Register to read the introduction…
In Act 1, Betty Parris also reveals that Abigail had tried to harm Elizabeth using witchcraft (“You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor!”), following which Abigail became violent and told her never to disclose that fact. Hence, we can see that getting revenge on Elizabeth Proctor was a matter of great personal importance to Abigail. She does so by accusing Elizabeth of witchcraft and Danforth believes her and Elizabeth is arrested. When Elizabeth was tried later, much of the evidence against her was Abigail's word against hers, and although she was never convicted or sentenced like the other victims, the mere fact that she, a respected farmer’s wife, could be convicted shows that the law then was being manipulated by Abigail for motives like vengeance. John
…show more content…
The writer has informed readers that the Putnams did not like the Nurse family clan due to past grievances (the candidate the Nurses backed for the Ministry trumping the candidate the Putnams backed, and such), and in the light of the witchcraft trials, the Putnams carried out vengeance against the Nurses, most notably Rebecca Nurse, by supporting the witchcraft trials, which worked in his favour as it served to discredit the Nurses as well as to distress them emotionally. Thomas Putnam can also be suspected of carrying out vengeance against Giles Corey. At the start of the novel, Putnam has a tiff with Corey over the taking of lumber that both staked a claim to. Putnam also threatened to have Corey jailed (“I’ll have my men on you, Corey! I’ll clap a writ on you!”) after Corey insists on helping John Proctor drag the lumber in question back to his house. Arthur Miller has shown Putnam to be a vindictive person, who believes himself wronged when he does not get his way (such as when the candidate he backed was not chosen for the Ministry). However, it is arguable that Putnam’s main motive is greed and not vengeance, for he is also shown to be a greedy man for land (Giles Corey accused him of asking his daughter to cry out George Jacobs for witchcraft in order to be able to buy his land, “The day his daughter cried out Jacobs, he said she’d given him a fair gift of
The writer has informed readers that the Putnams did not like the Nurse family clan due to past grievances (the candidate the Nurses backed for the Ministry trumping the candidate the Putnams backed, and such), and in the light of the witchcraft trials, the Putnams carried out vengeance against the Nurses, most notably Rebecca Nurse, by supporting the witchcraft trials, which worked in his favour as it served to discredit the Nurses as well as to distress them emotionally. Thomas Putnam can also be suspected of carrying out vengeance against Giles Corey. At the start of the novel, Putnam has a tiff with Corey over the taking of lumber that both staked a claim to. Putnam also threatened to have Corey jailed (“I’ll have my men on you, Corey! I’ll clap a writ on you!”) after Corey insists on helping John Proctor drag the lumber in question back to his house. Arthur Miller has shown Putnam to be a vindictive person, who believes himself wronged when he does not get his way (such as when the candidate he backed was not chosen for the Ministry). However, it is arguable that Putnam’s main motive is greed and not vengeance, for he is also shown to be a greedy man for land (Giles Corey accused him of asking his daughter to cry out George Jacobs for witchcraft in order to be able to buy his land, “The day his daughter cried out Jacobs, he said she’d given him a fair gift of