Personal Gain In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

Personal gain often formed the foundations for many of the accusations made during the trials, and often the townspeople believed them because they had no proof. A lack of evidence and growing hysteria, made it difficult to distinguish the truth from lies. Danforth describes the plight of the Salem courts explaining,

In an ordinary crime, how does one defend the accused? One calls up witnesses to prove his innocence. But witchcraft is ipso facto, on its face and by its nature, an invisible crime...Now we cannot hope the witch will accuse herself; granted? Therefore, we must rely upon her victims - and they do testify, the children certainly do testify. (100)

When the only existing proof is the testimony of a single person who strongly

The court has no choice but to believe him, simply because there is no evidence. Another reason people accuse another for personal gain is to settle land disputes. Giles tells the court about a conversation his friend overheard between Thomas Putnam and his daughter Ruth that prompts him to tell the authorities, “‘If Jacobs hangs for a witch he forfeit up his property - that’s law! And there is none but Putnam with the coin to buy so great a piece. This man is killing his neighbors for their land!”’ (96). Thomas Putnam envies his neighbors and their land, so he commands his daughter to go to court and accuse them of witchcraft. Finally, the deadliest motive in The Crucible is that of revenge. During the trial, John admits his crime of lechery to the court as a last resort to stop her reign of terror. To Danforth he confesses, “‘She thinks to dance with me on my wife’s grave! And she might, for I thought of her softly. God help me, I lusted, and there is a promise in such sweat. But it is a whore’s vengeance, and you must see it…”’ (110). Abigail’s jealousy of John Proctor’s wife moves the entire plot along as she accuses Elizabeth of witchcraft, only to take her place as his wife. Though many of the accusations of the witch trials are ill founded on personal gains such as grudges, land disputes, and revenge, the majority of the population willingly believes them because of the hysteria, lack of evidence, and their religious beliefs. In short, petty arguments provide poor reasoning for killing a large portion of innocent people in the