How Fear Motivates the Characters in The Crucible Fear plays an important role in the play The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller.. It motivates the accusers and the accused. The first accuser in the play was Abigail. She accused Tituba of being a witch. Then after that, Tituba accuse Good and Osburn of witchcraft. Mrs. Putnam accused Rebecca Nurse of being a witch because she was jealous of Rebecca because her children aren’t dead. After that she accused Rebecca for killing her kids. Giles Corey and Mr. Walcott accused Martha Corey of being a witch because she was reading strange books at night. Mary Warren accused John Proctor because she didn’t want to die. Abigail Williams accused Elizabeth Proctor because she wanted to be with John Proctor.