Who Is To Blame In The Crucible

Words: 667
Pages: 3
Open Document
“Praise and blame. This is the human virtue, this is the human madness.” It shows how human beings are quick to turn the blame away from them. This can become dangerous, out of control and can stretch human beings to their limits. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Abigail Williams causes much of the hysteria in Salem. The Crucible is based on the tragedy of Salem where 20 people died and over 200 were accused and jailed. Abigail Williams manipulates the townspeople especially John Proctor, and she coerces the afflicted girls to lie about the crying out. Before this all began Abigail wanted Elizabeth dead, so she turned to witchcraft. Abigail Williams deters the attention away from her to manipulate John Proctor as well as coerce many others to get her way.
Abigail deceives John Proctor to have an affair with her. When Elizabeth finds out she throws Abigail out; Abigail wanted revenge: “You did, you did! You drank a charm to kill John Proctor’s wife! You drank a charm to kill goody Proctor!”(Miller 144). In this quote Betty is yelling at Abigail about how she wants to kill Elizabeth. This is when she started the dancing to do witchcraft. Abigail and …show more content…
Abigail is backed into a corner when Proctor confesses to lechery with Abigail. “How do you call heaven! Whore! Whore!... You-you are a lecher?... If I must answer that, I will leave and I will not come back again!”(Miller 189). In this quote Proctor reveals his adulterous relationship with Abigail, and judge Danforth questions Abigail about the confession; Abigail declares that she will leave forever if she answers. Goody Proctor is brought into the court to see if John is telling the truth about his affair. Once again after Elizabeth Proctor denies that John was having an affair with Abigail; she screams out to turn the attention away from her to Mary being a witch. “Oh, Mary, this is a black art…”(Miller 191). Abigail declares that Mary is changing her shape with
Show More

Related Documents: Who Is To Blame In The Crucible

Is The Crucible Still Relevant Essay

weight," he says. And died.”- Giles Corey (Miller 135) This quote from The Crucible,by Arthur Miller, displays an act of authentic valor by a man accused of witchcraft. While the play is a heart-rending, emotional performance, it’s purpose in the world is greatly controversial. Two articles providing information on this controversy are, “The Crucible” by Brooks Atkinson and, “ The 21st Century Crucible: Why ‘The Crucible’ is Still Relevant” by Emily Rose Lathrop. Although many individuals view the…

Words 474 - Pages 2

Fear In The Crucible

impact. Ralph Waldo Emerson strongly believed that fear kept people from achieving success. In The Crucible, a play by Arthur Miller, fear of the unknown leads to many tragic events and a failure of society. People often respond to the fear of the unknown by placing the blame on others or refusing to be accountable for their actions; this can be seen in real life, and also with Abigail and Mary in The Crucible. Often, the themes of literature are relevant to real life, and fear is no exception. An example…

Words 526 - Pages 3

Paranoia In The Crucible

witchcraft. In fact, The Crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller depicting the Salem Witch Trials, has a strong correlation with a modern witch hunt in the Holocaust. The Holocaust, regarded as one of humanity’s darkest times, was a genocide orchestrated by Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany in which about six million Jews were killed. The lack of importance of truth, paranoia, and valuing one’s reputation over what’s considered right are characteristics…

Words 1457 - Pages 6

Abigail Williams Downfall

the demise of herself and others? Abigail Williams is a troubled character. In the Crucible, she has many faults. Many characters in the play are hanged because of her and her friends wanting to get out of a chastisement. Abigail also was the one who drank the charm, which led people to believe she could see the people who had contacted the Devil, which put her at the center of it all. At the trial, she was the one who people watched to see if she would react from the people. She is the main factor…

Words 869 - Pages 4

Abigail Williams In The Crucible Research Paper

Who’s to Blame? Religion is commonly viewed as a course to salvation , but in one town called Salem, it was the cause of chaos and damnation. The Puritan townspeople began to turn on each other and accuse each other of witchcraft. Abigail is more to blame than Mr.Putnam for the mass hysteria in The Crucible because of lying about her affair with John Proctor, blaming innocent people during the trials, and making accusations to get what she wants. Abigail Williams is more to blame than Mr.Putnam…

Words 468 - Pages 2

The Crucible Social Commentary Essay

in The Crucible “There is no passion so contagious as that of fear”- Michel de Montaigne. The Crucible, inspired by the McCarthy hearings of the 1950s and based on the Salem witch trials, is a play of which clearly depicts the effects of moral panic within a community. When fear originates, it quickly catches fire and engulfs the great majority of people within a given society. This public anxiety brings rise to changes in one’s morals and societal norms. Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, argues…

Words 1070 - Pages 5

Witchcraft In The Crucible

proven to be human nature to go to extreme lengths for personal gain, accuse others out of fear, or having fear itself. The Crucible, is based off a story of young girls in Salem, who claim to be affected by the devil practicing witchcraft. The girls in the village start accusing citizens in Salem of practicing witchcraft, choosing victims who they are not fond of. The Crucible reflects on the Salem witch trials in 1692. The accusation of being connected with evil spirits in modern days is…

Words 1383 - Pages 6

The Crucibal - Symbolism Essay

there’s no way out of this snowball effect. Play writer Arthur Miller used his playwright "The Crucible" to symbolize the similarities between the Witch Hunts and the Salem Witch Trials in the late 1600s and the threat of Communism, and The Red Scare, in the 1960s. Both incidents used scapegoats in order to relieve tensions and attempt to calm the people by creating a common enemy to take the blame. The lack of technology, unexplainable diseases, misfortunes back in the 1600s were blamed on the…

Words 1072 - Pages 5

How Does Abigail Williams Play In The Crucible

During The Crucible, Abigail Williams is the vehicle that drives the play. She is a young girl who bears most of the responsibility for the other young girls meeting with Tituba. The Crucible plays a great role in the ways the witch trials work. Abigail Williams is a young, teenage girl who tells multiple lies about the witch trials. She is best described as a manipulator because she liked to tell the girls the other girls that they can’t tell anyone about the witch trials. She blamed many innocent…

Words 404 - Pages 2

Essay On The Crucible Abigail Williams

Arthur Miller's play The Crucible shifted the way many Americans viewed the world. During the 1950's, numerous amounts Americans were afraid of Communism. They saw Communism as a threat to their pre-existing free market capitalist systems. America was no longer a place accepting of ideals and but instead put several restrictions on supporters of Communism. Senator Joseph McCarthy pushed for investigations into suspected communist within the U.S. government. McCarthy used random speculation to accuse…

Words 648 - Pages 3