This leads into the deaths of the innocent people who are accused and automatically found guilty. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, the people of Salem are responsible for the witch hysteria. The person with the most influence on the hysteria is Abigail. In the past, Abigail had an affair with John Proctor. She gets jealous when Proctor leaves her to go back to his wife, Elizabeth.
But when Mrs. Proctor began to suspect her of messing around with her husband, she threw Abigail out. But Abigail was already in love with John and so began to accuse people of having dealings with the Devil after her younger cousin, Betty became ill. The events and accusations snowballed until finally, Abigail pressured Mary Warren to accuse John Proctor of witchcraft. Those that were accused of witchcraft were then hung, burned at the stake or died in jail while waiting for execution. Joseph McCarthy was a government official who in the 1950’s began what is now called The Red Scare.
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
The fear generates distrust among one another and causes false accusation. These accusations are mainly towards women. When a woman does something out of the ordinary or when something happen because of natural causes she is automatically accused of witchcraft, for example when Mrs. Putnam accuses Rebecca Nurse for the death of her babies. Town’s people usually see those things as a threat to them and the only way to get rid of these women who show any kind of witchcraft is to exterminate by hanging them. As we look back on time we see that communism was a big threat to us after World War II.
The tailor ‘whimpered', while his wife instructs him on her fake plot (Page 24). The Jew's wife is not much different than the tailor wife; she takes charge immediately and throws the hunchback body in the neighbor's house. This trend of manipulation continues in the tales of the barber's brothers. The first brother encountered the landlord's wife was described as 'wicked' and 'crazy' and the others encountered was also crazy. There are similar other example of how the women in the stories are just as double-crossing as the Queen of Shahriyar’s and Shahzaman’s, one of them being "the Tale of the Enchanted King".
Due to the fact that Elizabethans were afraid of evil, the odd people in communities started being accused of witchcraft. Witchcraft had a great impact of the daily and social lives of the Elizabethans. Soon neighbors slung accusations at each other and started ruckus all over England. Children rolled on the floor having convulsions and blaming random people for hexing or possessing them (Saintives). Anyone with odd names, weird looks, or were found mumbling chants, were accused of witchcraft and were put to death.
Had Jason not left Medea, or even more sympathetic to her position, such a tragedy may not have been initiated. There is a plausible notion, however, that Medea’s malevolence was induced by the Gods, and not that she herself is evil. Medea, "no ordinary woman", has an overly passionate temperament. She is utterly infatuated by Jason. The passion of Medea’s love is evident in her actions preluding the play, where she killed her own brother to help distance her enemies from Jason and herself.
They made life miserable for those accused and did not stop, even when they had had their “fun”. The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, draws obvious parallels between the 1950’s Red Scare and the witch-hunts that took place in Salem of 1692. Miller connects the hysteria brought about through accusations thrown around by both Senator McCarthy and Abigail Williams by emphasizing how much power their groups hold over everyone. During the times of the Salem Witch Trials and the Red Scare, fear ruled those unfortunate enough to be involved in nearly any conflict. Be it fear of witchcraft or communism,the fact is that it swept throughout the early and post-industrial United States.
Lady Macbeth is viewed as very controlling, ambitious, manipulative, committed, yet fruitless on the other hand Macbeth is viewed as brave, vulnerable, misunderstood, and easily manipulated. This dynamic between the couple as exemplified by Lady Macbeth convincing Macbeth to murder King Duncan. Lady Macbeth referenced that she has had a child in the past but had lost it. “I have given suck, and know / How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me: / I would, while it was smiling in my face, / Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums, / And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn as you / Have done to this” (Act 1 Scene 7). Lady Macbeth is trying to say what she would rather kill their unborn child before she would lie to him as a way to manipulate her husband even more to gain power.
In this scene we see how desperate Abigail has become and how far she will go to poses John Proctor. She in fact stabs herself with a needle to frame Elizabeth for witchcraft which will ultimately be the cause of her death and therefore leave John for Abigail. This is the scene were Cheever arrests Elizabeth on charge of witchcraft and upon hearing this Elizabeth calls Abigail a murderer who must be ripped out of the world. This breaks the icy exterior of Elizabeth and for the first time we see how she really feels about Abigail. She can’t hold her emotions in any more but after she has done this she goes back to her old self calm and responsible.