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Grudges And Personal Rivalries In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

492 Words2 Pages

Grudges and personal rivalries play a great role in the witch trial hysteria. In the play, The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller actions are motivated by personal vendettas. The two main female characters Abigail Williams and Elizabeth Proctor, and two of the male characters, John Proctor and Reverend Samuel Parris are perfect examples of relationships based on rivalries and grudges.
The relationships between Abigail Williams and Elizabeth Proctor are based on personal rivalries. Abigail is ready to do anything in order to get rid of John Proctor’s wife, Elizabeth, to replace her for him. The great majority of her actions is ruled by her selfish nature. In the very beginning of the play, the first thing Abigail does is tries to kill her rival with a special ritual. This night was a starting point …show more content…

This is perfectly exemplified by the relationships between Reverend Samuel Parris and John Proctor. Animosity between these two characters is mutual and occurs mostly because of the dramatic difference in their world view.
John Proctor feels that Samuel Parris abuses the power of his position of Reverend in Salem. For instance, Reverend Parris’ preachings do not cover religious questions and God, conversely, he only speaks about money and himself. When Reverend Parris accuses John Proctor of not visiting the church and questions his faith, John Proctor says the words, which make it clear, he has a cordial dislike for Samuel Parris and objects the way he performs his job duties: “...the last meeting I were at you spoke so long on deeds and montages I thought it was an auction”. This particular conversations impacts the whole story, as after it the Salem court’s trust in the Proctor’s family was shattered. Thus, people acting on their personal grudges were accusing others and had the power to ruin innocent people’s

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