How Is Elizabeth Presented In The Crucible

Crucible Paper
1. Elizabeth and Abigail play very conflicting roles in Arthur Miller’s tragedy, The Crucible. Elizabeth is portrayed as someone who has never lied and is pure heartily good, while Abigail on the other hand is shown to be more of a liar by nature.
Abigail can be seen lying throughout the entire play to get her way, this can be supported by when Abigail states on page 578 “she is blackening my name in the village! She is telling lies about me! She is a cold, sniveling woman, and you bend to her! Let her turn you like a—”. Abigail is seen to be using her true nature to try to get what she wants. Abigail is seen to be portrayed in this way to further enhance the suspense of the play. Elizabeth, in contrast, is seen to be completely

On page 595 Abigail is seen stating “I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!” All the people mentioned in the quote have no ties towards witchcraft and were falsy accused. This direcly correlates with how McCarthyism operated in which multiple people were convicted of being communist spies. The second major similarity is the unjust trials that took place. Many of these unjust trials can be seen in Miller’s The Crucible when one of the judges states on page 641 “on its face and by its nature, an invisible crime, is it not? Therefore, who may possibly be witness to it? The witch and the victim. None other.” This quote shows how unjust the courts were during the witch trials. Many of the victims had no voice in the matter and were instantly ruled guilty. This can be held true during the McCarthyism era because many of the accused had no way to prove themselves as innocent. Lastly, the final similiarity is the prescence of fear between the civilians and the government. Both of these eras show that the people were extremely scared of being falsely accused because there was always a harsh punishment to the people that were found

On page 595 Abigail is seen stating “I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!” All the people mentioned in the quote have no ties towards witchcraft and were falsy accused. This direcly correlates with how McCarthyism operated in which multiple people were convicted of being communist spies. The second major similarity is the unjust trials that took place. Many of these unjust trials can be seen in Miller’s The Crucible when one of the judges states on page 641 “on its face and by its nature, an invisible crime, is it not? Therefore, who may possibly be witness to it? The witch and the victim. None other.” This quote shows how unjust the courts were during the witch trials. Many of the victims had no voice in the matter and were instantly ruled guilty. This can be held true during the McCarthyism era because many of the accused had no way to prove themselves as innocent. Lastly, the final similiarity is the prescence of fear between the civilians and the government. Both of these eras show that the people were extremely scared of being falsely accused because there was always a harsh punishment to the people that were found