Many people were jealous of each other and wanted what others had. A person being accused as a witch has to forfeit their property to their accuser. Everyone would believe the accusation was true so you it was an easy to gain land. Because of that, Giles states that Mr. Putnam is killing his neighbors for their land. Also, Abby accuses Mrs. Proctor of witchcraft for her own self-interest.
Abigail’s greed was the most destructive to the outcome of this story. She destroyed most people’s reputation in the town. Many innocent people are hanged for crimes they did not commit including John Proctor. Abigail wanted to get rid of John Proctor’s wife Elizabeth, and Elizabeth was charged with consorting with the devil. Abigail new the punishment for the crime of witchcraft was hanging and carried out her accusation so that she and Jon could “dance upon her grave together.”(Act 3) John Proctor is also charged with witch craft; he had a choice of lying about consorting with the devil or keeping his integrity.
When Proctor had to go to the court to get his wife out of being accused of upholding witchcraft he eventually confess to his sins he committed. Talking to Danforth, Proctors says “I lusted, and there is a promise in such sweet. But it is a whore’s vengeance, and you must see it; I set myself entirely in your hands” (page 49 act three) confessing to the crime he did. He realizes what he did was wrong which was why he tried to hide it for so long. But the only way for
Another reason their relationship is dangerous is that if John Procter were to prosecute against Abigail Williams saying that she is in fact a witch, Abigail Williams could very easily tell the entire town that she and Procter have been having an affair to get revenge on him. It wouldn’t really affect her too much, but on the contrary, it would ruin his reputation in the town and his relationship with his wife. Later in Act I, Abigail is being “interrogated” by Reverend Hale and she claims “I never sold myself! I’m a good girl! I’m a proper girl!” (Miller 40) in this statement, Abigail is defending herself that she never sold herself to the devil.
These times also had many differences. People in the Salem Witch Trials were in the 1600's-a very naive time- while people during the time of McCarthyism lived in the 1950's. Citizens of America in the 1600's were scared of one thing, the devil. The churches wanted to rid their town of anyone who associated with him by being hanged. In the 1950's, however, people were terrified of the red Communists coming to take over their beloved country.
Chillingworth, after slowly discovering that Dimmesdale was the one who committed adultery with Hester, had started an ever growing desire to have revenge on Dimmesdale. This corrupted him and turned him into a hideous person who's only purpose in life was to bring down Dimmsdale. Once Dimmesdale passed away, Chillingworth died shortly there after since he had no purpose for his life anymore. Dimmesdale, having had sinned with Hester, had condemned Hester with the Scarlet Letter which erupted tremendous guilt within his mind. This guilt weakened Dimmesdale and eventually lead to his death.
Anse is another great example of the death of the morals of society. He went through all the struggle to get his family and his dead wife to Jefferson while all along he had other intentions. He was ready to get rid of Addie because he found himself a “new Mrs. Bundren.” (90) One realizes that Anse is full of deceit and
Gatsby’s delusional emotions of love for Daisy kept him doing whatever it took to fulfill his inner desires. Similarly, Macbeth’s inner desires to achieve what was stated in the witches’ prophecy and his severe feelings of greed led to him taking many harsh and unreasonable actions. It was these inner desires and strong passions that motivated the main characters, but they also ultimately led to their long-term down falls. That is why both protagonists can be considered tragic heroes. Emotions can overpower people and convince them to act in a certain way and those same intense emotions may prove to be self destructive in the
The only reason Banquo is murdered is because Macbeth becomes paranoid after the witches prediction. Finally, the witches are responsible for the death of Macduff’s family. When Macbeth goes to see the witches to get more information the witches show him three apparitions one of witch tells Macbeth to watch out for Macduff. After hearing this Macbeth decides that he needs to send a message to Macduff and the way Macbeth does it is by killing Macduff’s family. Macduff’s family most likely would not have been murdered if the withes had not told Macbeth to fear
In Macbeth by William Shakespeare, a numerous amount of hateful actions are committed, especially the death of King Duncan. I believe that Lady Macbeth should be held more responsible for the murder of Duncan than Macbeth because she went out of her way to convince Macbeth to kill him, then covered it up, and felt guilty and received karma for what she did. Although he agreed to actually murdering the king, if it wasn’t for lady Macbeths intentions Macbeth would have not gone through with the plan. Lady Macbeth made Macbeth the horrible human he became; she is more capable of evil than he is. She has great influence over