Abigail Williams In The Crucible

In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Miller introduces the idea, apparent in today’s world, that sometimes people blame others to save themselves from punishment through the characters’ actions and the asides from Miller. The most prominent character that displays this theme is Abigail Williams. Several times Abigail pushes the blame on others when she senses trouble. When Parris finds the girls dancing in the forest, Abigail knows she has to do something to avoid punishment. Abigail says, “I never called him! Tituba…,” after Reverend Hale asks her about calling the devil (40). As soon as she sees trouble, she blames Tituba. After Tituba accuses Sarah Good of being with the Devil, as an attempt to receive a smaller punishment, she inspires Abigail

Then, Abigail accuses Mary to divert the judge’s attention away from herself. Abigail continues to harass Mary until the other girls join in and help her accuse Mary. Then, Mary sees no other way out, so she points at Proctor screaming, “You’re the Devil’s man!” (110). In all of these situations, the blame passes to several people. It all starts because Abigail and the girls do not want to be in trouble for dancing, one without clothes, and drinking blood. So Abigail starts accusing people, and then everyone starts accusing people to avoid

When Miller writes the novel, he is not just writing about the Salem Witch Trials. Miller is writing about McCarthyism and communists, too. McCarthyism is like the Salem Witch Trials in the aspect that it is corrupt and people start accusing innocent people. In McCarthyism, McCarthy decides that people are communists if they show signs of being “UnAmerican.” Then, he encourages people to report anyone that they suspect are communists. Eventually, people start accusing others like the characters in the The Crucible. Miller explains this in one of his asides saying, “in America any man who is not reactionary in his views is open to the charge of alliance with the Red hell” (32). Miller is comparing communists to witches by saying communists will have the same charge that witches have, which is an alliance with the Red