Examples Of Superstition In The Crucible

How could you not believe the words of John Proctor? Why the man with the purest name in Salem throw away his good name after claiming to be an adulterer? It is in my good opinion that Abigail Williams seeks vengeance on John Proctor for taking her innocence. Elizabeth lied to protect her husband, just like any women would lie to protect her family life, children and husband. Even someone like Goody Proctor, who has never told a lie before. This is a natural lie to tell. I beg of you, your Honour, to reconsider your decision on sending Elizabeth to the jailhouse. You must ensure that this trial is fair. Telling Proctor and Abigail to stand with their backs facing Elizabeth was not a fair way to question her. You are a noble judge. We saw John Proctor break down in court and this is not the behavior of a man who is trying to deceive or undermine the court or the trial. Your Excellency, Proctor is a well-respected farmer and his wife has no mark upon her name. They are good souls who don 't deserve to be hanged due to the lies of Abigail Williams and the girls. Abigail is hell-bent on seeking vengeance on Proctor. Abigail is comparable to Lucifer. She pulled the wool over your eyes , the girls and even me at the beginning. But I saw this presence and soon will you. She has deceived most people in the village including you. I can see she has played

Elizabeth Proctor knew Abigail was after her, that is because while in court, the Proctors new Servant, Mary Warren, heard that someone sent his or her spirit to try and harm Elizabeth. Elizabeth is very frightened now so she tells John to go to Abigail to plead with her not to kill Elizabeth. Elizabeth believe Abigail may “dote on it now..”,but she then will think “to kill” Elizabeth, and take her place (61). It is quite evident that Elizabeth is hated by Abigail, but I really believe that besides the fact Abigail loves John Proctor, she really is a witch deep down inside. Eziekel Cheever, sent by court to gather those accused of witchcraft comes for Elizabeth proctor. According to him something has happened to Abigail and that something is the fault of Elizabeth, a so called “witch”. Cheever describes to John Proctor about Elizabeth and how she was accused of “stabbing Abigail” He explains how Abigail “ fell to the floor” and Reverend Parris, her Uncle, “draw a needle out,” and then he says “testify it were your wife familiar spirit that pushed it in” (74). Mary Warren, before this mishap, gave Elizabeth a poppet that she made in court. She gave it to her as an apology gift for her behavior. So when Cheever came, Elizabeth had the doll,which had a needle stuck in it! Coincidence Mary gave it to Elizabeth right before this incident…perhaps, but most

In The Crucible, Arthur Miller wrote about the puritans and their superstitions. The puritans were scared of everything. They believed that the devil lived in the forest, so they were forbidden to go there. They believed that if something could not be explained then the devil caused it. The Crucible had many superstitions take place but I'm identifying the use of charms, the number of seven, and a rabbit's foot.

This is later confirmed when she threatens to “come to [them] in the black of some terrible night and … bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder” (Pg.175) Mary Warren and Betty Parris if they dare to tell the truth. This shows her determination at killing Elizabeth Proctor and securing her own reputation. Unlike many naive villains in other literatures, Abigail sets out a meticulous scheme to frame Elizabeth. First, she witnesses Mary Warren leaving a needle in a doll. Then she “[sticks] two inches [of a needle] in the flesh of her belly”(pg. 203) to frame Elizabeth of performing witchcraft. So mendacious is Abigail that she is willing to injure herself to accomplish her plan. Under her beautiful appearance also lays a manipulative heart. She is capable of manipulating not only the girls into doing things her way, but also the members of the court to her advantage. When questioned by Danforth whether the spirits she has seen are illusion, Abigail steps it up a notch by making the members of the court feel sorry for her and madly refutes, “I have been near to murdered every day because I done my duty pointing out the Devil’s people—and this is my reward? To be mistrusted, denied, questioned like a—” (Pg.210) This, following by Elizabeth's failure to tell the truth and the girl’s verisimilar acting toward the “yellow bird”, further demonstrates her manipulative power which brings the court in her favor. Altogether, many

In the story “The Crucible” Abigail and her cousin are accused of being witches. IN act one it states “We did dance, uncle, and when you leaped out of the bush so suddenly, Betty was frightened and then she fainted. And there’s the whole of it” (Abigail Page 1). They got caught dancing and doing things they were forbidden to do. Since that day the entire town thinks of then as witches. That being said Abigail tries to make things right. Additionally in act one Abigail states “let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word about a thing or I will came to you in the black of some terrible night” (Page 19). From there forward Abigail started to accuse Tituba. Tituba then confessed “He say Mr. Parris must be killed! And No! I don’t hate that man. I don’t want to kill that man”. But he says, “You work for me, Tituba, and I make you free!”(Page 44).This confession and accession give’s Abigail and Betty a chance to act Innocent and accuse random people as well.

At times, fear motivates people to behave unscrupulously. Personal fears instigate some characters in Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible to cry witch. Reverend Parris fears losing his job, Abigail fears prosecution and losing John Proctor, and Tituba fears physical retribution. Fear induces people to defend their personal whims and use their power to harm others.

Sue Miley once said, “When we combine choices with fear, we suddenly become overwhelmed and paralyzed” (Miley). Fear is a powerful emotion that can heavily impact one’s decision whether it be for the good or bad. In The Crucible, many important decisions are made and fear is heavily involved in many of those decisions. A research question to be examined is, to what degree can we attribute the events of the Salem Witch Trials as illustrated in The Crucible to fear?

Throughout the play Abigail tries to show the other characters that she is not to blame for her mistakes. An example of her trying to blame other people is when she tells her uncle that he should go and deny the witchcraft accusations. By not denying the allegations herself and having someone else do it, shows that she has support from other townspeople. Elizabeth Proctor is a strong woman who is blamed for witchcraft because of Abigail's accusations. Abigail claims that Elizabeth is a liar and is bitter, but when the reader meets Elizabeth for the first time they realize it is just Abigail exaggerating.

Around the time of “The Crucible”, people had a lot of superstitions. They believed anything, including witchcraft, and especially books on

This relates to The Crucible. Because at the end of the act two Mary Warren blamed Abigail for getting Elizabeth charged with witchcraft. Because of the doll that was planted by Abigail, Elizabeth was unfairly judged. Everyone has listened to “innocent” Abigail claims, while judging the rest of the people unfairly.

Growing up in an Asian family, there are certain things that I couldn’t do. I could not brush my hair in the car nor stick chopsticks straight up in the rice because these things were believed to bring bad luck. Despite the fact that I think they are ridiculous, but I still believe in them anyway. In “ The Crucible” by Arthur Miller, the author explains how superstition has taken over one’s logic by showing us how people lost their senses, and how innocent people were being accused for unreasonable reasons, and lastly without any evidence, many were sent to jail.

Since Abigail is the Reverends niece and grew up with a pastor in the household it seems as if she should be very humble and a good person but her human nature took a toll making her greedy therefore making her dishonest and deceptive. She is afraid that people won’t agree with her, that motivates her to get people on her side. She then falsely accuses others of witchcraft and her being the victim. Witchcraft was taken very seriously back then and it ended up ripping apart the town and caused non stop fighting by almost everyone. Abigail’s main motive is John Proctor so she tries to lie to John about his wife to get him to fall for her “She is blackening my name in the village she is telling lies about me she’s a cold swiveling

Although, Abigail is accusing innocent people for being witches, but the judges doesn't know that Abigail is lying because she want to hide her affair with John proctor. In the beginning of the play, Abigail first accuse Tituba for witchcraft. For example Abigail said “ she made me do it! She made betty do it!” (miller page 482). Abigail is telling Mr hale and Mr. parris that tituba is making abigail and betty to do witchcraft, but actually Abigail want tituba to make love potion for John proctor to love her. Everyone in salem town is believe her with big lies. Everyone is scared of Abigail because they can be accuse. Abigail and her friend are blaming others for witchcraft and pretending they are getting hurt. People are getting arrest or getting hang up because abigail and her friends doesn't like them. According to cheever “ There be so many cows wanderin’ the highroads, now their master are in jail and much disagreement who they will

One of the significant actions that Abigail took was when she stabbed herself (“The girl, the Williams girl, Abigail Williams, sir. She sat to dinner in Reverend Parris’s house tonight, and without word nor warnin’ she falls to the floor. Like a struck beast, he says and screamed a scream that a bull would weep to hear. And he goes to save her, and, stuck two inches in the flesh of her belly, he drew a needle out…” - Cheever. (Miller 70-71.)) just to accuse Elizabeth proctor of witchcraft. Earlier in the story, Mary Warren handed Elizabeth a poppet (a voodoo doll) as a small gift; not knowing that this will soon put Goody Proctor in a disastrous situation. Abigail saw Mary making the doll and realized if she uses this opportunity well, that she can get Elizabeth accused as a witch. That night she suddenly falls at the dinner table and when Reverend Parris went to save her, she successfully accuses Elizabeth for damaging her. Abigails cunning yet brilliant plan worked and resulted Elizabeth being arrested just as she wished.

Faith and fear both can drive a person over the edge. This is demonstrated throughout the entire play. Fear drove many people such as Abigail to accuse others of witchcraft because she actually committed it and just wants to get the attention off of her so she does not get killed for her crime. Faith has a similar effect on this event because Abigail is not afraid of the devil, she danced with him and caused this whole mess. Another way she created a terrible sin is when she told the audience about her affair with John Proctor by saying these words.”I look for John Proctor that took me from my sleep and put knowledge in my heart! I never knew what pretense Salem was, I never knew the lying lessons I was taught by all these Christian women and their covenanted men! And now you bid me tear the light out of my eyes? I will not, I cannot! You loved me, John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet!” (Page 471)This quote sets the tone of sin for the entire rest of the play. Fear did not play an extremely big part in this outburst, but faith did. John was afraid of people hearing this and his name would be ruined and that is not good for a holy puritan man like John. Fear and faith may not be visible but they can be the biggest player in life. The play outlines this ion a perfect historical way. It is very sad to think of all the innocent people that were hung for no reason. It is almost just as important to understand why history did this. Fear and Faith caused one of the craziest set of trials of all time. This is how fear and faith may be different by definition but cause the same effects in people's