Social Pressure In The Crucible

Soon a mere accusation from her becomes enough reason to convict even important, influential people. Abigail uses the witch hysteria that consumes Salem to secure herself from accusation, and gain control of the trials by accusing respectable people, before moving on to Elizabeth, and then in her desperation, she manipulates Mary Warren into eventually accusing John. “Abby' s lust threatens Proctor in many ways: she tempts him to sinning adultery in the first place;

Intolerance is important in The Crucible because it demonstrates how fast people’s attitudes and beliefs can change due to an event taking place in their town. Judges Hathorne and Danforth exhibit intolerance towards the people being trialed. If somebody spoke of another person performing witchcraft, the judges would not tolerate it and had that person thrown in jail even if there was no evidence to back up the statement. They were definitely substituting a role of unjustifiable reasoning. Miller uses intolerance to show that the people of Salem, especially the judges, were narrow minded and wanted everything to go their way.

Instead of interrogating Abigail, he is silenced by her which most likely shows that he has accepted her demand of not being judged. At this point, there is a flip in power dynamics at the witchcraft trials, Abigail has overpowered Danforth in courtroom. Judge Danforth an honorable Judge of the supreme court has easily been dominated by a seventeen-year-old Abigail, proving that he is gullible to her lies. Lastly, right after the Andover witchcraft trial revolt, Abigail runs away and also steals Reverend Parris’s money (The crucible). The sheer act of fleeing away shows a sign of guilt and fear of punishment along with her act of stealing Reverend Parris’s money clearly speaks a lot about the criminal character of Abigail Williams.

At that point in time Mary Warren and John Proctor both tried to prove Abigail Williams and the other girls of faking it until, act 4 when she backstabbed John Proctor and made her own claim that John Proctor was satan.”You’re the devil’s man.” (Miller 110). Mary knows what Abigail was always a threat and being on her side was an advantage, John Proctor was foolish for thinking Mary would keep her word and tell on the girls. He out of all people should know how powerful Abigail

This hysteria becomes fueled by the opportunism in people like Abigail, and the willingness to remove any person who might pose a threat to the state in the form of swift prosecution and even execution. Miller highlights this edge of the hysteria, revealing in the second act that “the Deputy Governor promise hangin’ if they’ll not confess… and if they howl and scream and fall to the floor- the person’s clapped in the jail (Miller 56).” He also speaks of the fear in the state of a perceived enemy in the people, particularly through Judge Danforth. In the final moments of the play, Danforth refuses to appeal his decisions under overwhelming evidence, remarking that “postponements now speaks a floundering on my part; reprieve or pardon must cast doubt.” The hysteria of the people fuels a state which senses a waning power, and the state acquiesces to the hysteria. In the McCarthy era, the Cold War ignited a fear of destruction in the people pointed at communist rivals. In Salem, a puritanical fear of the devil caused panic pointed at those not necessarily pious enough for the theocracy.

Mildred putting in a tip on Montag, got Montag into big trouble. But, because he couldn’t keep quiet about his secret, he had to burn down his own house. Bradbury, the author of Fahrenheit 451, expresses the message that you can’t trust everybody. He does this by showing how multiple people turn Montag in after finding out about his secret. The characters in this novel go through many conflicts some characters cause them, while other characters fix

When Hale attends court with Mary and Proctor, so they can tell Danforth that all of the accusations are false, Hale starts to believe that the girls are all a fraud. Abigail and the girls begin in frenzy when they are accused of lying in the court and about all of the convicted they believe were partaking in witchcraft. At that point Hale becomes annoyed at the pity and belief that Danforth is giving them that he quits the court. Hale proclaims as he leaves, “I denounce these proceedings, I quit this court!” (1213). Hale’s confusion gets the best of him, but shows that he does not agree with the girls’ beliefs anymore that the devil has scouted the accused.

In some instances communities will even go to the extreme by blaming or executing a large number of people to fix their problems. Some people will even come up with delusional accusations to make it easier to scapegoat that one person or group. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is one example of this because in the story a community of people start executing other’s because they believe that they are witches. The poem by Margaret Atwood “Half-Hanged Mary” is another excellent example of scapegoating because they are also accusing

Teacher finds someone to blame when things go out of control in the class room. Management and unions blame each other. Political parties use blame in the extreme, and it is disruptive, subordinating national goals under political aims. Spouses unfortunately play the blame game to the destruction of marriages and families. Experts in many realms teach that making things better should be the focus of our energies.

As a result, people begin to blame witchery on others whom they have vengeances with. These actions result in many well, respected people's execution. A prime example of a character who goes through this process is John Proctor. The court of Salem tests John Proctor by threatening him to confess in exchange for his life. This brings out many of his weaknesses and strengths.