Salem is not what it appears to the naked eye; dishonest children accuse and condemn the innocent to swing on the gallows. The Crucible, a tragedy by Arthur Miller symbolizes the Communist trials. The reputation of Salem at the time is that no one is safe; anyone can be a witch in their eyes in order for their own benefit of freedom. Truth can stand on its own against any circumstance. Such as John Proctor stands up against Abigail for the troubles she is causing. In the same way it is almost impossible to be an outlaw to this way because of the substantial consequences if you are not just like society. This ultimately brings out the darkness in Salem. Due to envy, revenge, and lies this town is chaotic, with no clear leadership or justice. …show more content…
Abigail is jealous of Elizabeth Proctor. She is willing to do whatever it takes, even lie and take a life. “She is blackening my name in the village! She is telling lies about me! She is a cold, sniveling woman, and you bend to her! Let her turn you like a—” (Miller 202). Abigail shows how strongly she feels that Elizabeth is a wicked woman. Although in the village, she has a spotless reputation. This shows how Abigail longs for that same reputation because of her troubled past. Another example of how envy is shown is in Thomas Putnam. He is a landowner who is never satisfied. He is always out to get the next best land and steal it from others. Parallel to Abigail he is willing to do whatever it takes for land. This tension between the townspeople leads to blaming others and lying to get whatever they wanted. All this leads to is negativity and them wanting to get their …show more content…
Unfortunately in the community this is not apparent. Revenge is not even a sin anymore it is a lifestyle for them. There is no holding anyone back from believing anything because the ones in charge are so gullible. Elizabeth Proctor wants to get revenge on Abigail for the incident with John Proctor. Therefore she kicks Elizabeth out of the house and ruins her reputation in the town. “John, I counted myself so plain, so poorly made, no honest love could come to me! Suspicion kissed you when I did; I never knew how I should say my love. It were a cold house I kept” (Miller 214). Elizabeth opens up and shows how she wanted revenge on Abigail while she was sick because of John and Abigail’s relationship. Meanwhile this leads back around to Abigail now wanting to get revenge. In addition she accuses Elizabeth of witchcraft subsequently leading to her being thrown in prison. In the same way Parris wants revenge on John Proctor. This comes from how he is accusing Abigail of lying about the trials and he never wanted Parris to be nominated for the Pastor of the Church. Ultimately Parris gets revenge on Proctor by pleading to the court to hang Proctor. This power of lying and getting whatever you want furthermore leads to power lust. Lust and greed are more believable than innocence. Abigail the master of the court with lies, death, and control in her hand. Abigail discovers how she can get anything with lying. Once she
Enviousness is sometimes described as psychic tumor, and can be destructive at times, how that temptation of jealousy can overwhelm people and ruin people around. This situation is successfully introduced in the play The Crucible, how many characters are jealous of people around them, and such action of envying not only destroyed people who practiced envy but also people around. In the play The Crucible, Miller’s uses of compare and contrast between Abigail William and Mr. Putnam brings out their similar motive for their desire for power, which is envy. As a result of their envying of others, many innocent people died, thus demonstrates the dangers of envy.
Jealousy is one of the fundamental human qualities which were responsible for the Salem Witch Trials. An example of jealousy in The Crucible is when Abigail accuses Elizabeth Proctor of witchcraft. Abigail accuses Elizabeth of witchcraft because Abigail wants to take Elizabeth’s place as John Proctors wife. Abigail makes this accusation in the courtroom in front of many witnesses. Abigail accusing Elizabeth Proctor of witchcraft is a solid example of how human jealousy lead to the witch trials at Salem. When, after John proctors affair with Abigail, John refuses to leave his wife Elizabeth for Abigail,
Abigail wants to get rid of Elizabeth, who she describes as John Proctor’s “sniveling envious wife” (Optional scene Pg. 158)! One can infer how Abigail is jealous and is doing anything to steel Elizabeth’s place in Proctor’s bed. It reaches a degree were Abigail is lies so much she starts to believe her lies, and stabs herself in the stomach with a pin to blame Elizabeth for attempting to kill her. She later goes on trying to convince Proctor that “the jab your wife gave me’s not healed yet” (Optional scene Pg. 155). The revenge that Abigail is seeking to find is directly related to the theme of vengeance that is profound throughout the play. Additionally, other people in Salem, such as the Putnam’s, take advantage of the crisis to help achieve their
With the help of her vast pool of friends, Abigail could accomplish anything she puts her mind to – and she did. In every town, there always is a villain, a person with a pretty face but an evil mind – that person was Abigail. Most of the time Abigail’s evil reputation is ignored and classified as a legend. Her status started out as an accuser – accusing others of witchcraft, and other preposterous crimes to outcast herself from being the culprit. Tituba was her very first victim; she lies and accuses Tituba for mentoring the girls in witchcraft and cursing Betty Paris into a sleep like state.
The Salem Witch Trials throughout 1692 had caused many divisions especially when figures such as the judges and girls, like Abigail Williams got involved. The powerful figures in The Crucible are trying to take the old out and bring in the new. The community is trying to become more modernized, and they are going to do that by exchanging the old rules for new ones. The dominant people in the village have more respect meaning they are less likely to be accused of witchcraft. During 1692 the Salem Witch Trials is the main focus of the Puritan Society in Salem; social divisions such as the powerful are trying to overturn the traditional ways of Puritan society.
Would you ever confess to witchcraft? In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, there are many concerns that are important to the plot of this play. One of the important issues is selfishness. In this story Mary Warren, Abigail Williams, and John Proctor are selfish. The main plot is about a group of girls who go dancing in the forest in the middle of the night, and do witchcraft.
Abigail Williams is an example of an individual who sacrifices her integrity for attention. Growing up as a female in a strict Puritan society is not the most attention-filled lives for a teenage girl and when an opportunity for attention and power is presented to Abigail, she is eager to take it. Abigail raises her power so high that it seems anyone she accuses of witchcraft will be tried for the crime, no questions asked. The loss of integrity comes in when Abigail begins to abuse her power due to personal interest. She wants John all to herself and the only person stopping her is Elizabeth.
Arthur Miller in the 1950s wrote a historical fiction play called The Crucible. he wrote this play as a disguise for what was going on his the 50s. The play is compared to the Red Scare or Red Hunt. The story revolves around a little town in Massachusetts in 1692 were the people in the town go crazy and start accusing random people of witchcraft for multiple reasons: selfishness, to save themselves, and revenge. While the play can be called historical fiction, it can also be described as a tragedy because the main character (John Proctor) dies at the end of the story. One common theme the play revolves around is lying about selfishness. These characters accusations all come from their thoughts of hatred towards other characters. This theme is a focal part of the plot.
Introduction: Greed does not rest until it is satisfied, and greed is never satisfied (Eastland). The play “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller shows the audience that through the aspirations and actions of Abigail Williams and Thomas Putnam, if greed is (lustier than pity) able to out power pity, there will be suffering. Abigail and Thomas use the witch trials as a type of greed to seek revenge, gain power and increase their wealth, which causes devastation and destruction in the town of Salem. Point of Comparison #1: Seek Revenge - An act of retaliation for an offence is known as seeking revenge. - Through the actions by Thomas Putnam and Abigail Williams the readers determine that they use the witch trials to seek revenge in hope to conquer their greedy vindictive feeling, however this leads to suffering.
If it were not because of the self-preserving and greedy nature, also the paranoia of the people in Salem, the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 would most likely not have occurred. One of those people is Reverend Parris, who is the minister of the church in The Crucible. All Reverend Parris cares about is his reputation/good name and the amount of wealth he has. He is paranoid that there is a faction of townspeople that are trying to get him thrown out of his position. Because of his need to preserve his good name he goes along with the false proceedings of the witch trials. In the end he starts to doubt the trials for the same reason. He also suppresses evidence that would have discredited the court, but
Abigail Williams is a great example of how vengefulness undermines the court’s authority. Abigail Williams, a girl who has an “endless capacity for dissembling” (Act I), seeks revenge not only through the court system, but through Tituba, her slave, and the girls she manipulates. Jealous of Elizabeth Proctor, who she thought was a “cold, sniveling woman” (Act I), for firing her after learning of her affair with her husband John Proctor, Abigail sees no other method to regain her “lover” other than killing his wife. After Abigail comes to this conclusion
In sum Abigail is a conniver willing to lie to get herself out of trouble.
There are many places in the play where this greed can be seen. The most im-portant example was at the very beginning, after Reverend Parris sees that the girls were dancing in the forest, and rumors circulate that witchcraft may have been in-volved. He says, “Abigail, I have fought here three long years to bend thee stiff-necked people to me, and now, when some good respect is rising for me in the parish, you compromise my very character. I have given you a home, child. I have put clothes upon your back—now give me an upright answer.” He is more
Betrayal is a well developed theme that is described throughout this novel. Proctor betrays Abigail by not admitting to their affair and wanting to continue it. The Judges betray the people living in this town by covering up the truth and falsely accusing others of witchcraft. All of these acts of injustice and unfair decision making lead to the people of the town being convicted and hung. Betrayal is so common when your friend tells you something and says don’t tell anyone and you do the opposite and tell someone else. This was presented throughout the
Abigail Williams is a seventeen year old girl in the play that is jealous of Elizabeth Proctor. John Proctor, husband of Elizabeth, had an affair with the seventeen year old girl which fuels her fire of jealousy. Thomas Putnam is a man envy of other people's land and uses the events of the town to his advantage. Ann Putnam is the wife of Thomas Putnam. Every child they have had, except for Betty, has died later after birth. Ann is jealous of any woman that can give birth to a healthy baby that lives. The path she takes has an impact on one of the accused in the Salem Witch Trials.