The Salem Witch Trials, as portrayed by The Crucible, were a terrifying and confusing time. It’s hard to say who caused this whole debacle, but it was most likely Abigail Williams. Because of her lies about her involvement with the girls in the forest, or her blatant manipulation of others to pull blame off of herself and onto other. Because of this, and her treachery, the Salem Witch Trials spiralled into the chaos that it is known for today. Without her, the Salem Witch Trials may have been less horrifying than it is known for today, and the town better off.
But also the townspeople believed them and got paranoid as well. Throughout the play, characters have changed including Elizabeth, Hale, and John, making them dynamic
The lies and deception throughout the play were big factors causing the hangings of the twenty innocent people. Early on, she realizes that she is in trouble about the witchcraft, but she recognizes that she is able to confess to her wrong doing, of committing acts of the devil, if she did not confess she would have been hanged. In effect she will accuses other people, but the name were mentioned by Thomas Putnam earlier, so she said what Putnam wanted to hear. Subsequently Abigail confessed, “I want to open myself! I want the light of God, I want the sweet love of Jesus!
In the beginning, Mary and her friends danced in the woods, but they are caught by Reverend Parris, and afraid they will get in trouble, two of the girls pretend to be afflicted by a witch. The two seemingly afflicted girls send widespread chaos through the town, and the remaining girls have to figure out what to do to get the attention away from their dance in the woods. Mary is understandably terrified as she is a rule follower and has never broken a rule in her life. Mary knows that “the whole country's talkin witchcraft!” (Miller 1107).
The main character, John Proctor, may seem to be a normal, middle aged man living in the Puritan town of Salem, but however, he holds a dark secret: he cheated on his wife with a girl named Abigail Williams. What he doesn 't know, is that by cheating with Abigail, he partly started the Salem witch madness; John makes Abigail very envious of his wife, and thus, she begins accusing others of dark sorcery and witchcraft. John, at first, is very reluctant to tell everyone the truth about why Abigail and other young girls are accusing his wife and other older women of being witches because he fears it will ruin his good name and reputation. However, after he realizes that the situation has truly gone out of control, he tries to confess his wrongdoing, but is only imprisoned and accused of witchcraft as well.
Abigail The Victim In the Crucible many are to blame for the events that occurred, but one of the one’s who seems to take blame the most is Abigail Williams. She holds most of the responsibility because she was to blame for the girls meeting with Tituba in the woods. When Parris located the girls in the woods, Abigail tries to hide her behavior because she fears that it will uncover her affair with Proctor if she confesses that she attempted to cast a spell on his wife, Elizabeth. Abigail also lies to avoid being punished for witchcraft.
Bearing in mind the facts about her distressing childhood life, her love for John and terror for her life it is possible to deduce that it was the fault of Abigail for the tragedy to occur in the town of the Salem. Her deceitfulness almost makes her impractical because she practices witchcraft in order to win back her lover, Proctor, she laid false evidence of witchcraft in Elizabeth’s home with a hope to direct her to the scaffolds and she persuades young women to dance in the woods which was an illegal act. The writer progresses from sightseeing the unconscious to exploring the unconditioned and raw responses that go deeper than basic desires and ambitions, particularly when challenged with ones’ mortality. A deduction can also be made that the more Abigail Williams learnt how to use her interim capabilities to upset the townspeople, the more she appreciated the power she had. Abigail Williams collects the information necessary to style the position of supremacy for herself.
The True Crimes In a town full of religious-imposed justice, is the crimes happening in the towns actually considered true crimes? Should the people that committed the crimes be held responsible? In Arthur Miller’s play “The Crucible” the town “Salem” many are being accused of witchery, which is a crime in their society. The problem is that they aren't witches, but normal people to be hanged.
But I will cut off my hand before I’ll ever reach for you again.” (23 Miller). This rejection is very harsh towards Abigail and is what sets Abigail in motion to conspire against John’s wife Elizabeth. She believes that without Elizabeth, John will open up to her and they can be together. Once she is rejected, she turns her attention towards slandering Elizabeth to John.
His wife Elizabeth was accused of witchcraft by the young girls which meant that she would be arrested and most likely hanged. John Proctor had make mistakes in the past such as cheating on his wife which led him to make the ultimate sacrifice for his family and his name. John Proctor confesses to being a witch as he knows it is the only way he can save his wife Elizabeth from being arrested and killed. Proctor is seen as a tragic hero because he decides to not sign his confession as it would
Around the time of the witch trials, the people in Salem were very religious. Rumors were easily spread and it was nearly impossible to prove yourself innocent if people were talking about you otherwise. During the witch hysteria, innocent people were imprisoned and and executed because someone has accused them of being a witch. It is understandable that some would accuse others to save themselves from imprisonment or from possible death. However, I believe Abigail should be held responsible for the imprisonment and execution of innocent people because she threaten the girls, so they would act bewitched and she also lied about getting stabbed by a needle and making it look like as if Elizabeth Proctor did it with witchcraft.
Once the idea of witchery took deep root into the hearts of the people, many were accused and arrested. Out of the selfishness of her heart, Abigail accused Elizabeth Proctor of witchcraft in an attempt to be rid of her so she could have John. She kept telling herself that she was in love with him, and she would use any opportunity to her advantage to be rid of Elizabeth. This however, would not bode well with John.
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.
Though there were many people who contributed to what happened in Salem, I believe that Abigail Williams was mostly to blame. I think this because she lied to save herself, made up false scenarios and blamed innocent people, and enjoyed the attention and power. In the beginning of the play, Abby is caught dancing in the woods. She herself drank a blood charm in which she wanted to kill Elizabeth Proctor. Though Abby wasn’t the only one who was caught, she lied to Reverend Parris so that she would not be hung once witchcraft was being talked about throughout the village.
Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible in 1953. Miller wrote this because of his communist “witch hunt” situation. Miller had ties with communist and was suspected of it. He was summoned to the House of Un-American activities because of his connections, by Joseph McCarthy. Miller was condemned for 30 days without any evidence to support that he had any connections with communists.