Who Is To Blame In The Crucible

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“Praise and blame. This is the human virtue, this is the human madness.” It shows how human beings are quick to turn the blame away from them. This can become dangerous, out of control and can stretch human beings to their limits. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Abigail Williams causes much of the hysteria in Salem. The Crucible is based on the tragedy of Salem where 20 people died and over 200 were accused and jailed. Abigail Williams manipulates the townspeople especially John Proctor, and she coerces the afflicted girls to lie about the crying out. Before this all began Abigail wanted Elizabeth dead, so she turned to witchcraft. Abigail Williams deters the attention away from her to manipulate John Proctor as well as coerce many others to get her way.
Abigail deceives John Proctor to have an affair with her. When Elizabeth finds out she throws Abigail out; Abigail wanted revenge: “You did, you did! You drank a charm to kill John Proctor’s wife! You drank a charm to kill goody Proctor!”(Miller 144). In this quote Betty is yelling at Abigail about how she wants to kill Elizabeth. This is when she started the dancing to do witchcraft. Abigail and …show more content…
Abigail is backed into a corner when Proctor confesses to lechery with Abigail. “How do you call heaven! Whore! Whore!... You-you are a lecher?... If I must answer that, I will leave and I will not come back again!”(Miller 189). In this quote Proctor reveals his adulterous relationship with Abigail, and judge Danforth questions Abigail about the confession; Abigail declares that she will leave forever if she answers. Goody Proctor is brought into the court to see if John is telling the truth about his affair. Once again after Elizabeth Proctor denies that John was having an affair with Abigail; she screams out to turn the attention away from her to Mary being a witch. “Oh, Mary, this is a black art…”(Miller 191). Abigail declares that Mary is changing her shape with
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