Imagine losing everything: your job, family, and good name all because of someone accusing you of something that there is no sound evidence for. Now imagine people losing their lives for insubstantial reasons, and anyone who spoke out against these would lose everything themselves. Wouldn’t corruption reign from personal vengeance and create an aura of hysteria? Readers see this exact effect in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible as well as in the historical event of The Lavender Scare, in both of which people were wrongfully castigated for unjustifiable accusations. The Crucible and The Lavender Scare were both similar and different. Arthur Miller’s The Crucible took place in the late 1600’s when the people of Salem, Massachusetts conjectured that …show more content…
In The Crucible, the acting of the girls was the principal source of propaganda to continue the trials. Abigail, the young girl who commenced all of the accusations, acted in such a hysteric way that she caused people to believe her. A faultless example of this was when another young girl, Mary, attempted to inform the court that all of the girls were just acting bewitched and that none of them were actually affected by witchcraft. In response to this, Abigail made a Colossal scene in the courthouse; claiming that Mary sent her spirit out in the form of a bird to attack her. “Abigail (to the ceiling, in a genuine conversation with the “bird,” as though trying to talk it out of attacking her). But God made my face; you cannot want to tear my face. Envy is a deadly sin, Mary,” (Miller 3. 999-1002). Hectically, Abigail claimed this because she recognized that if she didn’t make a scene to convince the court of Mary’s bewitched spirit, all of her lies would’ve been figured out. In doing this, Abigail effectively intensified the people of Salem’s tenacious confidence that witchcraft existed in their village, which in turn acted as propaganda to fuel the fire of