Power In The Crucible And The Witch Trials

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The Search for Power Power is an important factor that surrounded The Crucible and the witch trials. Power was also a major factor of the McCarthy hearings when Senator McCarthy accused many men and women of communism. In both cases, they used their power to scare the community into believing that they were telling the truth, and it worked. Senator McCarthy accused thousands of men and women and Abigail Williams from The Crucible accused many towns’ folks and outcasts within the city, and the surrounding community believed them. What were the steps McCarthy and Williams took to become convincing enough that people would accept their control and power? Why did they want this power? First, Abigail Williams and many other girls were caught dancing in the woods by Reverend Parris which is where Abigail began gaining control. The girls were scared of getting accused of witchcraft so they listened to Abigail’s guidance and Abigail instructed them to stick to the story of merely “dancing in the woods” when in reality, they were communing with the devil. In …show more content…
John Proctor then tries to prove that Abigail is a fraud by confessing he had an affair with her. “Proctor confesses his affair with Abigail and accuses Abigail of being motivated to kill because she was jealous of Proctor's wife” (Sparknotes). The attempt to condemn McCarthy was a success in this case too. The attorney Joseph Welch said, “You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?” (Gallup) This comment made people view McCarthy with disdain which was where his downfall began. They began to notice that he was becoming more and more false until he was finally shot down out of the