Examples Of Scapegoats In The Crucible

Abigail is a selfish and manipulative person which gives her the courage to do the things that she does. In act 3, Abigail says "Oh, Mary, this is a black art to change your shape. No, I cannot, I cannot stop my mouth; It's God's work I do" (III.115). Abigail claims that she is doing God’s work, but she is actually doing the devil's work because she is lying and forcing her friends to agree with her and go against Mary. She has the courage to go through with anything that comes to her mind, no matter what harm it could cause. “The girl, the Williams girl, Abigail Williams, sir. She sat to dinner in Reverend Parris's house tonight, and without word nor warning she falls to the floor. Like a struck beast, he says, and screamed a scream that a bull would weep to hear. And he goes to save her, and, stuck two inches in the flesh of her belly, he draw a needle out. And demanding of her how she come to be so stabbed, she --- testify it were your wife's familiar spirit pushed it in”(Act II.1282). This explains how Abigail is willing to go through with anything to be with John Proctor. She shows a monstrous amount of intrepidness just to do so. Abigail Williams has the courage to do anything when it comes to John Proctor. She stabs herself with a needle just to accuse Elizabeth of witchcraft.

Abigail Williams may not be seen or heard within the duration of Act 2, but she still manages to influence many events that occur. Abigail has a stupendous influence on the entirety of the town. She has the ability to sway the justice system in her favor. Abigail is currently viewed as the “hand of God” by the town, therefore most people will listen to anything she has to say. With this power, Abigail can sway the jury and judges towards the outcome that she wants to occur.

Abigail would do anything to protect herself she intensively lies so she would not get in trouble and also she falsely accuses other people to save herself. Abigail saw the Proctor’s servant Marry Warren making the poppet and mart put a needle into the doll and Abigail used that as an accusation for her and that’s how she claimed that Elizabeth soul did it so she lied and falsely accused her. John Proctor force Marry Warren to tell the truth for the lies Abigail and she did. Abigail then began to accuse Mary of her being a witch. “But God made my face; you cannot want to tear my face. Envy is a deadly sin, Mary”(115). Abigail wanted protect herself she feared for her life even when John Proctor was sentenced to be hung for being accused of doing witchcraft. Even though Abigail loved John she would not sacrifice her own life for John. Abigail has Tituba cast a spell on Elizabeth in order to avoid being caught she lies about seeing all these people with the devil. She also lies in court by pretending to see thing things that aren’t even there in hope to get others “Why do you come, yellow bird”(114). She doesn’t even see any bird. No one even sees the bird except her. Proctor knows she is lying and she is to protect herself. Abigail shows tremendous mendacity throughout the

Sometimes people get blamed for wrongdoings that they did not participate in. This was shown in Salem, Massachusetts, during the salem witch trials in the play The Crucible. The play was based in 1692, when a community of Puritans started accusing each other of of being witches and wizards. Innocent people that did not practice witchcraft were getting hanged and accused of being witches. Scapegoats have also been used in modern day with McCarthyism, which was a campaign against communist. Many people were blacklisted and lost their jobs even though many of these people did not belong to the communist party. This took place in 1950-1954 carried out by Senator Joseph McCarthy. Using scapegoats blames innocent people for wrongdoings, and accuses people of wrong doings.

In Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible, Miller demonstrated that it was Abigail William's flaws-Immaturity, Lust, and Spitefulness- that led her to be most responsible for the tragedy of the witch-hunt in Salem.

A play written by Arthur Miller is about The Salem Witch Trials. The character who basically caused and is responsible for The Salem Witch Trials is girl named Abigail; “Abigail Williams, seventeen, a striking beautiful girl, an orphan, with an endless capacity for dissembling. ”page 462. Abigail is absolutely responsible for the salem witch trials. Even though she lives in the victimizing puritan society and does not deserve to be excused.

The Crucible was written by Arthur Miller in 1952. It is a story about underclass women wanting to have more power in their society. They go around accusing people of being witches because they want to have the most power in their society. They are people who do not have much going for them. Abigail Williams is a woman who is underclasses.

In The Crucible there are many that are accused or those who make accusations. Abigail is the number one character that uses scapegoating. She is smart, manipulative, and selfish. She does many things and yet isn’t ever caught or accused for the things she done. When the girls were caught in the forest dancing she made sure that the girls were not going to talk. “Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you.” (Act 1, Lines 355-359). She made sure there was a fake story for all the girls to follow because she didn't want a blush in her name. From the beginning of the accusations abigail had someone to blame. She accused Tituba of making the girls dance in the wood and drink blood. “I never called him! Tituba, Tituba…”(Act 1, Line 880). She also blamed Elizabeth of witchery. She began to say that Elizabeth’s spirit came and stabbed her in the stomach. With all accusations abigail

Scapegoating in The Crucible Often times, in order to avoid facing consequences, whether great or small, people will charge others. This practice, known as scapegoating, oftentimes leads to false accusations and can yield potentially damning results. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller utilizes scapegoating in order to show the harmful effects it can have on a society. In the play, Abigail attempts to avoid suffering consequences by situating blame on Tituba: “She made me do it” (Miller 43). When Abigail lies about Tituba’s role, she begins to feel anxious and distressed.

Abigail influenced all the girls to lie and convict innocent people and this all for one person, John Proctor. Abigail obviously had a huge crush on John Proctor and it was probably because of his previous affair with Abigail. There was only one problem John no longer had feeling for her and he was in love with his wife Elizabeth. John really didn’t pay much attention to Abigail anymore which basically started this whole thing. Abigail thought that by dancing around a fire like a hooligan would cast a spell and make him fall in love and that definitely didn't work. John still didn’t pay attention to her and she knew she had to try and take Elizabeth out. She ended up stabbing herself because the poppet had a needle in it and that’s how elizabeth was sent to court. Obviously none of this worked out because John and Elizabeth still loved each other and Abigail ended up running away. So Abigail was a very dark force in the town of

Abigail is a selfish girl who is motivated by her love for John Proctor, and her self-centeredness causes her to lie and deliberately damage other people’s lives. Abigail knows that witchcraft isn’t why the girls were dancing in the forest, but she lies so she won’t get in trouble with Reverend Parris. Abigail tells Proctor “And now you bid me tear the light out of my eyes? I will not, I cannot! You loved me… and whatever sin it is, you love me yet!” (30). Proctor and Abigail were alone one night and things got a little wild. Abigail is still holding onto that memory because she still has feelings for him, which shows her self-centeredness. Abigail is demanding Proctor to love her and not love his wife, Elizabeth. Even though Abigail still

This is later confirmed when she threatens to “come to [them] in the black of some terrible night and … bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder” (Pg.175) Mary Warren and Betty Parris if they dare to tell the truth. This shows her determination at killing Elizabeth Proctor and securing her own reputation. Unlike many naive villains in other literatures, Abigail sets out a meticulous scheme to frame Elizabeth. First, she witnesses Mary Warren leaving a needle in a doll. Then she “[sticks] two inches [of a needle] in the flesh of her belly”(pg. 203) to frame Elizabeth of performing witchcraft. So mendacious is Abigail that she is willing to injure herself to accomplish her plan. Under her beautiful appearance also lays a manipulative heart. She is capable of manipulating not only the girls into doing things her way, but also the members of the court to her advantage. When questioned by Danforth whether the spirits she has seen are illusion, Abigail steps it up a notch by making the members of the court feel sorry for her and madly refutes, “I have been near to murdered every day because I done my duty pointing out the Devil’s people—and this is my reward? To be mistrusted, denied, questioned like a—” (Pg.210) This, following by Elizabeth's failure to tell the truth and the girl’s verisimilar acting toward the “yellow bird”, further demonstrates her manipulative power which brings the court in her favor. Altogether, many

Abigail is a highly jealous character, concentrating her jealousy on Elizabeth Proctor. This jealousy is driven by lust and her desire for John Proctor. Abigail served as a servant in the Proctor household and after an affair with her husband John, Elizabeth fired her. She still resents Elizabeth for this as she is still in love with John. She clearly says to John, "You loved me, John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet!" Abigail is still in love with John and she assumes the converse. Her love for John only causes her resentment for Elizabeth to strengthen. She hates John Proctor's wife and in her conniving ways she attempts to inspire the same views of Elizabeth in John's mind. Saying things to him such as, "She is blackening my name in the village! She is telling lies about me, She is a cold, sniveling woman." Abigail fabricates stories in attempt to steel John from Elizabeth. She is a manipulative liar that does and says as she pleases in order to get what she wants.

The crucible provides evidence of scapegoating due to the false accusations of witchcraft witchcraft toward innocent citizens of salem. The Salem witch trials was when accusations were made towards the citizens of Salem involving witchcraft. These accusations led to nineteen killings and many more people jailed. An example of scapegoating in the crucible is seen in the following quote, “Oh Mary it is black art to change your shape...No I cannot, cannot stop my mouth; it is God’s work I do”(120). This quote describes a “scapegoat” because instead of Abigail accepting that she had been caught in a lie, she turns to please Mary Warren under blame. This showed Abigail was only in judgement of herself and did not care about the way Mary Warren was perceived by others. The quote proved to be as scapegoat because the fault was shifted to Mary to Abigail in the clear. Another example of a scapegoat from “The Crucible” was when Mary Warren accused John Proctor of being a witch. This is seen

    After Abigail’s affair with John Proctor she thinks she loves him and wants him for herself. When her cousin, Betty Parris falls ill and the doctor diagnosed her with witchery Abigail plays along and pretends she is bewitched as well. She eventually accuses Elizabeth Proctor, John Proctor’s wife of witchcraft and sending her spirit out to stab Abigail with a needle. In reality, though, Abigail saw Mary Warren stick the needle in Elizabeth Proctor’s poppet and stabbed herself in the stomach. That’s how far she was willing to go just so she could be with John Proctor. Abby loves John, even though after their affair he realizes he made a heinous mistake. These words spoken privately between Abigail and John prove it true; “ABIGAIL: Give me a word, John. A soft word. (Her concentrated desire destroys his smile.) PROCTOR: No, no, Abby. That's done with”