The Crucible is a play written by Arthur Miller about the Salem witch trials of 1692. The play illustrates the sudden empowerment of women, the fall of community, and the loss of power of high-ranking people, like Reverend Parris and John Proctor. Throughout the play, there is evidence that many characters, power rises while it falls for others. For example in 1692 women did not have any power at all, but as soon as Abby and the other girls accuse upstanding members of the community of witchcraft their power rises above those upstanding members and those people’s power goes down in maelstrom.
Abby and the other girls are the people whose power rises throughout most of the play. Abby is the ringleader, who intimidates everyone into going along …show more content…
Reverend Parris in the beginning of the play has an awful reputation. He is a selfish man, an example of this is when he goes against Puritan values and makes everyone in the church give what little money they have and buy golden candlesticks. The old candlesticks were made by Francis Nurse, he made them with is own hands making them closer to God, the new candlesticks are bought from out of town and the action offends some of the members of Salem. John uses the candlesticks as a reason to not go to church because, “But Parris came…he preach nothin’ but golden candlesticks…when I look to heaven and see my money glaring at his elbows-it hurt my prayer…(62)”. Parris is put in a predicament because he finds his daughter, his niece, and several other girls practicing witchcraft in the woods and the next day his daughter, Betty, is in a somewhat comatose state. He confronts Abby and she lies through her teeth, “No one was naked! You mistake yourself Uncle! (11)”. He just lets the subject go, not wanting to ruin his, Betty’s, or Abby’s reputation. In Act II, Parris’s power rising with his nieces and he’s enjoying it because people he does not enjoy the presence of, like Proctor, are getting accused. Parris gets nervous in Act III because Proctor brings in Mary Warren, who formally was one of the accusers, in to testify against the girls. He flips out and lies, “I can only say, sir, that I never found any of them naked (97)”, but in Act I he had confronted Abigail about what he saw in the
Abby and the other girls are the people whose power rises throughout most of the play. Abby is the ringleader, who intimidates everyone into going along …show more content…
Reverend Parris in the beginning of the play has an awful reputation. He is a selfish man, an example of this is when he goes against Puritan values and makes everyone in the church give what little money they have and buy golden candlesticks. The old candlesticks were made by Francis Nurse, he made them with is own hands making them closer to God, the new candlesticks are bought from out of town and the action offends some of the members of Salem. John uses the candlesticks as a reason to not go to church because, “But Parris came…he preach nothin’ but golden candlesticks…when I look to heaven and see my money glaring at his elbows-it hurt my prayer…(62)”. Parris is put in a predicament because he finds his daughter, his niece, and several other girls practicing witchcraft in the woods and the next day his daughter, Betty, is in a somewhat comatose state. He confronts Abby and she lies through her teeth, “No one was naked! You mistake yourself Uncle! (11)”. He just lets the subject go, not wanting to ruin his, Betty’s, or Abby’s reputation. In Act II, Parris’s power rising with his nieces and he’s enjoying it because people he does not enjoy the presence of, like Proctor, are getting accused. Parris gets nervous in Act III because Proctor brings in Mary Warren, who formally was one of the accusers, in to testify against the girls. He flips out and lies, “I can only say, sir, that I never found any of them naked (97)”, but in Act I he had confronted Abigail about what he saw in the