Authority

– The Crucible By Arthur Miller Essay, Research Paper

Authority. Can it be abused? Abagail and the other girls in the play, The Crucible by Arthur Miller, strongly abused their position of power. Through the authority of the girls in the court, the Witch Hysteria came about in Salem. Because of the Witch Hysteria, false accusations of witchcraft were placed on members of the community in a form of vengeance from previous misunderstandings. Vengeance was seeking itself in Salem. ?Mary, why do you send your spirit on me?? The Witch Hysteria in The Crucible was the cause of all the problems, which will be further examined in the very near future. Abagail and the girls began to cry ?Witch? after Reverend Parris discovered them dancing in the woods early one morning with a fire and a kettle full of some sort of brew. As dancing was strictly forbidden, especially around a fire, a subtle thought of witchcraft was aroused in Salem. Reverend Parris was ecstatic about losing his ministry because he believed he was not well liked by the town?s people. Parris was enraged at Abagail for her and the girls? actions in the woods as his daughter Betty lay in bed, so called ?witched?. Abagail and the girls dancing is discovered (Abagail is a servant who is in love with her former employer, John Proctor, who is married to Elizabeth. John Proctor committed adultery with Abagail. She was released from the Proctor home soon after). False accusations all begin at that point, a critical point in the play. As Abagail accuses Tituba of making her dance and drink blood, and revealing whom Parris and Hale think is the link to the Devil in Salem, Abagail is given a very extreme power, a power that will be greatly abused. Abagail and the girls begin accusing innocent people of witchery for their own personal gains. Vengeance and desire, not witchcraft, are the causes of these false accusations. Reverend Hale and John Proctor state this throughout the play, numerous times. Men and women of the town such as Ann and Thomas Putnam are seeking vengeance through the Trials, Goody Putnam for her lost children and Thomas for the children and his land disputes with Giles Corey. The girls are in love men and boys of the town, and that is what they are trying to gain from these inaccurate accusations. As these false accusations are made, Dansforth and Parris believe the girls, despite Reverend Hale and John Proctor?s objections, but Dansforth does not want to reverse his previous guilty verdicts, because it could tarnish his name as a court judge in a sense. As a result, Proctor is accused of witchcraft, and is sentenced to hang unless he confesses. He refuses to confess to lies. As a result of the hysteria of a town, false accusations came about, vengeance was carried out and 19 people were hanged, all because power was put into the wrong hands. John Proctor and 18 other people lost their lives, their freedom, the common rights of man because authority refused to believe the truth and was caught up in the hype.