Fear, an emotion based on the belief that someone or something plans to hurt someone else in a certain way, explains why the girls witnessed and accused people of witchcraft in the Crucible. The Salem Witch Trials was a tough time for the Salem city because people died from an accusation of portraying behavior as a witch, which no person had no way of proving. Some did it to eliminate the people who they did not like. While there are people that took the advantage of the trials, the people of Salem still feared that a witch lived among them because of their belief in the religion. Certain characters could have stopped the trails from the beginning; however, they did not because of their fear that their secret would come out or it was too late. A …show more content…
Danforth is the most responsible for the demise of innocent people during the Salem Witch Trials. Some people might not fully agree that Danforth is the real culprit instead they would state that Abigail, John Proctor or Reverend Hale. When reading the Crucible, a person knows that Abigail portrays a huge lunatic because she accused anyone that she felt came into her path of acquiring John Proctor. Abigail did not have as much as power as Danforth because she is several years younger than him. Meaning that Danforth has more experience and respect among the people. Danforth could have easily neglected Abigail’s actions and told the people not to believe the girls when Mary Warren stated that the girls and her lied of witchcraft, but he did not. Besides
...and accusations. The extend to which Abigail has manipulated Judge Danforth is shown here. Danforth’s unconditional reliability in Abigail motivated the people in Salem to accused each other to save their own skins. This brought about chaos and commotion to the people of Salem.
The Salem Witch Trials, Who is Really Guilty? After all of the witch trials in 1692 concluded, a total of 20 people were hanged, all because of people craving attention and personal gain. There are three people depicted in Arthur Miller's The Crucible that are most responsible for this and they are, Abigail Williams, Judge Danforth, and Thomas Putnam. Abigail Williams is mostly responsible for the Salem witch trials because she was the first person to start accusing innocent people of witchcraft.
avoid getting in trouble, the girls begin to make accusations against the townspeople, saying that these people are witches who forced them to dance. As the hysteria grows in Salem, people begin to question their own neighbors, simply out of spite and vengeance, among other things. The Crucible is certainly historically accurate in it's portrayal of the townspeople's beliefs and attitudes. It is a film that should be seen to view the way people were in the seventeenth century.
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 The Crucible play, although Abigail is the main concept of why the tragedy happened, Danforth has even more reasons to blame. The deputy governor of Massachusetts presides over the Salem witch trials. He is a stern, yet constructive man that is more interested in keeping the dignity and state of the court, than in executing justice or basically, just behaving with any sense of fairness. Miller forms this character as the play moves along as a static character, as he does not change throughout, and he believes in only what he believes. Judge Danforth, in his own mind is honest, and convinced that he is doing the right thing in the process of rooting out witchcraft.
The Crucible consists of many characters and most of them have a very descriptive personality. There are many villains in the play that only bring suffering to others. The biggest villain is Abigail Williams. She is Reverend Parris’s seventeen year old niece. Of the major characters she is clearly the main villain of the play. All throughout the book, Abigail is seen telling lies and manipulating her friends to get her own way. Her lies and manipulations get to a point where she gets nineteen people sent to their deaths. Her motivations never seem more complex than simply loving Proctor and getting rid of Elizabeth. The book is basically driven on Abigail trying to hide their relationship. The book begins in Rev. Parris’s home where his daughter
Throughout The Crucible, Miller is concerned with conscience and guilt. Through the character Abigail Williams, he shows how people are willing to abandon their firmly-established values in order to conform with the majority and protect themselves. Those who refuse to part with their conscience, such as the character of John Proctor, are chastised for it. For this reason, the Salem witch trials raise a question of the administration of justice. During this time in the late 1600’s, people were peroccupied by a fear of the devil, due to their severe Puritan belief system. Nineteen innocent people are hanged on the signature of Deputy Governor Danforth, who has the authority to try, convict, and execute anyone he deems appropriate. However, we as readers sense little to no real malice in Danworth. Rather, ignorance and fear plague him. The mass
In every conflict there always seems to be at least one person to blame. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, many problems arise that deal with live and death. Many innocent people in this play were hanged during the Salem Witch Trials. Of course, there are many people that may be blamed. In The Crucible, one may find Abigail Williams, The Putnams, and Mary Warren to blame. Abigail was manipulative, The Putnams were very jealous, and Mary Warren was weak-willed.
serves as the only voice of reason in the play. He had an affair with Abigail
A real fear feels like death, but less satisfying. These fears enthralled the minds of the naive and frightened during the most dangerous time to be alive in New England, The Salem witch trials. The fire inside the Salem Trials needs a fuel, fed to it from the spoon of the stupid, will grown until it burns everything in sight. Who knew a mere lack of knowledge could get 20 people killed and drag Puritan society through hell. Highly religious peoples had a large role in fueling the hysteria that occurred during the trials. The fear from being attacked during the Indian war also had a played a big role in why the Witch Trials kept going strong for so long. The Salem witch trials, fueled by fear and influenced by hardship of Puritan life and deep religious integration led to mass hysteria in the New England Colonies in 1692.
One of the most recurring motifs throughout the crucible is, Hysteria. The whole town for the longest time believes that even their closest of neighbors are users of witchcraft. One of the primary scenes exhibited in the play is in Act 1. The girls that were accused of using witchcraft are essentially the prosecutors in the courtroom. The court brings the “accused” into the room, and if the accused deny that they are users, the girls act out of turn, occasionally imitating the movements of the accused, they attempt to do it in unison as well. Most of the town truly believes that these girls are telling the truth. The entirety of the town especially in this once scene is going through mass hysteria.
Salem had its strengths and weaknesses, like the faults and cracks in the earth. It all slipped through, and darkness overswept the small town. Darkness came in many forms; even the characters who had traits defined who they are. The three main character traits are weakness, courage, and truth. They demonstrate the deeper meaning of the play.
Would one rather die honest or live a lie? In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Reverend Hale states that “no principle no matter how glorious” is worth dying for. Hale argues that it is better to give a false confession than to die for a principle of belief. However, the characters Giles Corey and Elizabeth Proctor would rather die for beliefs than to live with regret and guilt. Hale is correct that one should not die in the hands of an accusation but one would rather be stubborn and refuse to allow others to influence their beliefs then speak a lie that would undermine their morals. In a case of survival and self-greed, Parris and Proctor, are willing to put their morals aside agreeing with Hale’s statement. There is no right or wrong but through Giles Corey, Elizabeth Proctor, Proctor, and Parris the audience is shown that individual morals is the foundation to the statement made by Hale. As a result it test their true motives, beliefs, and characters.
In the real Salem Witch Trials of 1692, the fear of witches came about through the idea that women are inherently more sinful than men. So Puritan society used sin and witchcraft as an explanation to the things women did and it spread panic like a wildfire. In Millers play, The Crucible, Miller tried his best to emulate the psychology
The major act of revenge within the play that affects people the most, is when Abigail Williams accuses multiple people of witchcraft. Her accusations is an act of revenge because she had a love affair with John Proctor during the time she worked at his house, John’s wife found out and fired her immediately. Even though the situation happened a while ago, Abigail still felt bitter towards the Proctors and wants to get John back into her life but when she realizes that she won’t be able to do that she decides to seek vengeance on the people that broke her heart. Her solution to the issue is that she will accuse people within the town of witchcraft, a crime punishable by death. When Abigail first accuses John, everybody is shocked and surprised