of life. So the girls involved with Abigail, like Mercy Lewis and Mary Warren, named many people in the town as witches. These people were put in jail and would be hanged if they did not confess to the crime of devil worship or witchcraft. Another part of the developing plot is that John Proctor knows Abigail and her friends are lying, but he is afraid to say anything because eight months before he had an affair with Abigail and did not want to be seen by the town as a lecher, which means wife cheater. So, Mr. Proctor has to fight with himself to come out and tell the truth, or his wife might die because of Abigail saying she was a witch.
Authors often have underlying reasons for giving their stories certain themes or settings. Arthur Miller’s masterpiece, The Crucible, is a work of art inspired by actual events as a response to political and moral issues. Set in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, The Crucible proves to have its roots in events of the 1950’s and 1960’s, such as the activities of the House Un-American Committee and the “Red Scare.” Though the play provides an accurate account of the Salem witch trials, its real achievement lies in the many important issues of Miller’s time that it dealswith.
The Crucible is a 1953 play by Arthur Miller. Initially, it was known as The Chronicles of Sarah Good. The Crucible was set in the Puritan town of Salem, Massachusetts. It talks of McCarthyism that happened in the late 1600’s whereby the general public and people like Arthur Miller were tried and persecuted. The Crucible exemplifies persecutions during the Salem Witch Trials. The people were convicted and hung without any tangible proof of committing any crime. Persecutions were the order of the day. When a finger was pointed at any individual as a witch, the Deputy Governor Danforth never looked for evidence against them or evidence that incriminated them; he ordered them to be hanged. This can be seen through his words “Hang them high over the town! Who weeps for those, weeps for corruption!” (1273), the people were persecuted aimlessly. The four main characters in the play, John Proctor, Abigail Adams, Reverend Hale and Reverend Parris, are caught in the middle of the witchcraft panic in the religious Salem, Massachusetts in late 1690’s. Persecution is the most important theme in the Crucible, the leaders and citizens of Salem attacks and persecutes one of their own without any tangible evidence against them.
Mr. Jacobs was an old man that could not walk without his sticks (canes so to speak). The little girl pointed the finger at him that he crawled through her window and threated to kill her if she testify against him. The man questioned that remark with his disability, but as the girls started the hysteria with devil and spirits. The girl made the court think it was his spirit that came to her because he was involved with witchcraft as well as the others. He would be ordered to be hanged like the others as well. The girls continued to fool the town with being overtaken by the devil and the spirits that come to harm them. When Goody Proctor’s name was brought up, John Proctor became angry with Abigail knowing why she was doing the things she was doing. Reverend Hale went to see John that night to tell him about the mentioning of his wife, he asked them to recite the commandments like if that was a way to see if they honored their God or was involved with the devil as well. That same night before Mr. Hale came, Mary Warren had come back to the house upset and John Proctor was mad at her for not being in the house. This is when Mary cried out about the mentioning of Goody Proctor (Elizabeth) by Abigail. The people had come to get Elizabeth that night to face the court in the morning. She was accused because Abigail was stabbed by what they assume her spirit because of what Abigail confessed. The girls once again panicked in the court causing an uproar believing that devil was among them. John was determined to free his wife, he went to the court and admitted his adultery he committed with Abigail and the reasoning of why she is causing the chaos in the town for revenge. He claimed that the girls were all pretending. His proof was Mary Warren as she was in the forest that night when they were only dancing and hoping for love when it was Abigail
In the book The Crucible many characters go mad with power. One of this person is Abigail Williams, Reverend Parris niece. Abigail is the president or leader of a group of girls that start accusing people of being witches. Abigail went Mad with Power when she starts to accuse Tituba and Sarah Osborne of being a witch. “She made me do it! She made betty do it!” (Act 1 pg 847). Abigail first tells Hale about the “witches” when Betty, Parris’s daughter, fell into a deep sleep and wouldn’t wake up. She first accused Tituba, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborn. Later in Act II Abigail goes completely mad with power. In Act II Abigail accuses Mary Proctor of have sent her spirit upon her and stab her with a pin. “Why, Abigail Williams charged her” (Act II
First it started off as a want for boys in salem until one of the girls from Salem tried to turn it into something else by wishing bad things upon a man named Proctor. She wished death upon Proctor’s wife whose name is Elizabeth because she was obsessed with him. After the girls left the woods Abigail williams after being caught Abigail tried to convince the rest of the girls that they were only in the woods dancing as seen on page 148 in lines 353 to 360 which explained that Abigail told the others if anyone ask they were only dancing. So who's to blame? Abigail williams because the lies started with her and because she threatened all the other girls to lie also.
The Salem Witch Trials were an event where Americans were at their lowest. Whenever someone could be accused of being a witch and was guilty until they were proven innocent. The Crucible is a play written about this time frame where it really shows the mob mentality that everybody can have. The accusation of “witchcraft” spreads through this village putting peoples’ lives at stake just to cover up what some girls are afraid to confess to. Because of the fear through the village of witchcraft, it is believed to be true and people begin to be put on trials. The way the mob can affect a community can be overwhelming to the people in the town and could even tear it apart. Just because of one group of people, it can become chaos. Groups of people are unpredictable and can turn into mobs because people act differently in crowds, one person can affect everybody, and with more people, more things are going to happen.
Of the major characters, Abigail Williams is clearly the villain of the play: she tells lies, manipulates her friends and the entire town, and eventually sends nineteen innocent people to their deaths. Throughout the hysteria, Abigail’s motivations never seem more than simple jealousy and a desire to have revenge on Elizabeth Proctor. When the first girl, Betty Parris, is accused of witchcraft, Abigail is trying to convince her uncle that there is a rumor of witchcraft circulating in town; “Uncle, the rumor of witchcraft is all about; I think you’d best go down and deny it yourself”(1130). She convinces him that he should go down talk the rumor, she is attempting to cover her tracks, and shift the attention away from her and the girls. This is the main example of how Abigail is a liar.