Girls who Cried Witch in The Crucible Essay

A week later, alone in their farmhouse outside of town, John and Elizabeth Proctor discuss the ongoing trials and the escalating number of townsfolk who have been accused of being witches. Elizabeth urges her husband to denounce Abigail as a fraud; he refuses, and she becomes jealous, accusing him of still harboring feelings for her. Mary Warren, their servant and one in Abigail’s circle, returns from Salem with news that Elizabeth has been accused of witchcraft but the court did not pursue the accusation. Mary is sent up to bed, and John and Elizabeth continue their argument, only to be interrupted by a visit from Reverend Hale. While they discuss matters, Giles Corey and Francis Nurse come to the Proctor home with news that their wives have been arrested. Officers of the court suddenly arrive and arrest Elizabeth. After they have taken her, Proctor tells Mary that she must go to Salem and expose Abigail and the other girls as being frauds and making up all these accusations just to gain the attention of others.

The girls at the beginning of the play, avoided punishment by accusing others of the very things they were guilty of themselves. This desperate act of self-preservation resulted in the mass paranoia and atmosphere that gripped Salem for the continuance of the witch trials. By allowing audiences to see how dark desires and hidden agendas subsequentially drive people, Miller explores human motivation and the behaviour that results from it. Ironically, it is desire, sexual, material and physical desire that drives the people of Salem. For example, Abigail, full of desire for Proctor, seizes an opportunity to reverse fate and eliminate Elizabeth Proctor, by accusing her of witch craft. Elizabeth was the only person in Abigail’s eyes that was preventing her from marrying Proctor. In addition, Abigail’s status within the community is elevated and she gains power a young woman of her social status could have only dreamt of. Furthermore, the Putnam’s also seize the opportunity the witch trials create. Putnam has a hidden agenda, namely, land lust and his desire to elevate himself within the

People in Salem thought that there was witchcraft going on when people were acting weir. One piece of evidence that the people of Salem used to prove that there was witchcraft was Mr. Collins saw Betty fly over the barn. “Mrs. Putnam glancing at Betty: How high did she fly, how high?” Page 12. Word about Betty flying over the barn spread through the town. The Revere is worried that people will think that his daughter Betty will be accused of witch craft. Abigail was caught dancing with Tituba by her uncle. “Abigail: Uncle, we did dance; let you tell them I confessed it and I’ll be wiped if I must be. But they’re speaking of witch craft. Betty not witched.” Page 9. The people of Salem are blaming people of witch craft if they are acting

Reverend Parris wants to gain and keep power, and the Putnams are seeking land and power from Giles Corey. All the characters in the play demonstrate human failings. Reverend Parris, Abigail, and the Putnams show greed, selfishness, and vengeance throughout the Salem Witch Trials. Abigail Williams main human failings were jealousy and greed. Abigail was very jealous of Elizabeth Proctor,

In the novel by Arthur Miller, “The Crucible”, directly correlates with the Red Scare by implementing a society that is in fear of the people around them and people are given consequences from crimes they did not even commit. The play is about witchcraft and is based around what happened during the Salem Witch Trials. The rumors spread from each other made havoc throughout the community. Most of the rumors spread throughout the play are for people to achieve their own goals of protection and/or revenge. One could claim that rumors are the root of all trouble in “The Crucible” in the 16th paragraph of the overture that, “The witch-hunt was a perverse manifestation of the panic which set in among all classes when the balance began to turn toward greater individual freedom. In the novel Abigail Williams, the Putnams, and Elizabeth Proctor contribute to some of the rumors that went around.

People were falsely accused in court of being witches because there were girls seen dancing in the woods, flying around, and casting love spells. The girls are now being accused of being witches, and accused of witchcraft by the people of Salem. In fact, in the crucible, on page 15, Mrs. Putnam accused Tituba of knowing how to speak to the dead. Also on page 15, Parris accused Abigail of conjuring spirits that night. Abigail is the character that accuses others the most in the book. She will do whatever she can to make herself look the best. Furthermore, she says “We danced. And Tituba conjured Ruth Putnam’s dead sisters. And that is all. And mark this. 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

When Salem Farms won the small court case to have its own minister, it drove an even bigger wedge between itself and Salem Town. The Putnam brothers closely watched the new minister George Burroughs. The Putnam hated George Burroughs because he preached for money (Karson). Their hatred for Burroughs is the only reason Ann Putnam was branded as one of the “afflicted”. Her older brothers forced her to accuse Burroughs of being the leader of witches. That lie started the trials and sucked Ann in at the same time. According to Brooks, three of the “afflicted” were pariahs, which made it easy to accuse them of being witches. The Putnam brothers were acting as puppet masters during the trials and it was their hatred for Burroughs and Salem Farms that naïve “afflicted” accuse others in the community of witchcraft for revenge on those they didn’t like. The Putnam brothers convinced the community, which made the townspeople blame the “afflicted” for everything that went wrong because in their minds the Devil operated through witches. If it weren’t for the socioeconomic conditions of the time maybe the trials would’ve never

When Salem Witch Trial starts in April 18th 1692, Giles Corey is caught by Ann Putnam because of Ann Putnam wants to have Giles Corey’s land. In the play, Giles Corey is a naive and rich landowning

Putnam sees her opportunity to get out of the bad gossip of Salem, that of which her being unable to carry babies. Mrs.Putnam cries out, “I take it on my soul, but who else may surely tell us what person murdered our babies?” (Miller 15) This shows the reader that Mrs.Putnam believes that a witch must have killed her babies because she cannot accept her flaws.

Thomas Putnam had long held grudges against many people in Salem. Putnam had long held grudges against the Nurse family, who had prevented his brother-in-law from receiving the office of Minister, and Putnam, “meant to right matters however he could” (15). Putnam saw the witch trials as an opportunity to get revenge for the past slights against his family by the Nurses and others by putting Goody Nurse on trial for witchcraft. By continually using the trials in Salem to take

These girls became feared in the small town of Salem they would accuse anyone and everyone until they went to far. The witch hunt empowered more then just the girls in the play. It gave power to Thomas Putnam, a landowner who snatched the land of anyone that was tried and hanged. He quickly became more and more powerful as he

Abby and all the other girls in the town are caught in the woods by reverend Hale conjuring up spirits. Some of the girls that were caught in the woods became very ill and the idea of witchcraft arose. In the mist of all this John Proctor was having an affair on his wife with abby while abby was working on the farm and Goody Proctor found out and fired abby. Abby is trying to get rid of Goody Proctor to have John all to herself so she accuses Goody Proctor of witchcraft and Goody is taken to court for it. Mary Warren was accused of witchcraft so Mary accused John of witchcraft because john tried to get Mary to sign her name to the devil so she accused him of it. Reverend Hale is trying to get everyone in the jail to confess that they are witches

Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, depicts an exceedingly religious society in the midst of Massachusetts during the infamous Salem Witch Trials. The town was quickly overtaken by the false rumours of witchcraft, causing the Puritans to turn against one another, leading to the eventual deaths at the end of the play. Since the play itself was written in response to the increasing panic caused by the irrational fear of communism during the Cold War, the Puritans in the play and the Americans during the 1950s show striking resemblances, although the outcome was slightly different (Burns 1). The Puritan community displayed in the play and the Anti-Communist of the 1950s were completely captured by fear and as a result of that, drove to mass hysteria. As an attempt to try and combat the growing fears both the Puritans and the Anti-Communist generated false accusations to help give the people a sense of responsibility, as well as keep the order within their communities. The use of fear to control the individuals of the selected community ultimately created hysteria as shown throughout the entire play and the Red Scare. The specifics of the time period in which the play was written and the time period of which the play took place gives a better interpretation as to how the use of fear to control the community lead to the eventual mass hysteria in The Crucible.

Arthur miller bases the play on the historical account of the salem witch trials.Miller creates an atmosphere and mood within the play recreating the historical period of puritan culture.The puritans demonstrated their faithfulness, honesty and integrity of physical labor. The puritans did not tolerate inappropriate behavior. Those with inappropriate behavior were punished publicly and severely if needed.Miller’s exploration of human psyche and behavior makes the play an interesting masterpiece. On one hand miller addressed a particularly dark period in American history a time which people believed the devil walked the streets of salem and could manifest in any one.The play continues to affect audiences by allowing them to see how dark desires and hidden agendas can be played out.Abigail is a young woman who takes the opportunity to reverse fate, she had affair with proctor so abigail takes advantage of the chance to eliminate proctor’s wife by accusing her of witchcraft.The putnams also seize opportunity the royal charter was taken away in 1692 and land titles became invalid. Mr putnam like abigail had hidden agendas he will stop at nothing for his own desire even if reaching his goals means falsely accusing his neighbors of witchcraft so he can get their lands.A man by the name of giles corey tries to tell the courts he has proof that putnam is accusing his neighbors of witchcraft but corey does not want to reveal the name so the court arrest him.After mary warren gives a

Once they all went home Mr. Parris got home and told Abby to wake up Betty but she wouldn't wake up, Mr.Parris called the doctor and the doctor tells Mr. Parris that she is not sick but there are signs that she has been witched by someone. So they call group of people that run the court to come and help find the witches. When That happens the people start confessing that there is a lot of people involved in witchcraft. Some people even have said names of people that are involved in witchcraft. So they are taken to trial and many of the people are sent to jail and many are hanged at the same moment. Word gets out to some people out of the village like Mr.Proctor and his wife Elizabeth. Mr.Proctor has a servant that her name is Mary which was seen in the woods as well. So Mary attends the meetings in the court and she comes home and mr. Proctor tells her that if she doesn't stop going he is going to whip her until she stops going to the meetings but Mary tells him that she is eighteen and she is allowed to go to bed when ever she wants to and go wherever she pleases