by our own side, whatever it may be.
Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible focuses mainly on witchcraft and the devil, and the important roles it plays in a deteriorating Puritan society. In Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, a widespread hysteria breaks out and results in hangings of innocent people driven to insanity by desperation to hold to their radical religious beliefs. When so many were accused of witchcraft, the root of the problem was the devil and lack of God. Characters such as Abigail Williams say the devil “made them do [his will]”, purely for the sake of their well-being. Miller illustrates that the way an indictment could be deemed valid was through the application of religion. Therefore, the central conflict of the corrupt church in …show more content…
It was easier for them to believe in some devil than something of God because God was pure while the Puritans were living in an acclaimed pure society where there was only blackened judgment and unwavering fear. Their quickness to believe in the "children of God's" willingness to submit to some powerful adversary was what made them corrupt. It's as if the Puritans thought the power of the devil to be more prevalent than the power of God and in this sense, they were more wicked than any amount of witchcraft.
Abigail William is an optimum illustration of a person who blamed the devil for a lack of God. When asked if the spirits she thought she saw were only an illusion, she quickly dismisses it and turns the notion on the devil saying, “I have been hurt…because I have done my duty pointing out the Devil’s people” (108). She claims that because she is using the devil to condemn others, she is not in the wrong. Abigail maintains her fraudulent view that the devil has forced her to do his bidding, and thus because of that, she should not and cannot be in the wrong in any
Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible focuses mainly on witchcraft and the devil, and the important roles it plays in a deteriorating Puritan society. In Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, a widespread hysteria breaks out and results in hangings of innocent people driven to insanity by desperation to hold to their radical religious beliefs. When so many were accused of witchcraft, the root of the problem was the devil and lack of God. Characters such as Abigail Williams say the devil “made them do [his will]”, purely for the sake of their well-being. Miller illustrates that the way an indictment could be deemed valid was through the application of religion. Therefore, the central conflict of the corrupt church in …show more content…
It was easier for them to believe in some devil than something of God because God was pure while the Puritans were living in an acclaimed pure society where there was only blackened judgment and unwavering fear. Their quickness to believe in the "children of God's" willingness to submit to some powerful adversary was what made them corrupt. It's as if the Puritans thought the power of the devil to be more prevalent than the power of God and in this sense, they were more wicked than any amount of witchcraft.
Abigail William is an optimum illustration of a person who blamed the devil for a lack of God. When asked if the spirits she thought she saw were only an illusion, she quickly dismisses it and turns the notion on the devil saying, “I have been hurt…because I have done my duty pointing out the Devil’s people” (108). She claims that because she is using the devil to condemn others, she is not in the wrong. Abigail maintains her fraudulent view that the devil has forced her to do his bidding, and thus because of that, she should not and cannot be in the wrong in any