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Examples Of Survival In The Crucible

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The second flawed characteristic of humanity seen in “The Crucible” is survival. Miller portrays this in his play by using dramatization. Throughout the play, many people were driven by the need to survive, jeopardizing other people’s reputation and safety to ensure their own survival. This would make several scenes in the play very dramatic. There is no character that better exemplifies this then Abigail, possibly the most dramatic character in “The Crucible.” She exhibits this behavior early on in the story. When Paris confronts her about her and the other girls dancing in the woods, she immediately turns and blames Tituba, calling her a witch and a devil worshipper (12). She even accuses Tituba of conjuring spirits to ensure that she would …show more content…

When Tituba gets accused of being a witch, she ensures her survival by confessing to being a witch and signing the Devil’s book, even none of this is true (46). She also claims that both Sarah Good and Goody Osburn are also witches, even though they are both innocent (47). This shows that a person will do anything to survive, even condemning others to death. Later in the story, Abigail is still willing to do whatever it takes to survive, not matter how ridiculous it sounds. When Marry goes to the court to testify against the girls, including Abigail claims that Mary sent her spirit out to attack them (114). There is nothing there and no one can see this supposed spirit, but the rest of the girls go along with Abigail’s lie to ensure their own survival, since they knew if Mary testified against them the court would find the girls guilty of murder and would most likely hang them (114). Once the girls had turned the tables on Mary, she needed to make sure that she survived. The judges were starting to believe the girls over Mary and would start believing that Mary was a witch. So Mary decided to claim that John Proctor was a devil worshipper

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