The Crucible: Is Scapegoating The Solution?

Is Scapegoating The Solution?

“A society that is under stress will always scapegoat a group of people or one person.” (Moyer, Bill. “Interview with Margaret Atwood”) . People seem to assume when something is going wrong or is about to go wrong they can just cover it up by blaming someone else for the problem. In some instances communities will even go to the extreme by blaming or executing a large number of people to fix their problems. Some people will even come up with delusional accusations to make it easier to scapegoat that one person or group. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is one example of this because in the story a community of people start executing other’s because they believe that they are witches. The poem by Margaret Atwood “Half-Hanged Mary” is another excellent example of scapegoating because they are also accusing

The lies that Abigail and the other girls were telling were that the acts they had performed in the woods they were made to do it. They blamed their disgraceful acts on Tituba, a slave owned by reverend Parris. Tituba was supposedly using voodoo or witchcraft to make them dance in the woods and take part in performing different spells. Later, they began to accuse others of witchcraft so that they could prevent themselves from getting thrown in jail and to keep their good names. When the girls started using these lies, many innocent people were thrown in jail or executed because they were accused by false accusations. Abigail and the other girls would pretend that the spirits from the accused would come and attack them or try to make them do awful things. Then, the accused would be sent to court where they were still treated unfairly and asked questions that could only be used against