Twenty people were executed as a result of the Salem witch trials, a reign of terror that
swept up most of the characters in Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible. Salem is a small Puritan
town ruled by a theocratic government. The social order of Salem starts with the church leaders
and wealthy male land owners and ends with young, unmarried woman and slaves. The church
is structured as an earthly representation of biblical law and possesses the power to persecute
those outside the holy edicts. Women are subservient to men, cannot own property and are
viewed with suspicion in the church. Throughout the play, those with power attempt to assert it
while those with little power exploit the fear of witch craft to their advantage. The Salem witch
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However, by recruiting many other young women, Abigail is able to spread a
rumor condemning the high status members of the community, thus gaining power. An
example of her vengeance is when she claimed that Elizabeth Proctor used witchcraft to attack
her. After that claim, Elizabeth was arrested despite her innocence. Due to the superstition of
the community, Abigail's wild claims cannot be ignored for fear that they could be true. The
witch trials also empowered the District Commissioner, Danforth, who had tried to stop the
spread of “witchcraft” in another town but failed. In fact the people of that town, Andover,
actually had a rebellion and kicked Danforth out. Danforth felt that he needed to redeem his
reputation, so he gave himself all the power in Salem and was the final decision maker in every
witch case. Reverend Hale was also empowered in the Salem witch trials. During the beginning
and middle parts of the book, Hale’s knowledge on witchcraft was used to see if people who
were accused were actually witches. An example of this was in Act I when he first tested