The Putnams are the first to openly suggest that the town is afflicted by witchcraft (which was thought of at the time almost as we might think of an infectious disease nowadays, but worse!). They want Parris to root out the witches within the community. Parris sends for a local expert, Reverend Hale, then questions Abigail about the events that took place in the forest, but she admits to doing nothing more than dancing. While Parris tries to calm the crowd, the seventeen year old Abigail threatens the other, younger girls that she will kill anyone who utters a word about what happened. We learn that something more sinister than dancing was going on in the woods and that Abigail drank chicken blood as part of a spell to kill Elizabeth Proctor.
The problem of greed and lust is explored by Arthur Miller particularly in the protagonist- Abigail Williams and the characters of Thomas Putnam. During the play, we are told that John Proctor had an affair with Abigail William’s, which gave her the delusion he was in love with her. This delusion causes Abigail to dance in the forest naked and drink a blood charm to kill Elizabeth. This, along with “laughing at prayer..”, “Corrupt dreams” and “standing in an open doorway without a stich on my body” are considered by the people of Salem as signs of the devil. Also, the corrupt dreams of murdering Goody Proctor are due to her lust for John and the jealousy and need for vengeance she has for Elizabeth for dismissing her.
Who’s to blame in the Salem witch trials? Deep inside a town in Massachusetts, innocent people were accused of the devil’s work. Twenty-five people dead, an entire village on the brink of insanity, and a gathering of young girls possessed by demons defined the year 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts. What began as a childish game metamorphosed itself into mass hysteria. A combination of irresponsibility and village politics led to the demise of innocence.
John Proctor and Reverend Hale In the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the Salem witch trails are occurring, many innocent people are being accused of witchery. This occurs because many of the girls are found dancing and chanting different lyrics in the woods in the beginning of the play-this is a sign of witchcraft. The girls confess that people of Salem are sending their spirits to hurt them and that they are also communicating with the devil. Through out the play, John Proctor and Reverend Hale change because of their circumstances that they undergo during the trials. John Proctor is a farmer on the outside of Salem.
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.
The village was torn apart after the doctor (unable to explain the strange behavior of three young girls) suggested that the cause of their madness was the work of the devil, and accusations of witchcraft began to fly. With the suspicion that the devil may be afoot, chaos erupted and resulted in the nineteen villagers found guilty of witchcraft to be hung. Over the centuries, historians have thought this to be the result of a dysfunctional community, and primarily neighborhood feuding. However, a modern study has led scientist Linnda Caporael to come to the conclusion that a fungus called Ergot* that grows rye wheat is responsible for the odd behaviors of these villagers. When consumed, the fungus causes hallucinations, leading Caporael to suspect Ergot as the cause for the girls’ strange behaviors.
Eileen Tello Ms.Fedor English lll Date: 11/10/12 Period: 9 The Crucible and Hysteria The Crucible brings to life the dark period in our history which is called the Salem Witch Trials. To give a brief description of the book it is about a girl named Abigail Williams and her friends accusing people in the town of Salem of witchcraft so that she will not be punished for dancing in the woods. Not only for the dancing but also for drinking a potion that was meant to kill the wife of John Proctor, the man she committed adultery with. The girls have the town going completely insane because they are all looking out and accusing people of being witches, mostly for greed so they may get their land. Throughout this book, the author has a lot of underlying themes, such as integrity, hysteria, and the danger of ideology.
Many Puritans believe that extermination for society was the only way to cure said sinner and to “save” the society. In the Crucible by Arthur miller, John Proctor the main antagonists faces the wrath of the town of Salem. When he first discovers that his daughter may be under the influence of witchcraft, he immediately takes charge. In the Scarlett Letter by David Hawthorne, society changes the main character of Hester Prynne completely. After committing adultery, she must then face the consequences that society has in store for her.
Reverend John Hale “The Crucible” is a tale of witches, death, greed, lies and infidelity. In “The Crucible,” by Arthur Miller, it plays out the events of the witch hunt trials in Salem, Massachusetts, during the spring of 1692. Led by seventeen-year-old Abigail Williams, a group of young girls claim to have been bewitched by members of the town. With only the testament of the “afflicted” girls, people are accused and forced to either confess to witchcraft or be hanged. By the time it is all over, countless numbers of people are accused and nineteen men, women, and children, are hanged.
She even tells John Proctor “Oh posh! We were dancing’ in the woods last night, and my uncle leaped in on us.” when she says “The town’s mumbling witchcraft.” though in the latter of the novel she sticks to the idea that witchcraft is the cause of all the things taking place(21-22). The reader sees Abigail’s love for John Proctor and her resentment toward Elizabeth and the other town’s people significantly. Betty reveals Abigail “drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor” (19). During her conversation with Proctor though attempting to dodge her
Fueled by vengeance and jealously of Elizabeth Proctor, Abigail Williams determines that the only way she can have John Proctor to herself is by killing Elizabeth, or accusing her of witchcraft. In The Crucible Abigail Williams is the main advocate for the group of young girls who falsely accuse others to protect themselves. When Abigail Williams along with the other young girls of Salem are caught dancing in the woods, she immediately places the blame on Tituba and other women in the community. This continues throughout the trials until she has webbed a web of intricate lies that even she cannot get out of. Abigail's underlying motives are, “a blend of vengeance and desire” (“Introduction” xix).
The Crucible by Arthur Miller is based on the true story of the 1692 Salem Witch Trials where people were hanged if they were accused of being a witch. The majority of the characters in the play were innocent and wrongly hanged. John Proctor is a tragic hero and is crucial to the play’s storyline. John Proctor is a thirty-year-old Christian farmer who lives in Salem, with his wife and three children. Before the play takes place, he has an affair with a former worker in his house, Abigail Williams.
Abigail was the person that told the most falsehood in this play, after being caught dancing in the forest with her cousin, Betty. This was a suspicious act which automatically lead everyone to think of one thing—witchcraft. Abigail lies and says it was just innocent dancing but she has a private conversation with Betty which states otherwise. “I told him everything; he knows now, he knows everything we-” (Miller 132). Betty then went on about how Abigail drank blood, and probably didn’t tell Paris that.
John Proctor’s true major downfall proceeds later in the story when Abigail starts to accuse villagers of also being witches. Among the accused, was Elizabeth Proctor. During her trial, John Proctor stood up against Abigail, which allowed him to become one of her prime targets. John Proctor is then also accused of witchcraft and is sentenced to death by the noose. When comparing the theatrical story to real life, there are a few parallels that don’t exactly match up.
For I See the Devil . In Arthur Miller’s play “The Crucible” He stresses the fact of foils among a community. The town of Salem begins to crumble at the foundation due to a young girl Abigail Williams claming she has practiced witchcraft. Causing the death of several innocent town folk, while in puritan religion if on has dammed themselves to hell all are dammed as well. Know Compared to Abigail all look like saints but none due this better than her complete foil Elizabeth Proctor a pure puritan woman, who goes to the extent of damming herself to hell to save her husband John.
Abigail had an affair with John Proctor so she gives reveal his wifes name Elizabeth as one of the witches so she can be put to death with the other accused and Abigail can have John Proctor all to herself. Abagial uses the girls to go against Mary and pretends in court that Mary Proctors servant has afflicted them with her spirit. Abigails deceit causes a lot of people to turn against each other and not know who to trust. She causes John Proctor to
The cost of the former event, which Miller portrayed in The Crucible, were the lives of “nineteen men and women and two dogs”, who “were convicted and hanged for witchcraft” (Bigsby). In the play, Miller painted the circumstances that prompted the witch trials as nothing but a means for a couple of resentful young girls to get back at those that they felt had caused them wrong. (It is notable that many of the accused held prominent positions in the community.) Later, the girls were not able to take back what they had said, because of the serious consequences in store for them and the Judge, who ordered executions, if it were known that they had been lying. Still, “in the aftermath of the events in Salem, it was generally agreed that none of them [the people who were hanged] had actually been witches at all” (Burns).
“More weight”(Miller 1247) , when Giles Corey said this he was being slowly pressed to his death by a giant stone. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a somewhat historically accurate play about the Salem witch trials that he wrote as an extended metaphor to show how he felt after being persecuted during the red scare. The initial outcry of witches happened after a few girls were caught dancing and conducting witchcraft in the woods the girls then blamed other people in order to protect themselves from punishment. From then on anyone who denied being a witch was charged with witchcraft and there were numerous examples where innocent people were killed trying to protect their innocence or family. The plot of the crucible mainly follows John Proctor who is a struggling christian in the puritan society.
I know this because Tituba lies to save her life. Tituba confessed a lie of being in contact with the devil, knowing if she fought against witchcraft, she would hang. Abigail and her friends were dancing, drinking chicken blood, and running nude in the forest. Meanwhile, Tituba conjured spirits. Tituba confesses to her master Reverend Paris.
"The Crucible", written by Arthur Miller, and "The Scarlet Letter", written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The first novel, "The Crucible" exemplifies the quote "Ignorance is never better than knowledge", through Puritan beliefs. Almost everyone in "The Crucible" was of the Puritan religion and they were large believers in witchcraft. In the story, one of the main characters, Reverend Parris catches a group of girls dancing in the woods, which is against the Puritan religion. Everyone then finds out about the incident, and thinks they are all criminals of witchcraft.