The play The Crucible is written by Arthur Miller. It’s main focus is on the psychotic Abigail Williams and the effects of her false accusations of witchcraft against various members of Salem. The play has several different themes throughout, but three major ones can be singled out. These three themes are mass hysteria, groupthink, and abuse of power. The first theme to be discussed is mass hysteria. This theme fits the story very well, since a major part of the story is the imaginary threat of witchcraft and devilry spreading through the town like wildfire. As soon as something new is uncovered, whether true or false, rumors explode around town. For instance, after Abigail and her friends accuse several women, it spreads throughout town
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All of this explains how she abuses power so easily- she just doesn’t care. One of our first glimpses into her true nature is towards that beginning, when Abigail threatens the girls to say what she tells them to. They argue at first, but Abigail states, “...And mark this. Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you. And you know I can do it;...” She legitimately threatened to murder them; no wonder they lied and followed her example. She uses this fear as power throughout the rest of the story to control them. Danforth also abuses his power as judge, condemning innocents to hang unless they confess to witchcraft. So, either they say they are witches, and if they deny, they are hanged. There is no chance for innocence, defense, evidence, argument, or a fair trial. This is abuse of power because he uses his status to give everyone only two options and disregards that fact there is another. He is very impatient and also uses fear to threaten and control others. While he harshly interrogates Mary, Abigail and the other girls mock her and weaken her resolve to speak the truth. Where another judge would have considered the evidence and concluded Mary has been coerced into lying again, Danforth yelled, “You will confess yourself or hang!” He gave Mary no option than to say she was lying or else she would be murdered. You can’t expect a child to throw away her life for
All of this explains how she abuses power so easily- she just doesn’t care. One of our first glimpses into her true nature is towards that beginning, when Abigail threatens the girls to say what she tells them to. They argue at first, but Abigail states, “...And mark this. Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you. And you know I can do it;...” She legitimately threatened to murder them; no wonder they lied and followed her example. She uses this fear as power throughout the rest of the story to control them. Danforth also abuses his power as judge, condemning innocents to hang unless they confess to witchcraft. So, either they say they are witches, and if they deny, they are hanged. There is no chance for innocence, defense, evidence, argument, or a fair trial. This is abuse of power because he uses his status to give everyone only two options and disregards that fact there is another. He is very impatient and also uses fear to threaten and control others. While he harshly interrogates Mary, Abigail and the other girls mock her and weaken her resolve to speak the truth. Where another judge would have considered the evidence and concluded Mary has been coerced into lying again, Danforth yelled, “You will confess yourself or hang!” He gave Mary no option than to say she was lying or else she would be murdered. You can’t expect a child to throw away her life for