How The Salem Witch Trials affected Sexism in the 1600's
Anya Ostrovsky
When people are dissatisfied with something, they might go to extreme measures to achieve it. This is explored in The Crucible By Arthur Miller which investigates topics of witch hunts and politics, as well as sexism in the late 1600s. Men are in power, but the women have had enough. The young women of Salem, led by Abigail Williams, make claims about seeing the devil and participating in witchcraft because they want to stop being seen as being inferior to men.
Sexism was very prominent in the 1600s, and it is showcased in The Crucible. One example of this was when Abigail is trying to get John Proctor for herself, and he uses his sense of power as a male to threaten her. Abigail says, “She is blackening my name in the village! She is telling lies about me! She is a cold, sniveling woman, and you bend to her! Let her turn you like a-” John Proctor Interrupts, “Do you look for a whippin’?” (p.17). Abigail is in tears. Prior to this dialogue, John and Abigail had been fighting, and John wanted her to obey him and stop fighting, so that he could keep a clean name for himself in the village. He made a decision to have an affair with her out of his own free will, but now that he regrets it, he threatens her because he has the power to do so. This shows that men could just use their power over women to force them to do things in their favor.
Abigail and the other girls were tired of not being seen as normal functioning members of society, so they wanted to attract attention to themselves. When the rumors of witchcraft started going around, they embraced it and pretended like they were cursed, or that they were witches. In this example, Mary, John Proctor’s servant, is telling everybody that John Proctor has been in league with the devil, and he has been forcing her to do witchcraft. “Don’t touch me-don’t touch me,” Mary yells. “Mary!” Proctor responds. “You’re the devil's man!” she says. “Praise God!” inserts Parris. The other girls repeat after him “Praise God!” Proctor is numbed, “Mary, how-?” “I will not hang with you! I love god, I love god!” Mary screams. “He bid you to do the devil’s work?” Parris asks. “He come at me by night and every day,” Proctor retorts (pg.84). This excerpt shows that the girls would do anything to protect each other and get people to notice them, even if it meant getting other people like John Proctor into trouble.
The girls try very hard to be seen, and it even drove some people like John Proctor to confess to being in league with the devil. Danforth, the deputy governor of Massachusetts, asks Proctor, “Now, then, Mister, will you speak slowly, and directly to the point, for Mr. Cheever’s sake? Mr. Proctor, have you seen the Devil in your life? Come, man, there is light in the sky; the town waits at the scaffold; I would give out this news. Did you see the Devil?” “I did,” Proctor responds. “And when he come to you, what were his demand? Did he bid you to do his work upon the earth?” Danforth questions. “He did,” Proctor replies. (pg.99). Proctor is tired of telling everyone that there was no such thing as witchcraft, and he knew that Abigail would not stop preaching the opposite until he went to her. He feels bad about cheating on Elizabeth with Abigail, so he would not give Abigail the satisfaction of having him, and instead he sacrificed himself.
In the play, Salem is flooded with rumors of witchcraft thanks to the young women of the town, who want to be recognized as people instead of tools. The girls, particularly Abigail, stop at anything until they get their ways. Through random opportunism, they convince the people of Salem of a real threat of the devil and witchcraft, and take back power from the men and the system that had made them feel worthless for their whole lives.
