Abigial really ignites the fire by blaming Tituba for "bewitching her". As soon as Tituba confesses to witchcraft, to save her herself, and tells Mr. Hale and Rev. Parris that she saw Goody Good and Goody Osburn with the devil, all the girls start naming off names of women all around Salem that they supposedly saw with the Devil. Mary Warren is to blame for many innocent deaths as well. Mary was the housewife for John and Elizabeth Proctor.
When the trials began, many accused others of witchcraft and this lead to them accusing even more. The new news of the entire witchcraft epidemic in Salem left many disturbed and trying to eliminate the bad of the town. The novel allows the reader to reflect on the life of the Salem people and understand the happenings. One example is the reflection of the lives of teenage girls in the puritan society, sent by God to marry and have a family, lacking the happiness of teen hood. Thus, explaining a
Throughout the entire play, Abigail Williams uses her good name to control Salem by accusing people of witchcraft, which results in the deaths of many people in the town. After witnessing Tituba confess to Reverend Hale, Abigail confesses “I saw Sarah Good with the devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the devil!” (Miller 189). Abigail realizes that by giving the names of people she saw with the devil she can control Salem because she has a good name and people will listen to her.
She was arrested and tried for practicing witchcraft because of her American Indian decent. Seen as “Devil worshipers” American Indians were perceived as being familiar with occult practices (536). This stereotype left Tituba with no control of her situation and fearful for her life. Tituba’s ethnic background left her victim to stereotypes that previous to her confession, would have most likely only sealed her dooming fate. Luckily, Tituba was able to use her knowledge of African, American Indian and English folklore to her advantage, diverting the attention away from her socially and geographically.
The Crucible, by Arthur Miller can be superficially interpreted as a play that takes place during an era when witches posed a threat to people. With the villagers of Salem being a strictly religious puritan, any malicious event would have been considered to be the act of the devil and therefore were sought to be terminated immediately. It was during the early year of 1692 when mass hysteria rapidly spread throughout the people of Salem; with people being accused of consorting with devils and casting spells. These honest people were mainly middle-aged women who were childless or who were abandoned by their husbands. This trend undoubtedly represents the theme of empowerment and gender in the play.
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. One person after another she had them hung. People so clueless of her intentions saw her as a saint for getting rid of the “evil” in the town. In the end of the play Abigail’s reputation was soon found out about, she knew people would come back and accuse her of murder so she ran away with her uncle’s money and Mercy Lewis. In contrast with Abigail Williams Elizabeth Proctor was not your ideal woman.
In 1692, people who were accused of witchcraft, and did not confess to it, were typically hanged. In the story “The Crucible” many of the characters ended up being falsely accused of witchcraft, and everyone knows that most stories/movies have a “bad” character. In my opinion, Abigail Williams was the villain in “The Crucible.” First off I can start by saying that Abigail Williams was the one who influenced all of the other girls involved with the trial. In the beginning of the movie, Abigail Williams and her slave, Tituba, were seen dancing around a pot of boiling items with a bunch of other girls. It seemed to me that Abigail was the one who wanted to keep it going and didn’t want to stop; she was the leader of the dancing.
Indy Lau 11/29/11 Period 2 Crucible Essay The Girls of Salem Rises to Power Arthur Miller writes The Crucible to show how Abigail and the girls use the witch trials in their favor. In this society, men have all the political powers while the lower rungs of the social ladder are occupied by women. By accusing others, the women are able to gain more power for themselves. In act two for instance, Mary Warren defies her master, Proctor. In the beginning of the play, Mary and Proctor shows the relationship of a master and servant by speaking harshly to her.
When Betty and Mary Warren start to get scared and want to tell the adults about their doing, Abigail threatens them: “Now look you… I will come to you in the black of some terrible night… bring a reckoning that will shudder you… I can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down” (Miller 20). This quote tells us that Abigail is showing who is in charge. She has no power at first, but then becomes empowered over the group of girls and maintains that power over them through fear and threats. Abigail, who was once powerless, now has the power to take control of her peers by threatening them to do her
Abigail first tells the lie “No one was naked! You mistake yourself, Uncle!” (The Crucible, I.9) Then she goes on and accuses Tituba of witchcraft to cover her trail of lies, starting from dancing naked in the forests to Elizabeth stabbing the poppet with the needle. Elizabeth is just as bad with her only lie. When she is asked to answer a question about the affair with her husband and Abigail, she lies to protect him. She is thinking if she tells the court the truth, then she is going to lose