In today’s society, the idea of witches have generally become a common topic. When Halloween arrives, we see people dressed up to mimic witches in fun spirit. However, during the Salem Witch Trials, witches were considered evil and against God, which caused fear to strike out amongst the people who religiously followed the Bible and believed in God. Thus, the accusations of citizens being involved with witchcraft struck out, and the persecutions began. When the topic of the Salem Witch Trials is mentioned, we think about how creepy it was and how the people were killed. However, author of the Newsweek article titled “The Lesson of Salem,” Laura Shafiro states, “[The] witch trials represent more than just a creepy moment in history; they stand for the terrible victory of prejudice over reason, and fear over courage”. On most occasions, people tend to forget the actual significance of the witch trials. In The Crucible, a …show more content…
A prime example of this subject would be Abigail Williams. Miller heavily demonstrates how Abigail acted upon her fear of losing Proctor to Elizabeth, that she went against her own courage instead of doing what was right. Abigail states, “Oh, I marvel how such a strong man may let such a sickly wife be--”(I.23). This indicates the hatred that Abigail contains for Elizabeth and how she does not want Proctor to be with her. In addition, Abigail opposed her own courage by wrongly accusing Elizabeth of being a witch. Elizabeth states, “I am sure she does---and thinks to kill me, then to take my place”(II.61) Elizabeth was strongly convinced that Abigail’s true intention was to have her wrongfully executed, even if it went against Abigail’s morals of doing good. Today, fear vs courage is a very controversial topic in the news. More and more people choose to act upon their fears rather than be courageous and stand up for what they truly believe in and