Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible is a fictional story about the Salem Witch Trials, a series of hearings and prosecutions of those who were accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts. This is a tragic story that begins with an innocent event and ends with the deaths of innocent people. Three characters are responsible for instigating and exacerbating the trials in Miller’s play. Abigail Williams manipulates people within the community in order to get rid of the wife of the man with whom she had an affair. Thomas Putnam, a materialistic person, uses the trials to increase his own wealth. Finally, Judge Danforth is a deputy governor who oversees the trials and fails to adhere to principles of due process for the accused.
Abigail Williams incites the witch trials by making accusations in order to manipulate people because she wants John Proctor all to herself. First, she pins the …show more content…
Abigail accuses others of witchcraft in order to get rid of the people who are in the way of her own desires. Thomas uses his daughter as an easy way to gain land that has been forfeited by the accused. Judge Danforth fails to ask specific questions about the motives of the accusers and ignores the time-honored processes of the court. The trial becomes the tragedy that it is because the characters pursue their own blind self-interests without considering the consequences for their actions on lives of other people. It is incumbent upon members of a civilized society to remember that if they abandon basic principles in order to protect themselves from a threat, then the outcome will likely leave a much bigger path of destruction than the threat
Abigail Williams incites the witch trials by making accusations in order to manipulate people because she wants John Proctor all to herself. First, she pins the …show more content…
Abigail accuses others of witchcraft in order to get rid of the people who are in the way of her own desires. Thomas uses his daughter as an easy way to gain land that has been forfeited by the accused. Judge Danforth fails to ask specific questions about the motives of the accusers and ignores the time-honored processes of the court. The trial becomes the tragedy that it is because the characters pursue their own blind self-interests without considering the consequences for their actions on lives of other people. It is incumbent upon members of a civilized society to remember that if they abandon basic principles in order to protect themselves from a threat, then the outcome will likely leave a much bigger path of destruction than the threat