Lewis
Human Motivation in the Crucible
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is set during the Salem witch trials, a time of hysteria and religious uncertainty for the Salem community. Hundreds of people are unjustly accused of witchcraft, trialed, and hanged. The accusers tend to have a purpose behind their façade of lies, a hidden motive that does not concern witchcraft. The Crucible is a study in human motivation because characters exploit the situation in Salem for their own personal gain. Abigail, Thomas Putnam, and Reverend Parris are among those who take advantage of the witch trials and each of them has underlying reasons for their action in the play.
Abigail Williams, a beautiful but manipulative seventeen year old, is the antagonist of the play and the main driving force behind the hysteria in Salem. She commits adultery with John Proctor, a married man, and longs to be in his life. Abigail’s main motive in the play is her love for John and jealousy of his wife, but she is also motivated by fear. Before the incidents in Act 1, Abigail drinks a charm to kill Elizabeth Proctor. Yet she blames Tituba for the witchcraft because she fears punishment for dancing in the woods, an activity greatly forbidden in a Puritan society. She quickly becomes the main accuser of the witch trials and adroitly manipulates other girls as well as the entire town into believing her lies. Taking advantage of the situation, she accuses Elizabeth Proctor of witchcraft, and does this because of her jealousy and lust for revenge. Abigail thinks Elizabeth is a “cold, sniveling woman” (22) who is tainting her reputation in the village and desires to take her place by John Proctor’s side. John Proctor is fully aware of this, and while confessing his lechery at court yells, “She thinks to dance with me on my wife’s grave!” (102) He further adds to this by claiming the entire witch trials are nothing but “a whore’s vengeance.” (102)