Power is a very fluid thing in The Crucible. The court by extension of religion - since Salem was a theocracy - has final say, but who influences and wields the power within these institutions, and how that changes is what is worth examining. If most people in Salem had used their power differently, the town might have ended up in a much better situation. An important part of Salem is it's religious dedication. Everything revolves around their strict Christian beliefs. The only reason that the Salem Witch Trials could happen is because people were so superstitious, and believed in the first place that witches existed, and that their purpose was to interfere with Salem´s progress as a Christian society. Too, in seventeenth century Salem, women were at the bottom of society. They worked as servants until they were old enough to be married off and rear children. Not only being restricted by society in this way, Abigail is shown to be controlled by John Proctor. He takes her innocence by committing adultery with her, then ignites her jealousy when he ends the affair. Because of his actions and the nature of their society, she is …show more content…
He could have done what an actual minister should have done, and try to help his people who were suffering with feeling powerless, and had perform evil rituals to achieve. The citizens of Salem were not devils, the devil just had sway of them - or that's how they could have seen it then. The girls had been raised being basically taught that the purpose of their lives were to be good under the law of The Lord, and to be married. When it came time to be married, they wanted so badly to be with a certain man, and when Abigail especially could not have who she wanted, they then resorted to witchcraft. If Parris had just reasoned this, and tried to help them accept what they had been given, and turn to God instead, none of the Trials would have had to