Theme Of Innocence In The Crucible

Using torture as a way to extract evidence is an inhumane way to treat those under accusation. The argument that a confession given under these circumstances is legitimate, is a false claim. This is due to the victim's mindset being compromised from the extreme and extensive methods of torture. Another example of the unacceptable evidence used in court against those accused is the presence of the “devil’s mark”. “The belief was that the devil branded the bodies of witches with symbolic yet concrete corporeal malformations such as marks and growths” (Darr, 361).

One common question about The Crucible is how Abigail Williams is the most evil force in the play. It is shocking when a girl talks back to authority out of disagreement, but few go as far as Abigail Williams. While she may only be 11 years old, her manipulative and vengeful personality allows her fool her Uncle and later turns a whole town against each other. She is really a master of manipulation and trickery, and she gets herself into affairs without punishment and has threaten all who oppose here. Abigail really is the devil in human form.

it’s a lose-lose situation. Things like politics, religion, imaginations, and fear of people were just some of the main factors of what aided people into believing that Satan was upon the town of Salem. They believed that the humans were with devil and doing as he said which in turn gave them the power to harm others. One girl named Tituba was trying to save herself by confessing to witchcraft.

Miller uses irony to demonstrate the flaws, the corruption, within the court’s justice system. In this case, it’s emphasized when Giles is found guilty; even though, he did have evidence to prove his accusation. He states, “if Jacobs hangs for a witch he forfeits up his property that's law! And there is none but Putnam with the coin to buy so great a piece”( Miller 89). In addition, he has a witness that heard Putnam thanking his daughter after she cried out on Jacobs.

¨There is blood on my head! Can you not see the blood on my head!! ¨. Reverend and witch hunter Hale has spoken these words because he has realized he has sent many innocent people to their death. Now he feels guilty for the of innocent people.

Such similarities include the false imprisonment of innocent people based off of prejudice beliefs and heavily biased justice systems. The Salem Witch Trials began in the year 1692 when several young girls in Salem, Massachusetts were acting so strange that they were believed to be under a witch’s spell (Schiff). When confronted, the girls began accusing others of practicing witchcraft (Schiff). Many people were soon accusing others or being accused of witchcraft; they were being accused for various reasons such as unexplained illnesses, failed crops, or a woman could even be accused if she could open something a man could not (Brandt, p. 38). As stated in Anthony Brandt’s article, An Unholy Mess, “Legally, spectral evidence was not grounds for convicting a witch.

Abigail Williams’ Influence Is it okay for a person to lie and hurt other people just to keep him or herself safe? In Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, Abigail Williams lies, a lot, to keep herself safe. Throughout the story, many people are accused of witchcraft. When a person is accused of witchcraft, it is very easy for them to get out of the accusation if they lie. The lies that are told shifts the belief of who knows witchcraft, and Abigail Williams uses those lies to gain influence over other people.

Joseph McCarthy made claims that ruined lived and lead to increased to hostility, same as Abigail and the other girls made claims that ruined lives. In conclusion Arthur Miller was commenting on the behavior of society, comparing the Salem witch Trials within the McCarthy hearings in the 1950’s, when the United States Government sought to identify any Americans were Communists or Communist protectors and friends. The problem for either side is never solved only by the ending of persecution of people with no

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 ??)

To demonstrate, in Act One of The Crucible, Tituba, a Barbados slave to Reverend Parris, was falsely accused of leading the girls of the play in witchcraft, but deliberately defended herself by stating that “I do believe somebody else be witchin these children”(Pg. 42, Miller). In other words, because Tituba was under the false accusations of witchcraft, she was forced to blame other people of the village as well in order to save her own life. Therefore, because all the villagers, especially Mr. Hale, another important character of the play, accused Tituba in a forceful manner, she was forced to take decisive action due to her society’s daunting influence in order to save her own life.

In the book Witches the Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem by Rosalyn Schanzer, there was a religion, puritanism, and they believed in witches. They accused people for being aligned with the devil. It started with two girls who had symptoms of histyeria and others who were not sick also joined the. Nineteen people were wrongly accused of being witches and executed. Later in the book it stated that many of the people that accused those who died, lied.

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.

The McCarthy hearings and the Salem witch trials accurately represent the saying, "Desperate times call for desperate measures. " In the 1950s, the McCarthy hearings tainted lives by falsely accusing those in the film industry of being associated with Communism. In the 17th century, the Salem witch trials charged innocent villagers of practicing witchcraft. Victims from the McCarthy hearings were isolated and ruined, while victims from the Salem trials were hanged and shunned.

When present, fear can often be exploited for one’s personal gain. The Crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller, which exemplifies the power of fear due to the imaginary idea of witchcraft in the small village of Salem. During the time this play was written, the United States was overcome by the fear of communism, which had led to the government accusing many innocent people for ridiculous reasons. Miller uses The Crucible to show how many of the accusations in the Salem Witch Trials, a similar event, often had underlying, selfish, and personal reasons behind them. In the play Abigail Williams, and Thomas Putnam’s take advantage of the pervasive fear in the village, allowing them to fulfill their selfish and exploitative motives which are what truly fuel the Salem Witch Trials.

The authorities questioned the girls, and Abigail confessed that the servant Tituba sent her evil spirit upon them, and made them write in the Devil’s book. It only went downhill from there. Soon many were accused, and they would accuse others in order to save their own lives. It only started however,