Upon reading the theatrical reimagining of the Salem Witch Trials, The Crucible by Arthur Miller, everyone's main thought should be how it’s possible for lies to twist into the destruction of a once quiet village. The root of the lies started with a doomed affair that led to mania through a teenage girl and resentment to overtake a man. In Salem, there was a plague of lying girls; they would claim to be attacked by witchcraft, and in the Puritan culture, witchcraft was directly affiliated with the devil. As accusations of witchcraft spread, hysteria spread through the accused while they tried to save themselves from the court. The court would ensure that a witch be hanged unless the accused declared they weren’t a witch and gave names, accusing others of witchcraft. …show more content…
However, there's a man who refused to give in to the injustice of the witch trials, and he stayed a believer in his integrity. Despite how he’s viewed the affair with Abby, John Proctor excelled through conflict and became a man who stayed true to his principles and didn’t crumble under public pressure. From the start, John Proctor was a known mess, but when public hysteria broke loose, Proctor was the only one who knew and trusted the truth. The hysteria of the witch trials can be traced back to Mr. Proctor’s affair with Abby. Her desire for him was the reason she needed to be careless with people’s lives. She would accuse innocent people of witchcraft, which would lead to the wrecking of their reputation and also often lead to their death. When Proctor tries to confront Abby after finding out about Abby’s actions against the town, Abby says, “I look for John Proctor who took me from my sleep and put knowledge in my heart! I never knew what pretense Salem was, I never knew the lying lesson I was taught”(Miller 23). Abby relied on accusations to take away people she didn’t wish