Giving into Peer Pressure
Bella Gluchowski
Many people have been influenced by friends or family to believe lies and false information. The play, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, takes place back in 1692 when the Salem witch trials began in Massachusetts. This play is filled with surprises and life lessons about how lies and peer pressure can damage others. Young women from Salem create heinous claims against their townsfolk due to being pressured by their close friends, acquaintances, and family members.
One of the most significant contributions to this dilemma is when Abigail is willing to manipulate young women and adults with lies to destroy their town. Abigail states, "No, he'll be comin' up. Listen now; if they be questioning us, tell them we danced -I told him as much already."(p. 17). She tells all of the girls that were a part of the "dancing" in the woods. She started by dancing in the woods and accusing one of the enslaved townsfolk of making her and the girls drink blood. Continuing later, Mrs. Putnam decides to confess she told the enslaved Tituba to conjure the spirits of her dead children. As these weird confessions started pouring out, more townsfolk begin talking about people they saw with the Devil, and clearly, this all started because of Abigail Williams.
Giles is completely afraid of witchcraft and starts learning that his wife was always reading books. “Nonsense! Mister, I have myself examined Tituba, Sarah Good, and numerous others that have confessed to dealing with the devil. They have confessed it” (p. 65). He also finds it hard to pray to God when his wife was doing such. After people start hearing things about his wife, the same woman who lost all of her children blamed Goody for killing her children because Goody was the only person who helped deliver her children. Also, during all of this, peer pressure played a massive role for Mary Warren and Danforth. Mary eventually gives in to peer pressure from Danforth. She cries while confessing that Proctor made her sign her name in the Devil's book and persuaded her to testify against the young women in court.
Finally, one of the most important things that make the witch hunt drama worse is how the girls also followed Abigail’s lies, rumors and continued to start more until people were killed. Abigail is only saying the people she saw doing witchcraft were the people she disliked the most. This is the part of the playbook where the girls pretend that a bird-like creature is attacking them in the courtroom and causing a scene by persuading the judge by copying Mary Warren and screaming. A quote proves that the girls were framing the people they dislike; Proctor says, "She is cold; your Honor, touch her!" (p. 101). Abigail was going into the courtroom where a trial was held for Elizabeth and John Proctor. Abigail starts "seeing" a demonic bird-like creature and abruptly starts screaming and running; eventually, the other girls follow Abigail's every move, including copying Mary Warren.
As a result of manipulation, lies, peer pressure, and rumors, the girls continued making extremely out-of-the-ordinary claims on their townsfolk and the people they disliked, leading to people being hanged. The main takeaway for readers would be not to let other people control what you do and not fall into peer pressure, including manipulation, because, in the end, it can hurt others and yourself and lead to tons of drama.
