In the Tragedy of Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, the reader is made to question what type of person Macbeth is and what caused Macbeth to commit the horrible crimes that he did. Throughout the start of the play there are many different causes that could have led to his fall into madness. One of them is the witches, whom instigate the downfall of Macbeth and the beginning of his madness, but as the story goes on, Lady Macbeth also convinces him to commit murder, and as the story comes to its conclusion, Macbeth himself decides to kill more innocents, leaving the reader with the consideration of who is really responsible for the murders. The first group to convince Macbeth to commit murder are the three witches, the witches first confront Macbeth and Banquo at the beginning of the play and tell them their prophecies of the future. They say to Macbeth that he will be king “All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be King hereafter!”, and that Banquo will be a father of kings saying “Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none”.
When Abigail was talking to Proctor she says “She is telling lies to about me! She is a cold sniveling woman, and you bend to her!”(Page 15, act one) she is basically showing her jealousy towards his wife. This stirred up the witch trials because Abigail wanted to be with Proctor and she would do just about anything. The fact that John proctor realizes all of his flaws and confesses to all of his sins is another reason why he can be considered a tragic hero. 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.
How does miller present Abigail as a powerful character in The Crucible? Abigail first shows her power when she is heavily questioned about what was going on in the woods. Abigail starts answering the questions that she is given but soon realises that she will be court and get into trouble. So she uses her power to shift the attention to someone and make people forget about her. Miller presents this when Abigail is asked about the devil and she responds by saying, “I never called him!
Abigail and the girls pretend Mary is bewitching them again which make Mary breakdown and accuse john of being a witch. After being tried as a witch and told he was going to get hanged he has a chance to confess and live but he chooses to die and keep his name. As a result of the lies and the affair between john and Abigail there were a lot of innocent people killed and hurt even those who they claimed they loved. Abigail and Elizabeth are two very different characters but have some similarities. Both Abigail and Elizabeth show determination in order to get what they want, and they are both strong
Who weeps for these, weeps for corruption.” says Danforth to the crowd because John Proctor was standing up to him and he ripped up he confession and speaking of the truth. The vindictive trait that is present in McCarthy, who distorted evidence and manipulated people. An example of a person who was innocently accused is Rebecca Nurse from “The Crucible” who represents Lillian Hellmann. Rebecca was as woman with up holding morals, which is evident when she refused to confess the names of other “witches”. She does not want to get caught in a web of lies.
It was the hamster-in-the-wheel of their minds, controlling their logic thinking and forcing them to act upon their emotions. Reverend Parris is a preeminent example of fear in The Crucible, for most of his actions are motivated by fear. He is frightened that Abigail and the girls mischief will become common knowledge to the public for “there is a faction that is sworn to drive me [Reverend Parris] from my pulpit.” Towards the end of the play, tension builds as Proctor nears his execution, causing Parris to realize what a weighty decision has been made, how “these people have great weight yet in the town.” He then begs for Proctor to confess to witchcraft, not for the guilt he’ll have taking a man’s life from his family, but for concern of his own safety. Despite the many good-for-nothing attempts by the court to keep the community under control, hysteria arose and spread like wild fire, all due to the fright they had that they were soon to “mount the gibbet”. Being a slave and of lower social status, Tituba was accused by Abigail in order to avoid any punishment or responsibility.
The people of Salem lived in fear of the devil. Paranoia and fear emerged vigorously when talk of witchcraft spread. With such talk of the devil came accusations. People began accusing their neighbors in order to save themselves. “This predilection for minding other people’s business was time-honored among the people of Salem, and it undoubtedly created many of the suspicions which were to feed the coming madness (Miller 4).” * * Hughes 3 * In The Crucible, there are many factors that contribute to the fall of Salem, Massachusetts.
Miller encourages the responders recognition of Abigail as an autocratic power within the play by threatening the weak and vulnerable. This is show at the end of Act 1 with the repetition of "I saw ________ with the devil!" The climax of Abigail's confession creates such intensity within the scene the girls join in. Through Miller's use of dramatic stage structure exposes ____________ between John Proctor and his wife Elizabeth, *Elizabeth pauses, and turns her back on Proctor* this shows her reluctancy to confront Proctor on his affair with Abigail. As Proctor own feelings of disgust overcome him, his confession to the affair with Abigail brings him forward to the court where Danforth's ultimatum, "you are either with the court or you will be courted, there is no in between" conveys the juxtaposing value the town of Salem holds, you conform or become exiled.
The opening scene takes place at the dead of night, establishing a dark, ominous tone. A gaggle of young girls sneak out from their homes and dance wildly around a boiling pot of stew, calling out the names of their beloved. Emotions are running high and things quickly escalate as one of the girls, Abigail, breaks the neck of a chicken and smears its blood on her face, while another girl strips naked. This is a cathartic experience whereby they release pent up sexual frustration; one may assume this is an unpleasant side effect of a society that places far too much emphasis on suppressing all natural human desire. They are caught by Reverend Parris, a minister, and quickly scramble off.
Shakespeare uses a range of techniques to create horror in the scene. From the beginning of the scene there is suspense as we hear the bell at the end of Act 1 Scene 1: “A bell rings”. The bell is commonly used to announce a death at funerals so when Shakespeare leaves the end of the scene with that cliff hanger that automatically starts the next scene with tension. He also makes the murder take place of stage. This makes dramatic impact within the audience increase and allows them to ponder what happened as grotesquely as they wish.