You Don't Know the Power of the Dark Side
Maddux
Have you ever wondered what revenge and greed can cause a person to do? In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, a play about a colonial age puritan witch hunt, most of the unfortunate plot sequences are caused by Abigail Williams’ revenge tactics and twisted way of showing love for John Proctor.
The first twisted act of love comes when Abigail wants to eliminate Elizabeth Proctor, John’s wife, from the picture. In the first act, Abigail hints at a relationship between her and John Proctor, and blames Elizabeth Proctor for kicking her out of their house, where she previously worked as a maid. Abigail says, “It’s she put me out, you cannot pretend it were you. I saw your face when she put me out, you loved me then and you do now!” (p.21). Further evidence comes in the epilogue where John and Abigail met in the woods and Abigail seemed deranged and exclaimed “Oh John, I will make you such a wife when the world is white again” (p.141), which you could take to mean when the witch hunt ends and Elizabeth is dead.
Abigail starts a witch hunt by faking being possessed with a couple others, and continues to accuse many others of witchcraft. One of the people is obviously Elizabeth, who Abigail charges with attempted murder after a needle is found in her stomach. At the Proctor house, Ezekiel Cheever says “She sat to dinner in Reverend Parris’ house tonight and without word nor warnin’ she falls to the floor”(p.70). The “evidence” that Elizabeth did it was that a poppet was found in her house, signifying a voodoo-like connection, even though it was placed by the Proctor’s servant, Mary Warren, who is a friend of Abigail, a clear setup, though it was enough to convince the officers to arrest her.
Abigail and others also fake possession in court to frame Mary Warren for witchcraft. Abigail comes at Mary after she confesses to John Proctor the lies and acting they did. In court, when John Proctor is confronting Judge Danforth with evidence of trickery, and Danforth is starting to question Abigail's claims, Abigail, Mercy Lewis, and Susanna Walcott all seem possessed by Mary even when she pleads “Abby, Abby don’t do that”(p. 101), further proving her ruthlessness when it comes to revenge. This action forces John Proctor into a rage where he confesses to lechery, starting the chain reaction that leads to his eventual death, and the fall of Abigail’s plan.
Although there are other causes for these sequences, this shows a lot of actions Abigail did influenced by love turned to revenge and greed, something you can actually connect to Star Wars. This is the dark side of love, the love that turns to hate. It does this when one hurtful action happens, even if the action is simply not returning the love. In a perfect world people would try to be loving to everyone, and show love to everyone.
