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Post Hoc Fallacy In The Crucible

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Post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy is the belief that “After this, therefore because of this.” This means that since A happened, and then B happened, that A causes B. "Abigail Williams, sir... without a word nor warnin she falls to the floor... stuck two inches in the flesh of her belly, he draw a needle out.... 'Tis hard proof! I find here a poppet Goody Proctor keeps... And in the belley of the poppet a needle's stuck." (Act II, p 71), in this quote, the post hoc fallacy functions to show how people can make brash accusations from false coincidences. When the needle is found in the poppet it was no big deal. Until a needle was found in the exact same spot on Abigail, then this became a problem. They were convinced that some sort of witchcraft caused the poppet to be a voodoo doll for Abigail. They never thought about Abigail deceiving them. This ignorance created a platform for Abigail to take the village over with her lies and kill anybody she wanted gone. This …show more content…

Scapegoating is prevalent in The Crucible by all characters. In The Crucible, Abigail uses scapegoating the most, “She sends spirits on me in church; she makes me laugh at prayer!”(Act II, Pg. 44) By scapegoating, Abigail blames her conscious laughing during prayer on Tituba. This accusation leads Tituba to her grave. Later on it is revealed that Abigail was laughing at her own amusement and this had nothing to do with witchcraft. Abigail also uses Tituba as a scapegoat early on in the story. When Abigail was accused of conjuring up spirits in the forest when she was dancing, she accuses Tituba of forcing them. Tituba didn’t force or invite them to join her. Abigail says that Tituba forced her to dance with her, causing them to take Tituba to trial of Witchcraft. This false accusation adds on to the genocide that was the witch trials by showing how misconceptions can lead to terrible

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In the play, The Crucible, written by Aurthor Miller, he establishes meaning throughout the play alongside utilizing logical fallacies by creating a persuasive lens that makes an argument convincing towards the audience. One of the many fallacies that Miller applies throughout the play is Ad Baculum logical fallacy (scare tactics), and it is used when Mary Warren begins speaking during court and the girls in the courtroom begin building panic by repeating everything Mary Warren is saying: Danforth, growing hysterical: Why can they only repeat you? Proctor: Give me a whip––I’ll stop it! Mary Warren: They’re sporting.

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During the Salem Witch Trials a lot of people were accused of using witchcraft. As a result many people died for other people’s lies, rumors, and selfishness. There is one person that really caused and is most to blame for all the chaos, her name is Abigail. Abigail is to blame for all that has happened in the Witch Trials, the reason for that is because of all the accusing and lying she has done. In addition, it all leads up to her for instance, she used a doll to accuse people of witchcraft.

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The Crucial World Inside the Crucible The trial of Rebecca Nurse is a perfect example of logical fallacy at work. Back in Salem, Massachusetts people had assumptions, also known as illusions, against other Salem citizens. With no proof or evidence it was also known as logically fallacy. Which is faulty reasoning using to persuade, done manipulatively.

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After a sporting event, have you ever heard “We lost because of this person” or “It’s his fault we lost?” Well, this is an example of scapegoating. Scapegoating is the act of putting the blame of an event on to a specific person, or a group of people. Scapegoating plays a big role in some pieces of literature, especially The Crucible by Arthur Miller. The Crucible is about the Puritan village of Salem Massachusetts back in 1692, during the witch hunts.

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The type of logical fallacy that applies to the trial Elizabeth Proctor is a false cause. A false cause is a type of logical fallacy that provides a false reason as the cause of something. Elizabeth Proctor was

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Later in the story Tituba under the pressure of the court confest which ignited a hunt for witches. in both the salem witch trials and the red scare people where both paranoid of something. At the time of the witch trials the people were afraid of evil spirits, and the devil if you were accused of being a witch you would lose almost everything you owned. With the power of the church the people of Salem where easy overpowered by Propaganda and hysteria, with this people started so claim any was a witches for power, land, and even political strength. “We are what we always were in Salem, but now the little crazy children are jangling the keys of the kingdom, and common vengeance writes the law!”

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For example, their lack of logic becomes apparent in many if not all of the trials in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. In Act III Proctor is trying to prove that the girls were lying in court, he brings in Mary Warren, one of the accusers, and she confirms his beliefs. She confesses to dancing in the woods and seeing Abigail watch her make the doll she later used to accuse Elizabeth Proctor (Miller, 77). The only time a decent plan was almost used was with the poppet. It shows a common crime today of planting the evidence.

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Tituba later confessed and admitted that she was a witch, but said there were other witches in Salem. Now historians believe that people in the colonies took advantage of the witch trials and blamed everyone that they disapproved of (Brooks). The stereotype of witches is that they are ugly, green, have warts, and fly on broomsticks. During the trials, the “witches” looked nothing like that.

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The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a dramatic play that expresses a very important message and that is how far people would go to save themselves from the hands of death. There are many characters in the Crucible who are guilty of taking innocent lives, but there are three major characters who, without a doubt, are the most at blame. The play takes place in the city of Salem, a city filled with people that would do anything to keep their reputation clean. Throughout the play, Miller is introducing multiple characters that experience changes in their decisions and negatively influence more people eventually leading up to the witch trials. The main point that the story revolves around is that people would rather lie and blame someone else instead of confessing and accepting the punishment.

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One example is when she blames Tituba for making her laugh during prayer and to drink blood. Abigail Williams tells Hale, “She sends her spirit on me in church; she makes me laugh at prayer!... She comes to me every night to go and drink blood!” (41). Abigail tells Reverend Hale this to make sure she doesn 't get blamed or caught doing witchcraft in her right mind, but to preserve her reputation she says that Tituba made her do it and that she had no choice.

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To begin, it is a popular belief that Tituba, a slave in the story, was justified in her confession to witchcraft in order to save her own life. After the girls of Salem peg Tituba as the culprit for corrupting their souls and torturing them, she is interrogated and accused by characters such as the esteemed Reverend Hale and town’s Reverend, Mr. Parris. Finally, Parris exclaims, “ You will confess yourself or I will take you out and whip you to your death, Tituba!” (1.941-942). Tituba instantly confesses, and saves herself from a terrible death.

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Every single death of the Salem Witch Trials happened because of one night of infidelity between Proctor and

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Scapegoating: Taking Heat From Someone Else's Flame In an interview on Faith and Religion with Bill Moyers from PBS, Margaret Atwood once said, “Under stress, society will always scapegoat a person or a group of people.” This belief is shown in the texts The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the cartoon “It’s okay -- We’re hunting Communist” by Herb Block, and her own poem “Half Hanged Mary”.

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599 Words | 3 Pages

Abigail blamed Tituba for witchcraft because Abigail did not want the blame and Tituba was an easy scapegoat since she is black. Abigail yelled at Paris, “She made me do it! She made Betty do it!”(1.905). This is just one of the victims of Abigail scapegoating. The main purpose, scapegoating, occurred more than vengeance did.

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624 Words | 3 Pages

A paradox is a statement that appears to be self-contradictory or obvious but may include a hidden truth. It is also used to illustrate an opinion or statement contrary to accepted traditional ideas. Authors often use paradoxes in their works to make them more interesting. In the play, The Crucible, Arthur Miller presents the audience with a paradox, which he developed from the Salem witchcraft trials. In the small town of Salem, a theocracy was created for good purposes.

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