Examples Of Evil In The Crucible

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Fear, anger, and distrust are feelings that all humans face on a daily basis. In Arthur Miller’s book The Crucible, Abigail Williams’s actions opened Pandora's box in her small town. The story takes place in Salem, a puritan village, and it’s a tale of how a single person can bring havoc to the ones around them. The Crucible acts as a morality play by illustrating how manipulation and panic can cause false accusations that lead to death. Miller shows this through symbolism and characterization of good and evil. In The Crucible, Abigail is a representation of evil because she perpetuates the cycle of fear. When faced with opposition she threatens people around her. “... and mark this – let either of you breathe a word… and I’ll come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you.”(19). She’s willing to kill her friends when she feels they're going to betray her, this exhibits a violent nature because a reasonable human wouldn't kill their …show more content…

Proctor thought that a way for stopping the trials was to make a document with statements of the townspeople that revealed that many of the accused were good puritans; however the judges did not care, “Mr. Cheever have warrants drawn for all of these – arrest for examination”(87). Danforth assured Proctor that if they were good people they would be fine, but as we’ve seen before, once you’re accused you're going to be condemned, either by death or jail. In fact, when Reverend Hale proposed the idea that “not everyone accused is part of it.”(91), Danforth said, "No uncorrupted man may fear this court, Mister Hale! None! Giles Corey, you are under arrest in contempt of this court.”(91). Corey’s actions were not viewed as “pure” so he was sent to jail. This confirms the idea that justice dispensed by prejudiced eyes/ears is not justice, it’s