The play The Crucible takes place in Salem, Massachusetts during the Puritan era and was written by Arthur Miller as a metaphor for McCarthyism in 1950. This play suggests that persecution can occur at anytime and anywhere as well as that the real tragedy lies in people who lose their integrity under societal pressure. Many citizens of Salem made decisions based on vendettas and personal gain which resulted in a lose of a sense of right and wrong which fueled the witch hysteria. Someone who acted out vengeance and personal gain was Abigail Williams. She was the original cause of the hysteria of the witch trials. After being discharged from the Proctor’s household for her affair with John she tries to kill Elizabeth so she can be with John …show more content…
After being caught dancing in the woods the girls were going to confess until Abigail threatened to kill them if they tell as she stated in “let either of you of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and i will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning” (Miller, 1268). This all changed, however, after Tituba confessed to having compacted with the Devil and was not punished. In seeing this Abigail “confessed” to dancing for the Devil in the woods and repented for her actions and confessed to have seen Goody Good and Goody Osburn with the Devil shifting the blame. The other girls did not want to get in trouble themselves so they put on an act fighting in court and pretending to see the Devil and the familiar spirits of others following Abigail in accusing others of witchcraft illustrated in Mary Warren's confession stating “that [the fighting] were pretense, sir” (1329). The personal vendettas of these people caused, continued, and fueled the witch trials which killed many innocent people for the personal gain of others. Many people in the village that were seen as innocent, such as the girls and Abigail, took advantage of their outward appearance to the village and manipulated the town to achieve what they desired. These vendettas that were carried out fueled the witch trial hysteria causing nineteen innocent people to be