“Do not tell lies about your neighbor, betray him, or give him a bad name.” This commandment is one among several others the Puritans held themselves accountable to. Unfortunately, the breaking of one commandment by a young girl affected the lives of many. In his short story, The Crucible, Arthur Miller illustrates to his readers the events surrounding the witch trials in Salem. Some people believe that this event was too drastic and could not be stopped; however, though many were at fault, Abigail Williams and Reverend Hale had the choice to end the witch hunt altogether.
Some people believe that even if the girls did not lie with Abigail, the witch trials would have happened anyways since Abigail could have still faked it by herself. Abigail was too good at making people believe her story. Another argument made is that no one could have stopped the witch trials because it was too uncontrollable of an event. So many individuals were involved with the witch trials and the accusations of each other that there is argument that the witch trials were a group act., the actions of one individual, or even two, could not have stopped it.
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In Act I, the reverend of the town asked for Reverend Hale to go to the Parris household to find out why Abigail was “sick.” Soon after, he confirmed she was bewitched, being blind to the fact that Abigail was faking it all along. Hale also said that Betty was bewitched and began to question Tituba after Abigail accused her of doing witchcraft. To try to get Tituba to confess, he told her, “You’re God’s instrument put in our hands to discover the Devil’s agent among us” (Miller 594). Abigail wanted that kind of special attention too, which was part of the reason she started accusing others