The play by Arthur Miller, The Crucible, is full of irony, false accusations and ignorance. The townspeople of Salem are so blind to the truth that they let a group of teenage girls destroy half their town simply by making up stories and accusing others of being witches. These puritan people were so obsessed with cleansing their town of evil that they let that fear of witchcraft run their lives, this also makes it very easy for people to get what they want very easily, whether it be land or revenge, these people were corrupted. There are many conflicts throughout this story Thomas Putnam is a wealthy farmer in Salem he is also greedy, and holds a grudge against Francis Nurse for preventing Putnam’s brother-in-law from being elected to the office of minister. He wants the riches without the work.
Although Anna plans to run to Mompellion for help, she is struck to the ground and is powerless to stop the mob hanging Anys. Before she dies Anys claims to have had sex with the devil and asserts that many of the village women have done likewise. Mompellion arrives, too late, and tells the assembled villagers that the real work of the devil is what they themselves have done in killing an innocent woman. He cause them to repent their actions. Key quote: “You are a good mother, Anna Frith ...
Supposedly, the Devil walked on earth and tempted the townspeople to write their name with blood in a black book. Also, they believed witches and the Devil correlated together because they tempted the citizens to do wicked things to other Puritans. The hysteria begins with a few girls mentioning that witches controlled them to conjure sprits. All of Salem panicked right after the girls started to point fingers. Since the girls were considered the Lamb of Gods, nobody defied them.
Not only does she deny doing witchcraft, she also manages to accuse Tituba of having full responsibility while she is the one who starts the whole thing. At the end of the chapter, she also frames some other citizens, saying that she sees them with the Devil. Her affair with John Proctor is furthermore exposed to the audience. Betty, Reverend Parris’s daughter, reveals that Abigail attempts to drink blood as a charm in order to kill Elizabeth Proctor, who is John Proctor’s wife. Moreover, when Reverend Parris confronts Abigail about being fired by Elizabeth Proctor, Abigail denies any wrongdoings.
The physical appearance of the woman concluded the examination and marked them as witches, due to physical signs left by the devil such as a "wart." Ann, and her parents accused many more townspeople, typically those who were enemies of the family. The accusation sent fear to the people as villagers believed that anyone could be a witch. By the time Ann's witch hunt was over, she had accused 62 people . Tituba denied to have practiced any witchcraft and was beated by Parris to confess as he would promise her freedom.
So when the proceedings of the witch trials come to town the Putnam s take that as a way to take Rebecca down. They accuse her of killing their babies be conjuring up her spirit and killing them before they come out of the womb. Unfortunately for Rebecca she fall victim to the mass hysteria in Salem, and is thrown I jail because of it. So being the good Christian she is when Judge Danforth asks her to confess she does not. Rebecca Nurse one of the kind and innocent people in the Crucible fall from power do to the happening of the Salem Witch
Abigail realizes that she is in trouble for doing witchcraft in the woods with the other girls, and for making Betty sick; so Abigail seizes this opportunity to shift the blame of doing witchcraft onto the shoulders of Tituba. This action that Abigail does is evil and she does this just to keep herself from having a punishment and being pressured into telling what Abigail and the other girls did and what really occurs in the woods that day. Abigail is a malevolent person when she asks John Proctor to leave his sickly wife in order to be with her. “John- I am waitin’ for you every night.” (Miller 22). Abigail also says, “I look for John Proctor that took me from my sleep and put knowledge in my heart … and whatever sin it is, you love me yet!” (Miller 24).
Indians killed her parents brutally, and she witnessed the horrific act. A lack of parental figures probably led her to become in love with John Proctor, who spurned her. Abigail was willing to do anything to be with him, even drink the blood of a chicken. When she and other girls who were dancing in the woods accused of conjuring spirits, she blames Tituba. Tituba in turn blames other women, and Abigail cunningly devises a plan of accusing other people of witchcraft including Elizabeth, Proctor’s wife.
In ‘The Crucible,’ the protagonist Abigail Williams manipulates her friends and the entire town of Salem, when she accuses innocent people of being witches, in a personal vendetta against Elizabeth Proctor, the wife of John Proctor, whom she had a previous affair with. The hysteria of the witch hunt in Salem is a result of Abigail’s selfish and vengeful behaviour, which leads nineteen innocent people to the gallows. “My name is good in the village! Elizabeth Proctor is an envious, gossipy liar!” Salem is oblivious to Abigail’s true vindictive nature and vengeance. ‘I beg you, sir, I beg you-see her for what she is.’ This statement by John Proctor reveals that he is only one of the very few, who is able to see the truth behind Abigail’s façade, however, her public persona of being an innocent young girl, possessed by the ‘devil’, that she so cunningly portrays was too strong and no one would have suspected she was capable of such lies and
The fear of getting punishment for the dancing that occurred in the woods was what prompted the girls to start accusing innocent people of witchery. The heart of this conflict that is driven by pure fear shows how the girls transform and go against their religious backgrounds to fuel these false accusations to save themselves from being punished and therefore creating the upsurge of conflicts in the town Salem. Abigail starts these false accusations by exaggerating the truth and putting the blame on Tituba "Sometimes I wake and find myself standing in the open doorway and not a stitch on my body! I always hear her laughing in my sleep. I hear her singing her Barbados songs and tempting me with-".