Witch Trials In The Crucible

The Crucible written by Arthur Miller is about The Witch Trials in Salem, Massachusetts in the 1600’s. The town was placed in hysteria by some of the town girls such as, Abigail, Tituba, and Mary Warren. Certain events in the story led to the widespread of hysteria amongst the town. First, when Abigail pointed her finger to blame Tituba. Second, names of people were mentioned and other events made the town think that the Devil was taking over.

In the beginning of the story some of the town girls quietly left out of their house and ran into the woods without anyone noticing them. In the forest the girls were laughing and screaming while dancing around the fire. Tituba was the slave from Reverend Parris’s home, she was chanting around the

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