A Wild, Weird, and Wacky Salem Witch Hunt
Mattias Ward
Have you ever known someone who always seems to lie in order to create trouble? In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, greed and dishonesty sparks a wild Salem witch hunt which leads to many problems within the town. Abigail Williams and the other young women in Salem claim to see the devil and partake in witchcraft because they want to create a problem which only they can solve.
In Act 1, a representative of the town questions the young women about what they were doing in the forest. Reverend Hale addresses Tituba by saying, “I know that when we bind ourselves to Hell it is very hard to break with it. We are going to help you tear yourself free.” Tituba interrupts and says, “Mister Reverend, I do believe somebody else be witchin’ these children.” Hale responds, “Who?” Tituba exclaims, “I don’t know, sir, but the Devil got him numerous witches”(pg. 42). It is Reverend Hale and the other representatives of the town's responsibility to discover an answer to the witching of the young women, however they don’t have any evidence. This causes a dilemma: since they don’t have any evidence, whatever arises from anybody’s mouth must be the answer to their problems. This puts Tituba in a very powerful position because whatever she says, Hale and the other representatives will believe. By saying the Devil has himself numerous witches, Tituba implies that she knows who those witches are. Tituba knows that the representatives of the town will ask for her help, which will allow her to manipulate the situation.
In a separate instance, as accusations are being made, Abigail decides to “open herself” which leads to many problems later on. Abigail says, “I want to open myself! I want the light of God, I want the sweet love of Jesus! I danced for the devil; I saw him; I wrote in his book; I go back to Jesus; I kiss His hand. I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the devil!”(pg. 45). First off, Abigail starts by saying that she did indeed deal with the devil. Although you may believe this is a poor choice by Abigail, confessing herself actually helps her, because now Abigail is not in any danger of getting in trouble. This makes Abigail seem more trustworthy, as she has now confessed to any lies she had once made. She is also now seen as an expert on the topic of interest, as she portrays herself as knowing what kind of issue the representatives of the town are dealing with. The ones that get in trouble are the people who are accused, (often with very little evidence) then do not confess to the accusations. As Abigail continues to “open herself”, she claims to see others with the devil. Similar to Tituba, Abigail now has all the power in the town, as in the eyes of Reverend Hale, whoever Abigail accuses, must be the one guilty, due to the fact that Hale and the other leaders have no other evidence. At this point, Abigail can accuse anyone she wants and get away with it, because she already confessed that she dealt with the devil. The other possible scenario is that Abigail is lying about dealing with the devil, and just wants to create a situation where others take the fall for false accusations. Either way, Abigail is creating trouble and manipulating a situation where only she can control the outcome.
In Act 3, when Goody Proctor is being accused of witchcraft, Abigail, who used to work in the Proctor house, agrees with the accusations. Judge Danforth asks Abigail, “While you worked for Mr. Proctor, did you see poppets in that house?” Abigail responds by saying, “Goody Proctor always kept poppets”(pg. 96). Due to the fact that poppets are often associated with voodoo and witchcraft, this comment raises some suspicion toward Goody Proctor. This causes a slight twist in the story, as previous information from the text suggests that Goody Proctor didn’t keep poppets in her home. While government officials search the Proctor home, they ask if Goody Proctor had any poppets. She responds by saying, “I never kept no poppets, not since I were a girl”(pg. 69). They found a poppet in the home, but it turns out it actually belonged to Mary Warren (the Proctor’s servant). Goody Proctor is put on trial because Abigail wouldn’t speak up for her. However, a slightly different outcome could have risen from this scenario. If Abigail had said that Goody Proctor didn’t keep poppets in her home, Goody Proctor wouldn’t be under any reasonable suspicion, and would be free to live her life. Once again, Abigail manipulates the situation in order to get her desired outcome.
The young women of Salem generate issues and destroy people’s lives by their choice of words and actions, manipulating situations so that they are seen as the solutions rather than the origins of the problems. In order for a town to run smoothly, the citizens must not have the power to put whoever they wish on trial, for the government officials did not do their job either, allowing the citizens to impact the government’s operations.
