Scapegoats In The Crucible

To be blamed for something means that someone is believed to be guilty of wrongdoing by another individual. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, the issue of who caused the Salem witch trials to occur is a major debate. This topic allows readers to put together evidence to blame any character, or characters, that they deem guilty of being the cause of all the heartache in the play. That being said, there is one character that stands out amongst all of the other characters as the guiltiest for the events that occur in the play. Abigail Williams should be blamed more than any other character in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible because she helped begin the accusations of witchcraft in Salem, and she lead the accusers who made many false accusations against

Abigail Williams, a seventeen year old girl is the antagonist of this play because she tells lies and wrongfully accuses innocent people to hide her affair and to ultimately get John Proctor back. The Crucible by Arthur Miller, is a play about the Salem Witch Trials based off of the historic event in 1692, where many people fall victim to Abigail’s accusations. Her motivation to accuse is driven by her feelings for John Proctor and her determination to go to great lengths to steal Elizabeth's place as his wife. However, her plan to have John Proctor fails because of her careless actions. Abigail is considered as the evil villain of this play, because of her deceiving lies, her selfishness and her manipulativeness to satisfy her desires.

Responsibility is a huge part of a person’s everyday life. Generally most people will take responsibility for their actions. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible the theme of responsibility is spread positively throughout the play. The play focuses around the Salem Witch, where Abigail Williams, her friends, the Proctors and a few others are the main focus.

Abigail on the other hand wants John to love her as he loves his wife and wants Elizabeth gone. “With bitter anger; Oh, I marvel how such a strong man may let such a sickly wife be-” (Act 1, 23). Abigail felt distraught and angry at John when said that he will never see her again as she continues to talk about his wife so John feels guilty among himself. Abigail as well made a poppet in church for Mary Warren to give to Elizabeth as a “gift” although she had stuck a needle in the bottom of the dress by the belly. Abigail earlier that morning had been seen having a needle shoved in the exact same location. “She'll kill me for sayin that! Proctor continues toward her. Abigail charged lechery on you, Mr. Proctor!” (Act 2, 80).Handing Elizabeth with a poppet inserted with a needle was the most clever way for Abigail to charged Elizabeth of imposing with craft upon her. Knowing Mary Warren is afraid of her she took advantage of it to steal John Proctor from his wife.

The crucible provides evidence of scapegoating due to the false accusations of witchcraft witchcraft toward innocent citizens of salem. The Salem witch trials was when accusations were made towards the citizens of Salem involving witchcraft. These accusations led to nineteen killings and many more people jailed. An example of scapegoating in the crucible is seen in the following quote, “Oh Mary it is black art to change your shape...No I cannot, cannot stop my mouth; it is God’s work I do”(120). This quote describes a “scapegoat” because instead of Abigail accepting that she had been caught in a lie, she turns to please Mary Warren under blame. This showed Abigail was only in judgement of herself and did not care about the way Mary Warren was perceived by others. The quote proved to be as scapegoat because the fault was shifted to Mary to Abigail in the clear. Another example of a scapegoat from “The Crucible” was when Mary Warren accused John Proctor of being a witch. This is seen

A big ego often leads to people doing things they know they shouldn’t in return for what benefits them. Arthur Miller, the author of The Crucible, shows what can happen to a whole town when one young girl Named Abigail Williams performs witchcraft, causing chaos in the town of Salem. Secrets are kept throughout the citizen in fear their reputations would be ruined. Many have claimed, “the bonds of love between individuals that are "the foundations of any society."(Bigsby) Abigail and John had made a sin through lust, causing a big impact on their society. In Arthur Miller's Crucible, Abigail Williams is responsible for the mess in Salem.

During World War II, Hitler used his power to persuade the government to make him the chancellor, which gave him more control over Germany. This lets him manipulate the people so they would think that same way as he did. The people believed this because they did not understand what Hitler was going to do with the Jews, during this time they used the Jews as a scapegoat to blame for their problems. Many situations have a scapegoat that people need to blame to help them deal with their problems. In The Crucible written by Arthur Miller the town used witches as their scapegoat. In the New York Times article Extended Forecast: Bloodshed the people in Tanzania used witchcraft as their scapegoat. Finally in the Quartz Magazine article Fear of the Government Makes Americans More Likely to Reach for a Gun the government is creating scapegoats out of the certain people and events. Some people need to find a scapegoat to blame for example, in The Crucible, the New York Times article Extended Forecast: Bloodshed, and the Quartz Magazine article Fear of the Government makes Americans more likely to Reach for a Gun the people had to find a scapegoat for the problems that they faced.

First and foremost, Abigail is obsessive. Evidence for this is shown when she refuses to believe that her relationship with John Proctor is over. In a heated argument she openly states, “You love me John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet!”(Miller 146). Not only does this statement prove she is head over heels for John but that she does not care at all that he has a wife. She even tries to guilt the poor man into continuing the love affair. Abigail tries to get Elizabeth out of the picture by falsely accusing her of witchcraft, so she can have John to herself.

In The Crucible there are many that are accused or those who make accusations. Abigail is the number one character that uses scapegoating. She is smart, manipulative, and selfish. She does many things and yet isn’t ever caught or accused for the things she done. When the girls were caught in the forest dancing she made sure that the girls were not going to talk. “Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you.” (Act 1, Lines 355-359). She made sure there was a fake story for all the girls to follow because she didn't want a blush in her name. From the beginning of the accusations abigail had someone to blame. She accused Tituba of making the girls dance in the wood and drink blood. “I never called him! Tituba, Tituba…”(Act 1, Line 880). She also blamed Elizabeth of witchery. She began to say that Elizabeth’s spirit came and stabbed her in the stomach. With all accusations abigail

The person to blame for the salem witch trials and dreadful hangings is Abigail. The first reason why is her doing witchcraft in the forest. In the forest, she was naked and also drank the chicken blood after tituba told her not to. This is what started the whole conflict throughout the story because the next day, Betty wouldn’t wake up and Parris blamed the girls for this cause because he saw them in the woods. (line 1-160)

Sometimes people get blamed for wrongdoings that they did not participate in. This was shown in Salem, Massachusetts, during the salem witch trials in the play The Crucible. The play was based in 1692, when a community of Puritans started accusing each other of of being witches and wizards. Innocent people that did not practice witchcraft were getting hanged and accused of being witches. Scapegoats have also been used in modern day with McCarthyism, which was a campaign against communist. Many people were blacklisted and lost their jobs even though many of these people did not belong to the communist party. This took place in 1950-1954 carried out by Senator Joseph McCarthy. Using scapegoats blames innocent people for wrongdoings, and accuses people of wrong doings.

While at a dinner, she stabbed herself in the stomach. She then accusesaccused Elizabeth Proctor of using the poppet to attack her. With Elizabeth out of her way, she would be able to pursue John without competition. In Act 2, Scene 2, Abigail makes one final effort to win John’s affections. John, who is solely concerned with his wife, denies Abigail once more. She even pretends to be unaware of Elizabeth’s incarceration. After John claims his wife will have trial in the morning, Abigail acts surprised saying, “I do remember it now. How - how - Is she well?”(Miller 151). Proctor then goes on to accuse Abigail of being the one who got Elizabeth in trouble in the first place. Abigail tries to fend off John’s accusations, but he knows what she has done as she leaves him alone in the night. After she comes to the realization that she will not be able to convince John to be with her, she pretends to go insane in the court and later escapes to Barbados with Tituba. She manages to waive herself of all damages caused by her lust for John Proctor and the blood on her hands would never be washed.

Abigail has a lot of control over the whole town however, her biggest power is over girls in the town. Abigail and the other girls dance in the woods at night and get nervous about getting accused for doing

Abigail Williams has no respect for marriage. Abigail’s relationship with John Proctor and her friction to Goody Proctor are reasons why Elizabeth Proctor was accused as a witch and later the death of John. Abigail used to work for John and Elizabeth Proctor at their household until Elizabeth found out about the affair and threw Abigail out. Abigail tries to convince John to fall for her when Abigail knows he is in love with his wife, Elizabeth. But Abigail wants to refer back to her affair with John and continue a relationship with him. Although John told Abigail that the affair was over and she tried desperately to continue their romance. “Abby, I may think of you softly from time

She is never looked at as a dangerous character by the community or someone you would not want to mess with. Abigail considered she could avoid punishment by making up completely false stories to cover up her practicing of witchcraft. Once the other girls involved in this begun to feel guilty, Abigail immediately threatened them harshly. Abigail would never mess around when it came to maybe getting in trouble or ruining her chances with her love Proctor. Elizabeth Proctor can be described as almost the exact opposite of Abigail. A faithful wife of John Proctor, Elizabeth explained to the community how to be more than a bystander in life. John thinks of her as the sweetest, most confident, and honest woman he has ever met. When determining his hanging, John offered Elizabeth to speak of a recent incident that occurred because he knew she would tell the complete truth, even though his life was on the line. He said to the judges that she never lies. Although Proctor committed adultery, Elizabeth wanted to forgive him because of her kind heart. She never gave up trying to get John to focus on her