The Crucible was a 4-act play written in 1953 by the author Arthur Miller. The Crucible is an intriguing play based around the Salem Witch Trials, which was a time period where many were convicted and prosecuted for being “witches”. Accusations were taken with no mercy and many contributed to the mass hysteria to fall upon Salem. Additionally, this story is an allegory for the activities of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). There were many characters introduced in this story but Abigail Williams and her friends were the most culpable for the hysteria and loss of life during the Salem Witch trials because they are a direct representation of manipulation, vindictiveness and aggressiveness. In Act 1 we are directly shown how manipulative …show more content…
Soon after when she is questioned herself, she responds, “I want to open myself, I want the light of God, I want the sweet love of Jesus! I danced for the Devil, I saw him, I wrote in his book.. I go back to Jesus. I saw Sarah Good with the Devil, I saw Goody Osborn with the Devil.”. Tituba and Abigail use their first-hand knowledge of the power over Hale and Paris to manipulate them. Furthermore, in Act 1 Mercy Lewis yells at Mary saying, “'I'll beat you, Mary Warren? I'll whip you if you dare leave this house again!" *. This suggests that the girls just keep going through a constant cycle of manipulation in order to have power over each other. This just results in more and more conformity, ultimately leading to more hysteria throughout Salem. Although manipulation is a large portion of the girls character, they also show large amounts of vindictiveness and aggressiveness. Moreover, a prime example of vindictiveness is in Abigail Williams, as she just wants to harm others to make her feel better about the things that have happened to