The Town Of Salem Exposed In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

In The Crucible, a story written by Arthur Miller in the early 50’s, the town of Salem is exposed to a horrific witch hysteria caused by the town’s grudges, and rivalries towards each other. These events are caused by a group of girls who get caught in an awful situation, and lied about witchcraft in order to get away. With these girls new power they, and many others used this to get revenge on those who have wronged them. So the village goes around making false accusations against innocent members of the town. In total, nineteen lives were lost to the towns selfish/unfair actions. Why did people think this was okay? Why does no one stop it sooner? Many innocent lives were lost and destroyed due to the villages thirst for revenge on those they

One major example of this was the death of Goody Putnam’s (a villagers) children. Goody Putnam lost 7 of her 8 children during childbirth. Her only living child was one of the children who were “sick” due to a witches curse. This event really affected her,and the choices she’ll make later on. In the story she tells the group of villagers, “...[she] Laid seven babies unbaptized in the earth” (Miller 142). This is a tragic event,and when people face difficulties it seems right to blame others. When the topic of witches comes up she's determined that her midwives Goody Good, and Goody Osborne are responsible for this misfortune. Goody Putnam, along with many others, refused to believe that it could be anything but witchcraft. A common trend was to blame others so you would be saved. In order to protect their families the citizens of Salem blamed other citizens of practicing

The characters refuse to deal with their issues so they find the quick way out. One character guilty of this is Abigail Williams. Abigail is the Reverend Parris’s niece who had an affair with John Proctor. Abby is soon dismissed after Elizabeth Proctor found out. The ignorant girl believes John loves her in return,and tries to be with him. This is when she gets the idea to get rid of Elizabeth by accusing her of being a witch. Abby stabbed herself in the stomach and, “Testified it were your wife's familiar spirit pushed it in” (Miller 172). She did this in order to insure Elizabeth would be put to death. She was willing to do anything to get her way. Members of the town believed this because why would a young girl do this to herself? Revenge is a common thing during the witch hysteria, and sadly makes matters much