Salem witchcraft trials started in New England and caused a lot of deaths and hysteria for the people of Salem, Massachusetts. Innocent women and men were hung just for being accused by their fellow friends and neighbors. Witchcraft in the 17th century was a big taboo that people feared.
What role did repressing women play in creating the Salem Witch Trials in Puritan society? Repression of women by the church in Puritan society lead to the women wanting power. The church was the powerhouse of the Puritan society, so if you were to get in trouble with the church you would be banished or hanged. Also, getting in trouble with the church could cost you your spot in heaven. Keeping women and young girls from the bulk of society and power made them seek power and rebellion.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a dramatic play that expresses a very important message and that is how far people would go to save themselves from the hands of death. There are many characters in the Crucible who are guilty of taking innocent lives, but there are three major characters who, without a doubt, are the most at blame. The play takes place in the city of Salem, a city filled with people that would do anything to keep their reputation clean. Throughout the play, Miller is introducing multiple characters that experience changes in their decisions and negatively influence more people eventually leading up to the witch trials. The main point that the story revolves around is that people would rather lie and blame someone else instead of confessing and accepting the punishment. By examining the characters of the play, I believe that the three major characters who should be blamed the most for the witch trials are Abigail Williams,
The witch trials in Salem occurred because of Abigail and it is her fault. She started something she could not finish and by starting it killed many innocent people and ruined many reputations. Abigail is at blame because she was the one who is basically the "psycho girlfriend" who is obsessed with her ex. But because she is desperately in love with John Proctor, she is willing to do anything to have him all to herself. Just like how she drank a chicken blood charm to kill Elizabeth, which is against her religion. She is willing to go against her religion to satisfy her desperation for John. But obviously John does not want this because he knows his affair with her was a mistake. She is not the victim in the crucible. She is the person who
Abigail blamed everyone in Salem for either seeing a witch, being a witch, or conjuring up the spirit of a witch but herself. When I was at the age where I would start to look up to my older sister, is the age where I would always yell at her for the things I´d end up doing but when the time came around, I would always blame my sister for my actions just like Abigail blamed the townspeople. On the other hand, most people deny that she is guilty do to the fact that she is just a child. Although she is just a child, her blaming actions lead to multiple deaths and
In the play Abigail only cares about herself and what she can do to protect herself. When the girls talk in Betty’s room and Mary shows weakness and wants to tell everyone about what they did in the forest, Abigail gets really angry. She threatens the girls and is not afraid to show what she is willing to do. “Now look you. All of you. We danced. And Tituba conjured Ruth Putnam’s dead sisters. And that is all. And mark this – let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you. And you know I can do it; I saw Indians smash my dear parents’ head on the pillow next to mine, and I have seen some reddish work done at night, and I can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down!” (Miller 12). This quote shows how Abigail has changed and what she’d do if she was confronted with such a situation. She made the decision quickly and opted to only save herself. Over the course of the book it gets represented pretty well that she is capable of doing everything to hold up her reputation: she wants to be a saint. Every decision she makes is like a little test that shows what kind of person and friend she is. Coming off of this she doesn’t perform well as an example as either of
The Salem Witch Trials began in Salem Massachusetts in 1629. Many people were accused of being a witch and many lives were lost.
Abigail is to blame for all that has happened in the Witch Trials, the reason for that is
Abigail seems like an innocent girl to everybody however it is later found out that she is one of the people who puts herself before others and makes things worse to get herself out of trouble. In act one Reverend Hale was questioning Tituba, a slave from Barbados. Tituba was explaining what the dancing and the disturbance in the woods and Abigail says she “wasn’t conjuring spirits”(Miller ??) but in reality she was caught attempting to cast a spell on Elizabeth. The reason for her trying to cast a spell is because Abigail falls in love with John Proctor but he is married to Elizabeth but that doesn’t bother Abigail.
Abigail was the cause of everything that is happening in Salem, from the witch trials beginning to the killing of innocent people, but it wasn’t only her who had accused people. Abigail was a flapper as they called it back in the days, and she began to cause all of this dramatic non-sence because she wanted John Proctor. “You have taught me goodness John Proctor, therefore you are good.”, Abigail was crazy in love with
Out of all the characters in the book, there are many that contributed to the hysteria of the witch trials, however, of these characters Abigail Williams contributed the most. In the beginning of the play, we see Abigail and a collection of other girls dancing and making a charm in the woods. Abigail made this charm in order to kill Mr.Proctor 's wife. If Abigail wasn 't so crazy in love with John this scene in the woods probably wouldn 't have taken place. Therefor, Parris would have never caught the girls and there wouldn’t be rumours of witchcraft. Also, throughout the play Abigail accuses many people of witchcraft in order to save herself. An example of this is when Hale questions Abigail in act 1, and Abigail accuses several girls of
As a twelve year old girl Abigail Williams played one of the most dominant roles in the Salem Witch Trials along with her cousin, nine year old, Elizabeth “Betty” Parris. Together these two girls, along with more, would indirectly murder many based off the accusations made by those accused (these girls being the initial accusers).
Abigail Williams lied about the girls and what they were doing in the woods. She told Mr. Paris that they were only dancing. She also lied about the people of the town she accused of witchery. these lies caused the mass hysteria and the trials. If she had not lied than the accused people would have lived.
The Crucible’s Abigail Williams is best known for her involvement in the Salem Witch Trials just as Senator Joseph McCarthy is best known for his involvement in the Red Scare. Abigail Williams was known in her society as a saint. She had supposedly committed some form of witchcraft and had redeemed herself by giving the names of other “witches”. She, and several other girls, were largely responsible for the conviction and deaths of nineteen innocent villagers. Abigail and McCarthy both had caused mass hysteria in their communities in order to draw attention to themselves, further their reputations, and to get rid of people they saw unfit to live in their society.
Salem in The Crucible from Arthur Miller is the home to chaos and murder due to witchery that is still unclear as to whether it happened or not. These events caused major changes in the characters from start to finish, at the same time a change in society. Furthermore, calling what happened in Salem a tragedy is an understatement when Salem is clearly in a state of anarchy. Similarly, authority is discontinued and Salem enters a “she said he said” state of mind which only further confuses Salem while also hiding the true slaughterer of innocent Puritan people right in front of their faces. Furthermore, this rising anarchy inhibits the people of logical thinking and hides major perpetrators right in front of them. Abigail and the society itself are to blame for the events in Salem causing murder and outrage in this town.