In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible (1953), he shows the corruptness of the courts and their influence on the decisions of Abigail Williams. Abby was just a girl, she loved to pretend. She and the other girls of Salem loved it, they danced in the woods and pretended to be witches. That is until they were found by Reverend Parris, after which two girls pretended to be bewitched because they were afraid of the consequences. This is the beginning of the chaos that would consume Salem, ending in almost 20 innocents hung. Is it not a judge’s worst fear to condemn an innocent person? Shouldn’t the judicial process prevent the killing of the innocent? Can a crime based on superstition be fully and justly taken to court? When faced with a corrupt …show more content…
In act two, Mary Warren returns from Salem to a furious John Proctor, who had forbidden her to do so. She tells the Proctors that Goody Osburn will hang because Osburn had tried to kill her many times. Elizabeth asks how, and Mary replied, “whenever I turned her away empty, she mumbled” and a month ago after she had done just that, Mary Warren’s stomach hurt for two days (Miller 164). There is no evidence given or shown that directly link the two events.They may have occurred in the same period of time, but even birth and death happen at nearly the same time;a new baby born and an old man falling into a sleep he will not wake from. The judges seemed to just make one equal two without evidence to show why or how. Another case of unverifiable evidence was the supposed spirits Abby and the other girls saw. When Proctor took Mary into confess, the girls pretended to see Mary’s spirit as a bird on a beam. Mercy, one of the girls pointed at the supposed apparition and Danforth looked saying, “Where!” (Miller 191). It was not that Danforth could not see it, the spirit just did not exist. If a judge and honest men can not see it, and cannot be made to see it, then it probably did not happen. Danforth, after all, could not verify if the spirit was real. A good court would never even acknowledge evidence if it has no correlation to the case, or if the evidence had no way to find its validity, nor would …show more content…
She was 16, she had plenty of years to live and did not want to die. It was not her first choice to condemn others, it was forced by the corrupt justice system. A system that should have taken all those accused as innocent until they could be proven almost undeniably guilty. Judges should fear sentencing the wrong person. The justice system should be arranged to protect the innocent, and crimes charged in fear from one's beliefs cannot be justly tried in court. All should try not to judge and condemn others in one’s own eyes by how one looks, or the actions someone seems to have
The Crucible by Arthur Miller focuses on the corruption in Salem, Massachusetts during the witch trials. Because, of the corruption it caused a lot of people's opinions to fluctuate. It caused relationships to end, and even begin. Mr. Hale entered the town of Salem in act 1 after he was called upon by Parris after there was a concern that Betty, his daughter, was possessed by the devil. Hale was known for confirming whether they were a witch or not.
Some may argue that Rebecca Nurse was not credulous enough to believe that the girls were asleep because of witchcraft and could speculate they were just pretending when she estimates, “I think she’ll wake when she tires of it” (Act 1, Line 557-558). While Rebecca Nurse was perceptive enough to know the girls were pretending, Ann Putnam was still able to get the irrational court to believe that Rebecca Nurse killed her babies by using witchcraft. The girls were able to deceive the court into thinking Mary Warren was using witchcraft upon them when Mercy Lewis asks, “Mary why do you send this shadow on me” (Act 3, Line 80). The young single girls convinced Deputy Governor Danforth, head of the court, that Mary Warren is a witch by pretending Mary was casting her shadow upon them. By manipulating the puritan's beliefs to their favor the girls pretended as if Mary was casting her shadow upon them to make her seem like a witch.
Most people relies on information that is on the trend. Some will do their research and some will not. The way how information transfer could be easily corrupted in today’s time period. Most people gain knowledge of events through social media. My opinion on the possibility of information corruption leans towards the agreement side.
Abigail’s secret of faking being bewitched in court was finally about to come out. So, in a last second frenzy, she had started to attack Mary Warren to save herself, to which Mary turned on Proctor to save herself. After attempts to save themselves from damnation, characters of the Crucible started acting hysterically as well as pointing fingers at anyone they could, creating a stampede of frenzy and agitation, stomping cold-footed through the pages of the play. Every single character in the play had been affected by the mass hysteria that crept through Salem like a thick fog. Many people - Reverend Parris being a good example - were worried about their reputations, how they would look to the mass’s judging and unforgiving eye.
During the late 17th century a total of 200 people were accused of participating in witchcraft, while 19 people lost their lives to the mass hysteria. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, a group of girls start a huge uproar in Salem, Massachusetts when they start screeching about Salemites being associated with the Devil. Throughout the play write, it shows the consequences of mass hysteria and how it puts people's lives in danger. Abigail Williams causes a wave of mass hysteria and because of her trickery, innocent people have died by her and the other girl’s actions, for this Abigail is the most unforgivable character in The Crucible.
evidence these harmless or well-respected Salem villagers who have not confessed to witchcraft, are not witches. Though, unfortunately, this did not occur, instead the public, through fear, was easily manipulated into supporting the corruption in the government and further inciting it. The government utilized fear to weaken the citizens and muddle their judgement, so the citizens would have to rely on the government for judgement. The corruption of the government during the Red Scare stemmed from the leader of it, McCarthy (History.com staff; Hosey). This senator was discovered to have told dishonest speeches, fabricated evidence, and abused suspects, violating their rights, during interrogations (Barnes; Hosey).
She turns the court against Mary Warren by telling the court that she sees spirits and claims that Mary summoned the
In the play, the Crucible, by Arthur Miller, Salem, Massachusetts was a place of constant hysteria in the 1600s because of what would come to be commonly known as the Salem Witch Trials. This was a full-blown witch hunt for people found to display signs of witchcraft. Abigail Williams was the main person to blame for this pursuit of witches in Salem because, first off, she was the one who caused hysteria about witchcraft just to cover up the fact that
In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, Miller demonstrated that it was Abigail William’s flaws: lust, vengeance, and jealously that led her to be responsible the most for the tragedy of the witch hunts in Salem. Abigail Williams started the entire suspicion of there being active member of witchcraft throughout Salem, Massachusetts. She did this for her own benefits and used trickery to get what she wanted. Abigail was corrupt and only cared for her own desires. There are many reasons that these flaws are crucial to the outcome of the play.
In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the setting is Salem, Massachusetts during the late 1600s where the town’s pious Puritan beliefs directly influence their government. A 17-year-old girl named Abigail Williams had an affair with John Proctor, a wealthy, married man. Abigail is told by John to move on but instead, Abigail starts accusing the townspeople of witchcraft, including John Proctor’s wife Elizabeth. As this hysteria begins to rise, other people such as Thomas Putnam, a rich landowner, start to also allege Salem villagers. In this play, the author illustrates the central idea that people should not allow jealousy to control their actions.
During court, Mary said she heard “the other girls screaming” and that Danforth “seemed to believe them” so she followed suit (Miller 107). Abigail and her friends saw the court believing their act, so they continued with their theatrics. This same display of emotion from Proctor also works at convincing Danforth Abigail’s words are not to be trusted, and her accusations against his wife have no
Arthur Miller’s portrayal of a town in the midst of a downfall “The Crucible”, tells the story of how mob mentality and hysteria can significantly influence not only individuals but the whole town. This mob mentality leads to unthoughtful acts and false accusations. Two characters who demonstrate how mob mentality can lead to the demise of Salem are Abigail and Mary Warren. As Abigail begins to be accused she is pressured to deter from the truth. While Mary Warren gets pressured by Proctor to reveal the truth about Abigail, but the overwhelming pressure from the mob makes her turn from the truth.
“Mary Warren, very faintly: No, sir. Hathorne, with a gleam of victory: And yet, when people accused of witchery confronted you in court, you would faint, saying their spirits came out of their bodies and choked you - Mary Warren: That were pretense, sir. Danforth: I cannot hear you. Mary Warren:
Time and Time Again Power Corrupts “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” This quote by politician Lord Acton has a lot to do with The Crucibles. The Crucibles, a play written by Arthur Miller takes place during the Salem witch trials. In this play a lot more was happening than just the hanging of witches. There was also corruption of power and authority in the court, specifically by a judge named Danforth.
Abigail then tells John Proctor (a man she had been having an affair with in the past) that the ill girls had nothing to with witchcraft. Elizabeth tells John to tell Reverend Hale what she had said, but he claimed that they would not believe him. The girls then started blaming innocent people of witchcraft from all ages claiming they saw the devil with them. There were many people who were hung pleading that they had nothing to do with witchcraft. John Proctor then grew tired of the accusations the girls so wrongfully laid upon innocent people.