Inequality In The Crucible

One of the most dangerous enemies of any regime is the precedent. Once occurred, it provides a premise for future manifestations. In heavily oppressed societies such as the one depicted in Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, the easiest time-tested method of keeping the people obedient and therefore, preventing any first-time instances, is by forcing the individuals into stereotypes. Those conventional images are almost always based on either sex, or ethnicity (or both) so that there is no niche for exceptions. The problem with executing such practices, however, is that no matter how hard one tries to shape the mentality and to certain extend, the exterior of the people, their individual characteristics cannot be perfectly equalized, even less

The motive behind her deeds has deep roots in the susceptibilities of the society she lives in. There is a tangible social tension and an innate inequality, which sweepingly grows into sexism, racism, and other -ism based discrimination. What is even more problematic is that such issues are left unspoken - there is no open discussion about their rightness and the consequences of spreading rumours or isolating the women from the social and political life. That is why it is safe to assume that one of the reasons Abigail Williams falsely accuses so many people without showing any signs of guilt or remorse is her outspoken resentment towards Salem and its residents. Since the beginning of the play she has been notorious because of the village rumors about her provocative and quite manipulative behavior. She is not just jealous of Elizabeth Proctor - she is also mad at her and the whole village for “blackening her name” (Miller 23) and “telling lies” (Miller 24) about her. While some of those rumors subsequently turned out to be true, the society had still failed to fulfill its one and most important function - to protect its members. Instead, people put a label on a person they barely tried to understand, thus leaving Abigail with nothing more than a self-fulfilling prophecy. Well observed in our reality as well, this phenomenon has to do with trying to force a certain individual into a stereotype which in the long term might result in this person subconsciously “living up” to those statements i.e. they will gradually start behaving the way their peers falsely perceived or accused them of doing. This is also indicative of the indisputable presence of sexism in Salem. Even after John Proctor confesses about his sin in act III, this only adds to Abigail’s loathsome personality. Seventeen centuries later, the female part of the society still bears the heavy weight of the original sin. In such world, where the women are