The Crucible

The Crucible
The Crucible is a play that was written by Arthur Miller in 1952. It took just a year for this play to win the Tony for the best play. This play is used throughout the United States today to help educate students about the Salem witch trials. “The Crucible is set against the backdrop of the mad witch hunts of the Salem witch trials in the late 17th century. (Miller)” The main character in this play is Abigail Williams who manipulates her friends as well as the town in general. In the following paragraphs we will follow Abigail Williams scene by scene showing how she was able to manipulate a whole town.
In the first couple of pages of the play Abigail is confronted by her uncle Reverend Parris. Reverend Parris is upset with Abigail because he caught her and his daughter Betty dancing in the forest with a slave named Tituba. When Parris came out and confronted them dancing Betty fell to the ground and has not moved since. Now Parris is questioning Abigail on whether or not they were calling spirits. Abigail states that they were not calling spirits but rather just dancing for sport. Abigail lied to her uncle because participating in witchcraft was illegal at the time so she was trying to save herself. Reverend Parris is very upset because he fears that his enemies will get a hold of this information and destroy his ministry. Abigail once again denies in any witchcraft what so ever while in the forest. Then the Putnams come to Reverend Parris’ house to discuss that their daughter Ruth has been acting strange. While the Putnams are there Parris asks Abigail again if they were conjuring sprits in the woods. This time Abigail says that Tituba and Ruth were but she was not. By Abigail saying this she is trying to make TItuba look like the bad person and that is was her fault that Ruth was acting this way. Mercy then comes into the play who is an eighteen year old girl. Mary also comes in who is a seventeen year old girl. These three all...