Examples Of Selfishness In The Crucible

In Arthur Miller's “The Crucible” (1953), it is shown that people seem to forget basic morals when dealing with mass hysteria. Puritans in the play do not want the devil or any other demonic figures such as witches in their community, they will go to great lengths, as far as turning their back on their own people to get rid of these demonic figures as shown in “The Crucible”. This idea of witches in the community caused chaos in the village which led to the deaths of 20 people in the village. Do people in the play not care about the consequences other people face because of their actions? In the play, loyalty falls far below self selfishness in the face of mass hysteria. Abigail seems like an innocent girl to everybody however it is later found out that she is one of the people who puts herself before others and makes things worse to get herself out of trouble. In act one Reverend Hale was questioning Tituba, a slave from Barbados. Tituba was explaining what the dancing and the disturbance in the woods and Abigail says she “wasn’t conjuring spirits”(Miller ??) but in reality she was caught attempting to cast a spell on Elizabeth. The reason for her trying to cast a spell is because Abigail falls in love with John Proctor but he is married to Elizabeth but that doesn’t bother Abigail.

One of those characters was reverend Parris. In act one when Betty seems to be ill and Reverend Parris mentions that he can’t have this happen to him and it would “ruin me with it”(Miller ??). Parris is so worried about himself and his reputation that that is the first that came to his mind when he is told about an ill child. Parris then mentions himself as above others and that he deserves to be treated differently. He says he is not to be so “lightly crossed or contradicted”(Miller ??). He doesn't want to be told differently because he want to keep his reputation intact. That is also why he says ministers are from