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Betrayal In The Crucible

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In 1692, a group of girls in Salem, Massachusetts fell ill and caused a growing crisis for the townspeople. Because of all the crisis in the town, there was betrayal, fear, and reputations was ruined. Accusations got out of hand and soon enough people could not control the lies and all the power of the devil. All the lies piled up; the lies that were started brought many people of Salem to their deaths. Nineteen people die during the trials for supposedly committing witchcraft. Abigail Williams pettiness was the start to all of the chaos, the reason nineteen innocent people died, and the reason people betrayed others. Betrayal is a major theme in The Crucible. Betrayal is what brought Salem to shambles and caused everyone not to trust one …show more content…

When word spreads about the trials and how serious the townspeople are taking the situation, is when people act out in all different ways. Out of fear of being tried for death, the townspeople accuse one another just to save oneself. In the beginning of the play when Hale confronts Tituba she cries frantically and says she does not work for the devil only so she does not die. Tituba is only brought up because of Williams. Williams deceives the court and everyone else so she would not be tried for punishment. The only reason all of the trials started was because of Williams and out of fear she was going to lose Proctor. She deceived the court because she thought she would have a chance with Proctor by accusing Elizabeth Proctor. When someone is in love they will go into desperate measures to get what they want. When Proctor wants to prove how bad of a person Williams is, is when he decides to tell the truth about his affair to the court. When Proctor confesses, the judge, Danforth questions Elizabeth Proctor, she denies it. All she wanted to do was to save her husband's reputation but indeed she just made the situation worse. With Hale being present to, he realises her motive for lying only to protect her husband, but Danforth’s suspicions only rise. Given this state, Williams only appears stronger in the story line and convinces Danforth that she and the others girls are being attacked by Mary Warren's spirit, while Proctor ends up in

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