In the play “The Crucible”, by Arthur Miller, grudges and personal rivalries play a huge role in the witch trials. Mary and Elizabeth get accused for witchcraft at one point of time in the book. They get accused because of the personal rivalry that Abigail and John Proctor have with each other. John Proctor and Abigail used to meet up behind the shed by the church. This brought them closer together and Abigail's feelings for John got worse and worse.
During the time of the witch trials, many people were accused of being a witch or doing witchcraft and many of these accusations were fueled by past grudges. In The Crucible, Abigail has a grudge against Elizabeth, who is married to John Proctor, because she is jealous that Elizabeth is with him and Abigail loves John. Abigail is deeply in love with John that she resents Elizabeth for being his wife. Abigail despises Elizabeth that Betty confirmed saying, “You did, you did!
In The Crucible, Abigail accuses more than half the town of witchcraft to cover up her affair with a married man, John Proctor. She lies and accuses people to prevent being charged with attempted murder against Elizabeth Proctor, John Proctor’s wife, because of jealousy. Abigail who is very similar to Joseph McCarthy, she starts to accuse people who share a glance towards her direction or even people that she dislikes or offended her in some way. The people of the town grow intimidated or fearful of her because she throws false accusations and evidence towards anyone who may have upset her. In the playwright, The Crucible, it is shown that there are accusations thrown at people, but has no supported evidence for why some people of the town
Leiffer 1 Jake Leiffer Mrs. Faulkner English 11 Honors October 3, 2014 Hysteria In Salem In Salem things are getting crazy. Hysteria is going around like a disease, but not from witchcraft. In The Crucible several accusations have taken place taking the lives of many due to hysteria. Hysteria is being spread through three different things.
In the play, The Crucible by Arthur Miller, several residents are unjustly accused of witchcraft. The accusers tended to have their own motivation behind accusing these people. For example, accusing people out of jealousy was a popular motive for the accusers. This can be seen through Ann Putnam’s accusation of Rebecca Nurse, who was accused of killing Ann Putnam’s seven infant children. Ann Putnam was jealous of Rebecca because while Ann had lost all of her children except one, Rebecca says she had “eleven children, and [is] twenty-six times a grandma” (Miller 15).
Through her false accusations, Abigail stirred up hysteria among the villagers, resulting in an escalating cycle of paranoia and suspicion. Despite feeling remorse for the chaos caused by her lies, Abigail ultimately stands by them until the very end of the movie. For example, Abigail started the witch trial in The Crucible by fabricating stories of witchcraft. She spread rumors that she and other girls had been attacked by witches, leading to a wave of paranoia and suspicion among the villagers. When questioned about her lies, Abigail used manipulation tactics to convince the court
The Salem Witch Trials caused absolute pandemonium within the city of Salem, Massachusetts. Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, tells a tale of a young woman who faces many difficulties in her life that result in her becoming the person she is. Abigail, the main character in The Crucible, is a vindictive individual who always wants her way, no matter whom she hurts. Throughout the play her accusations, manipulations, and affair with John Proctor leads her to become the absolute cause of the catastrophe in her community.
Demonstrated throughout Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, is the effect mass hysteria had on Salem. The trials held in Salem Massachusetts, in 1692 led to the execution of many innocent beings because of the accusation of taking part in witchcraft. The perturbation of some of the characters in play led to the atrocity that the trials became. In The Crucible, fear became the root reason for the destruction of the misinformed society by being the element that contributes to the mass hysteria. This is depicted through some of the characters including Abigail Williams, Mary Warren and the girls that blindly followed Abigail.
The Salem witch trials proved to be one of the most cruel and fear driven events to ever occur in history. Many innocent people were accused of witchcraft, and while some got out of the situation alive not everyone was as lucky. Arthur Miller the author of The Crucible conveys this horrific event in his book and demonstrates what fear can lead people to do. But the reason as to why Arthur Miller felt the need to write The Crucible in the first place was because the unfortunate reality that history seemed to have repeated itself again. In the article “Are You Now or Were You Ever”, Arthur Miller claims that the McCarthy era and the Salem witch trials were similar and he does this through his choice of diction, figurative language, and rhetorical questions.
The stage is set, the French and Indian War has recently ended and tensions between the colonists and the British are only just beginning. However, despite all these influential happenings the people of Salem are focused on something totally different. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible these colonists in Salem are focused on something never seen or thought of before, witchcraft. This word and thought throw this small town into a frenzy and even some of the surrounding towns are caught up in this. The suspected witchcraft tests the colonists spiritually, emotionally, and politically.
“Long-held hatred of neighbors could now be openly expressed and vengeance taken, despite the Bible’s charitable injunctions” (Miller, pg 1129). This quote perfectly explains the Salem Witch Trials and what went through Abigail and the girls heads when they accused innocent people of bewitching them. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is about the small village of Salem and the mass hysteria that was caused by young girls. Innocent people were hung and thrown in jail because they accused these people of bewitching them. The judges, Abigail, Tituba, and the girls are to blame for the Salem Witch Trials because the girls lied and the judges only relied on what these girls said for their evidence but Hale, a minister, was obligated to believe the girls
The Trials was a desperate way of obtaining power as a lower ranked member of society. The servants or the girls of Salem found this as the perfect opportunity. They can blame anyone they want and they will be punished without solid evidence. One in Salem has that great of power by requiring the accused to name others in their confessions, a witch hunt like that in Salem can take on the form of a pyramid scheme or chain letter. This "naming names" allowed the accusations to spread and spread, while also permitting the public airing of grievances and sins.
“The edge of the wilderness was close by. The American continent stretched endlessly West, and it was full of mystery for them. It stood dark and threatening, over their shoulders night and day, for out in Indian tribes marauded from time to time, and Reverend Parris had parishioners who had lost relatives to these heathen” (Miller,5). In the beginning of the book, Reverend Paris one night found his niece and all her friends dancing (which is forbidden in this time period) in the woods, which is known to be the Devil’s playground.
Abigail Williams, the girl that started this trial, used the fear of others to get revenge against John Proctor’s wife, Elizabeth. Abigail used to serve Proctor. They had an affair. Elizabeth found out and fired Abigail. Abigail wanted to get rid of Elizabeth.
Hi Peeps, Today 's Quote “We tend to use fancy words and phrases to describe our insubordinate, deviant, wicked, behaviors, habits, and ideas to sell and use so that we can con others into thinking that breaking the rules is okay.” ~ Jon Barnes Recalcitrance In general, when your life is not going well, you need to get rid of something that is evil in your lifestyle and you must get rid of that behavior too. Your lack of cooperation with God and His standards are obvious, as you continue to rebel and break God’s laws.
