#160100 Advanced English The Crucible In history there are unforgettable events that were awful enough to be sewn into the back of our minds. The Salem witch trials happen to be one of these events. In Arthur Miller’s dark play, The Crucible, the trials are captivatingly retold using both fictional and historical information. Also in this play, he shows the weaknesses and wrongful things that people possess and do. In the beginning of the play a group of young girls are seen dancing in the woods with a slave. According to the town’s religion, Puritanism, this is greatly discouraged and disciplined. However, instead of getting into trouble, Abigail, the manipulative leader of the group, accuses the slave of witchcraft. This accusation causes the punisher to overlook the girl’s misbehavior and focus on what Tituba, the slave, does. This shows how humans are so quick to lie so they can avoid punishment. …show more content…
An example of this is when Abigail wants to kill Goody Proctor. Abigail wants to do this so she can have Mr. Proctor, the farmer who had an affair with her. She even partakes in “witchcraft” with Tituba to achieve this. Betty, one of the girls caught dancing, even says “you drank a charm to kill goody proctor” (Miller, 919). Another example of greed is when Giles Corey, an old man who gets pressed to death for land uses the charges of witchcraft to secure land for his family. Another human weakness shown in this play is guilt. An example of this is when Proctor can barely look at Abigail after what he did to her. He tells her, I will cut off my hand before I reach for you again” (Miller, 923). Because he knows what he did was wrong, and the fact that he was cheating on his wife was shameful. Another example of this is when Parris is ashamed and feels guilty that witchcraft happened in his