Abigail will do anything to get him back. She confronts John and says “You loved me John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet!” Now Mary Warren is the Proctors maid. Mary was one of the girls caught dancing in the woods and testified against many of Salem’s witches. They are both seventeen, and were maids for the Proctor household, and this is where their similarities end. They both have different physical appearances, attitudes, and very different reactions
Differing world views and reactions to situations are evident in Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, set in Salem, Massachusetts in the 1600s. The play’s protagonist, John Proctor, sees the underlying sins of his Puritanic community, including his own, amidst a righteous veneer. Regretting his recent affair with young Abigail Williams, Proctor sees little goodness in both himself and the world in general. Abigail Williams, Proctor’s mistress, on the other hand, has a completely different view of the world – seeing it as a playground to gain power and get what she wants, John Proctor. When Abigail creates hysteria over witchcraft that sweeps over Salem, she views the situation as a chance to lie and manipulate to achieve her goals, while John Proctor sees through Abigail’s deceit and views the situation as a childish stunt that could get many innocent townspeople hurt.
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.
In this quote Abigail in The Crucible (published in 1952), tells Parris that they were accusing the girls of witchcraft because they were dancing in the woods. There was not proof that what the girls were doing was affiliated with witchcraft. “I saw Goody Hawkins with the devil” (51) the girls start naming off people to keep themselves out of trouble. This definitely could tie back to the McCarthy case because they were giving unjustified evidence. McCarthy was listing names of Communists but he had no proof behind it.
The Crucible: A Test of One’s Morals The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a play based around the witch trials of 1692. Throughout the story, many characters are at crossroads with themselves, questioning their own beliefs. The word “crucible” also means a “severe moral test”, which most characters go through at some point in the play. The most prominent situations in which crucibles are present include the situations of Abigail Williams, John Proctor, and Reverend Hale. The task Abigail has to complete is to continue to pretend to see the devil.
The course of enacting revenge is symbolically signified through the fervour of allegations of witchcraft, which destroys all judgment and creates a sense of belonging with the members of the community that have been involved in monstrous actions, such as killing babies and communicating with the devil. Miller, having been blamed of being a communist along with many of his friends, is critical of this hysteria. Despite some of his characters’ legitimate fear of witchcraft, the fervour surrounding their accusations leads to innocent people being accused of wrongdoing to satisfy vengeful grudges and create a sense of belonging. Abigail accuses Elizabeth of witchcraft in order to seek revenge, as Elizabeth acknowledges when she says, Abigail ‘thinks to kill me, then to take my place’. This shows Abigails desire to belong not only to proctor but also within the community, by taking Elizabeth’s position.
She was dismissed from her job as a servant because she had slept with the man she was working for, whom was married. Her name was blushed throughout the town because of her actions involving John Proctor. In the middle of the play Abigail Williams’ secret was revealed when people found out about the witchcraft she took place in in the beginning of the play in the forest. Knowing Abigail’s reputation as a liar she knew she could get away with it again. She had people fooled to believe that she had god in her and she could see the evil in people and could tell if they were in witchcraft.
A crucible is a severe test as of patients or belief, a trial. The play The Crucible is a journey through the trials of many townspeople caused by the superstitious belief of witchcraft. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller progresses and evolves the outlooks and views of the townspeople of Salem and shows how events, people, and catastrophes cause the characters to change their views on whether the people prosecuted were guilty or innocent of witchcraft. Reverend John Hale changes his view, more and more drastically as the play advances, as a result of the events that he underwent and the experiences he had. Soon he had total belief in the innocence of all those convicted and hung in Salem.
“I saw Goody Sibber with the devil” (Miller 1.1068). Random people are being falsely accused in Arthur Miller’s, The Crucible. It all starts when a group of young girls dance in the forest one night and one of the girls suddenly falls sick, the next thing you know is the whole town crying witchcraft. As a consequence, the young girls start to accuse casual people to save their selves and put the town’s dwellers life at stake. The main person behind the accusations is Abigail Williams, the head minister of the town’s niece, she watches cold heartedly innocent people being hung for her false indictment.
Author Millers, The Crucible, is a play about the fear, of witchcraft in the sixteenth century, and what fear does to people in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts. During the colonial time period, witchcraft was punishable by death. In Salem the idea of witchcraft not only feared the people, but also the community as a whole. The community of Salem was split into two demographics by poor farmers, and wealthy merchants, becomes a scared fearful town during the accusations, not knowing if your neighbor was or was not a witch. The church of Salem plays an important role in the outcome of the town; the church has immense power and control of the town.