Examples Of Abuse Of Power In The Crucible

The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, conveys through Abigail and the judges how experiencing unlimited power will lead to abuse of power and deadly undeserved consequences. Many times throughout the play, Abby with her newly gained power irresponsibly uses it for her own benefit without thought about the consequences those actions might cause. The first example of this abuse of power is seen early on in the play in Act 1 through Abigail when she tells the other girls, "I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you." because all of the girls are scared of witchcraft and are about to admit to dancing and conjuring. She was scared that her reputation was going to be damaged by the girls admitting so she used her power of engaging fear in the

Abby also shows her power in act III when trying to convince Judge Danforth that she isn't lying or acting by saying,"I have seen my blood runnin‘ out! I have been near to murdered every day because I done my duty pointing out the Devil‘s people—and this is my reward?" She knows that the judges are easily convinced and on her side so she uses a red herring logical fallacy to manipulate and distract judge danforth from there ever being a possibility that she is

A final example of Abigail abusing her power is in act III when she says,"Oh, Mary, this is a black art to change your shape. No, I cannot, I cannot stop my mouth; it‘s God‘s work I do…" This quote shows how Abby abuses her power of persuasion to shift the accusation of her lying about being a victim of witchcraft to completely flip the script and have her accuser be under target of doing witchcraft and in the act of witchcraft. This quote is very effectively used by Miller because he also engages the audience with the verbal irony in Abby saying she's doing god's work but in reality it would be considered the devil's work. This use of power is self centered and irresponsible by Abby because she is throwing another person under the bus so she can keep up the lie that makes up her life now endangering possibly many more in the future so she won't have to face consequences for her actions. Overall Abby possesses very powerful persuasion and almost every time she uses it; it is in the wrong way and prevents the truth from coming out and justice to be