In the novel A Break with Charity by Ann Rinaldi, Susanna is the daughter of a wealthy family in Salem, Massachusetts during the 1692 Witch Trials. Before the trials begin, she desperately wants to fit in and become part of a group of girls in town. However, after those girls begin accusing innocent people of witchcraft, Susannah’s parents included, she divulges the information she held in so long. This is a story of the afflicted girls lying and the words that come straight from Ann Putnam herself, capable of ending the trials once and for all. After reading A Break with Charity by Ann Rinaldi, the reader gains knowledge of the Salem Witch Trials through a young woman who experienced the commotion first hand.
Abigail also threatened the girls; she told them she would do horrible things if they ever turned on her. Abigail was starting to plan against Mary. Abigail started screaming in the court room that Mary was bringing ravens into the room and they where attacking the girls. Then, Mary stopped helping Elizabeth and went back to Abigail because Mary didn’t want Abigail to make up more stories and get her in trouble with the court (p.1132-1151). Arthur Miller shows Mary going back to Abigail’s side because Mary is afraid of
Once Tituba confessed to witchcraft, Abigail joined in by accusing others of witchcraft so the negative attention would not be on the girls. Once Abigail started accusing people, Betty woke up from her “infinite” sleep and joined in along with the other girls. When the trials began, it was Abigail who kept the charade going by pretending that the accused were casting their spirits upon her and the other girls in the court room. Abigail led the girls by crying out in pain, pretending to see things and shivering. When the affair with John Proctor almost came up, Abigail was quick to turn on whoever went against
While lying with Betty, she warns the other girls, “If anyone breathe a word or the edge of a word about the other things, I will come to you in the black of some terrible night” (). However, when the news of her and the other girl's strange actions spreads like wildfire, the hysteria sets in. Abigail only contributes to the hysteria, though. She makes up lie after lie just to conceal her wrongdoing. She even pretends to see Mary Warren take the shape of a yellow bird while in court just to take the focus off her and John’s affair.
For example, she outs the blame on Tituba, who confesses to performing witchcraft. She also accuses poor Elizabeth Proctor who is the wife of John Proctor. John gets hung later in the story while his wife has to deal with her pregnancy of their first child together. It was rumored that Abigail had had an affair with john while she served as a maid for the couple. Abigail was very good at manipulating people and uses that trait as an advantage in the story.
Lady Macbeth In what ways is Lady Macbeth important to the play? Lady Macbeth was important to the play because she provided inspiration to Macbeth to kill Duncan so that he would become king. Her personal life with Macbeth shows us how both Macbeth and her sanity deteriorate throughout the play. During the opening acts Lady Macbeth shows the role of strong women in relationships, with her strength she is able to sway Macbeth to doing what she pleases. In the first scene Lady Macbeth is introduced in (ACT 1 Scene V) she is reading a letter from Macbeth that states how three witches prophesied he would become king.
As early as Scene one, we learn of the motives behind Abigail’s actions as she tries to get the girls to agree on a story to protect herself. She uses the threat of violence and their belief that she might know some real witchcraft, to keep them in line, “Let either of you breath a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you... i can make you wish you had never seen the sun come
One of the key themes is that under time of stress and adversity, neighbors, friends, and even family members have a tendency to turn on each other when they allow fear to govern their actions. While Arthur Miller's The Crucible succeeds in bringing the viewer into the time period of the Salem Witch Trials by maintaining an accurate timeline of events, there are significant inaccuracies in the character details which were likely changed for the purposes of creating a compelling storyline in the motion picture. The movie begins with several young women, who appear to be faking spiritual ailments, which could not be explained medically. The town began to think that they were demonically possessed. When the women had the entire town convinced, they used that to their advantage.
She uses her womanhood to portray her innocence but it is then exposed by her soliloquy that she wishes the spirits “unsex” her, leaving Lady Macbeth only with mortal thoughts. Macbeth also utilizes the darkness to allow him to understand and accept his own desires. Soon after hearing the witches’ first prophecy, Macbeth is told the Thane of Cawdor was executed and he will be the replacement. He is excited by the news and Macbeth and Banquo discuss the logic and certainty of the witches, “…And oftentimes to win us to our harm, the instruments of darkness tell us truths, win us with honest trifles to betray in deepest consequence.” Banquo believes that the witches are tied to the devil and would tell half-truths in order to win them over to the dark side. Macbeth wonders if the next prophecy, that of king, would simply fall on him or if he would have to perform a dark deed in order to gain the crown.
(Page 23) She claimed that she loved John and that he loved her. Before the play began, Abigail tried to kill Elizabeth with a curse. She thought that if Elizabeth were dead John would marry her. Further into the play, Abigail accused Elizabeth of witchcraft. She saw Mary Warren, Proctor's servant, making a poppet.