An Analytical Essay On The Crucible By Arthur Miller

The Crucible Analytical Essay

The Crucible is a story written by Arthur Miller. In the story, many conflicts are apparent, but one that stands out is the one between Elizabeth and Abigail. Elizabeth fired Abigail from their home, and it took her away from John, the man she was having an affair with, that sparked a need for vengeance.
Abigail’s conflict is likely the reason everything in this story happened, reason being is she was jealous of Elizabeth for being with John. In act one, the conflict can be seen when John talks to Elizabeth and she claims Elizabeth is “blackening her name in the Village” and is “telling lies” about her (Miller 150). This brings me to the theme that many characters are motivated by jealousy and greed throughout the story. All that Abigail did was out of anger, jealousy, and vengeance. The conflict was because of jealousy and it’s apparent very early on in the story.
The conflict between Abigail and Elizabeth is all because Elizabeth knows what happened between them two. This led her to fire Abigail and no longer allow her in their home. It’s not that she couldn’t trust John anymore, I believe she did, she just didn’t trust Abigail, and there’s a reason for that. It’s evident that Abigail can’t be trusted, especially behind the house when she tells John she’s “ waitin’ for him every single night” (Miller 149).

Elizabeth knows this, and that can be concluded in act two when she says Abigail “thinks to kill her, then take her place” (Miller 170). This has got to be one of the biggest pieces of evidence throughout this entire story. She knows what Abigails intentions are, and she knows exactly why. This all goes back to jealousy and anger being a very common theme in this story, and Abigail is by far the clearest example of