The Crucible Title Analysis

Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible in 1953. Miller wrote this story because he wanted the people who read this book to know that they live in a world filled with hypocrisy.The book starts in a small town in Massachusetts called Salem. In 1692, the people in Salem went on a hunt for witchcraft. Witchcraft is the belief in the practice of magic, especially black magic, which uses spells. The meaning of a crucible is a container that purifies metals and separates cheap metal from expensive. A crucible also means a situation that tests someone severely. The title of Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible, is symbolic of both meanings. In Act One of The Crucible, Abigail Williams was the person most responsible for the chaotic and uncontrollable witchcraft

Abigail Williams was the person most responsible for the uncontrollable witchcraft situation in Salem. The situation starts when Reverend Parris see the girls dancing in the woods and sees Mercy Lewis run naked.People started accusing them of witchcraft which supposedly they weren't doing. Abigail says “ Now look you.All of you. We danced.And Tituba conjured Ruth Putnam’s dead sisters And that is it. And mark this. Let either 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 the night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you” (1097).In this quotation Abigail is lying out how she want the story to be. If one if the girls said otherwise she threatened to kill them. This means that they were doing more than just dancing. She doesn't want to get hurt so she made a fake story.Another reason she is responsible is she is willing to do anything to get what she wants. Abigail says “I look for John proctor that took me from my sleep and put knowledge in my heart! I never knew what pretense Salem was, I never

Abigail says “I look for John proctor that took me from my sleep and put knowledge in my heart! I never knew what pretense Salem was, I never knew the lying lessons I was taught by all these Christian women and their conceived men! And now you bid me tear the light out of my eyes? I will not, I cannot! You loved me, John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, You love me yet! John, pity me, Pity me!”(1099). This means she thought John loved her which led her to be angry and to start blaming people to be witches because she wants to be pitied. This point seems convincing enough for John to be blamed but Abigail is the one who makes up the fake story and admits to doing witchcraft but later on saying she was saved and started to blame the others who had nothing to do with the situation.This is why Abigail Williams is most responsible for the uncontrollable witchcraft situation in