Power And Influence Abigail Williams In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

The Devil had infiltrated the small town of Salem, Massachusetts and it was up to the townspeople to get to the bottom of it. During the Salem witch trials, the town was surrounded by hysteria and panic. At a vulnerable state, many people let others take advantage of them and blindly trusted anyone who had an inkling about the Devil among the town. The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, highlights these gullible and panicked people by showing how others rose to power at this time. Girls like Abigail Williams were trusted on who to blame for witchcraft while others like John Hale were pushed to the side and silenced for questioning the reliability of these blind accusations. In Arthur Miller’s, The Crucible, characters struggled for power and influence

As the niece of Samuel Parris, an authoritative reverend in Salem, Abigail’s name is already tied with an influential and powerful family. When girls throughout Salem are found in unusual circumstances the town turns to witchcraft. Coincidentally the first unusual sighting included Parris’ own daughter and niece, Abigail. Abigail took advantage of this opportunity and manipulated many innocent people. It is important to acknowledge Abigail's history in the town and any motives she may have had. Abigail had previously been in an affair with John Proctor, a well respected farmer, but he had called it off because of his wife's suspicions and uneasiness. As more and more girls start falling ill and appear to be having Devil induced fits, Abigail accuses more people who the town would have never thought of. In this time, courts didn't even require physical evidence so something as little as Abigail pointing a finger, got many killed. Abigail even threatened her own cousins and other girls around her age so they would join in on accusations. The whole town was in a state of panic and distress over possible witchery invading their homes or afflicting their own families. At this state of vulnerability Abigail was able to gain the trust of people by accusing others and as that went on more and more people started blindly believing her feeding her power in the

Reverend Parris first spoke of Hale when panic was very quickly rising in Salem. He had presented Reverend Hale as the solution to everyone's problem so readers were eager to see how willingly and blindly the community would trust him. However this wasn't the case. Rebecca Nurse, a trusted and well respected woman in the town responds to the hysteria with, “Rebecca: Pray, John, be calm. Pause. He defers to her. Mr. Parris, I think you’d best send Reverend Hale back as soon as he come. This will set us all to arguin’ again in society, and we thought to have peace this year. I think we ought to rely on the doctor now, and good prayer.” (Miller 581) When Hale arrived at Salem it was built up to be the solution of everyone's problems and the answer to all their prayers. Surprisingly he didn’t have much effect on any outcomes. Time and time again Hale had tried to exercise his power but had failed. He warned the townspeople to slow down and think about all the evidence and whether it was reliable before jumping to conclusions, yet they failed to do that. He had even expressed his disbelief in witches and just that these girls were simply lying. “Hale, holding up his hand: No, no. Now let me instruct you. We cannot look to superstition in this. The Devil is precise; the marks