Playing with Fire in the 1800's
By: Bodie Callaghan
The main theme of The Crucible is playing with fire (metaphorically speaking). The Crucible by Arthur Miller is about the witch hunts in Salem back in the 1600s, and is filled with engaging blame, and mystery. There are also a lot of accusations, especially by the character Abigail Williams. Abigail Williams claims to see the devil, and see others working with the devil, because of her desire for attention and power over her peers.
In the beginning of the play, Abigail is at a loss for attention. In a heated conversation with John Proctor, Abigail says, “You loved me John Procter, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet!” (P.22). Here, Abigail knows John Proctor is in fear of being caught for sinning. Abigail uses this to basically blackmail John Procter and attempt to make him feel under her control. She is trying to remind Proctor of what they had started, and make Proctor feel guilty and susceptible.
Abigail also entices more and more people into the whole witch hunt, to keep accusations going and degrade the trust between the townsfolk in Salem. At the end of Act One, Abigail and Betty start shouting at everyone, claiming to have seen multiple people with the devil. “I saw Goody Hawkins with the devil,” and “I saw Goody Booth with the devil,”(P.46) were both said by Abigail. This spreads false information to many people all at once, and leads to people inquiring to Abigail about her accusations. Earlier in the play, Abigail also claimed that, “[Elizabeth] is blackening my name in the village! She is telling lies about me. She is a cold, sniveling woman!” (P.22). She says this right to John Proctor, in an effort to convince John that his wife had something to do with the weird behaviors of Betty and Abigail. An act later, Elizabeth confronts John, and they have a conversation about court trials and who was with the devil. The conversation is very brief between John and Elizabeth, and it is almost as if they don’t trust each other. All of this, ultimately giving Abigail power over John Proctor.
Third, Abigail is seen accusing people who have less power than she does give herself the illusion that she has more power than she does. “[Abigail to Tituba] She sends her spirit to me in church; she makes me laugh at prayer---She comes to me every night to go and drink blood!”(p. 41) Tituba is a slave, and Abigail puts the blame for conjuring spirits upon her. This ultimately gives Abigail the look of authority and power over Tituba, because of the imbalance between their capabilities.
So in the end, the accusations and abuse about the devil come from Abigail's egotistic wants for attention and power. Stay open to opinions and suggestions, because the more you believe from a single person, the less factual and more opinion-based the information becomes.
