'The Crucible' - review

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   ‘The Crucible’ was set in Salem, Massachusetts, 1692. The government was a theocracy, ruled by god through religious officials. Hard work and church consumed the majority of a Salem resident’s time and within the community there were simmering disputes over land. Matters of boundaries and deeds were a source of constant, bitter disagreements. The Puritans lived a strict, rigid and somber way of life, and had a predilection for interfering in other’s affairs to guard against immorality. Power was so easily obtained by some because they knew how to manipulate people, or had power from being in a religious status, or was simply a male, who were considered god’s earthly representatives.

   Abigail is the vehicle that drives the play, she is smart, wily, and vindictive when crossed, and she has a talent for deception. It is obvious from the start of the play that she is the villain of the play, even more so than Parris and Danforth. Abigail is low rung on the Puritan Salem social ladder, the only people ‘below’ her are slaves and social outcasts. For young girls in Salem, ministers and other males, especially adults, are god’s earthly representatives, their authority derived from on high. So her power in the play is gained from her beauty, her forcefulness and her ability to manipulate everyone.  Abigail’s character is the exact opposite of Elizabeth’s, and represents the repressed sexual and material desires that perhaps all of the Puritans possessed, but she does not suppress her desires. And this, along with her willingness to discard Puritan social restrictions, sets her apart from the other characters, she sees no folly in her affair with John Proctor. She resents Elizabeth because she has convinced herself that Proctor is in love with her and not Elizabeth and in Abigail’s eyes Elizabeth prevents her from being with Proctor. For the first and only time in the play we see Abigail as her age, Abigail’s fantasy reflects her age, she is a young girl daydreaming about the ideal male, but all other times in the play, she is projected as older than she actually is.

    Abigail bears most of the responsibility for the girls meeting with Tituba in the woods, when Parris discovers them she attempts to conceal her behaviour because it will reveal her affair with Proctor, and if she confessed to casting a spell on Elizabeth this would no doubt have started herself being charged of Witchcraft. So in order to prevent these charges and the discovery of her affair as well of the fact of attempted murder, she shifts the focus away from herself by accusing others of witchcraft. This desperate act of self preservation soon becomes Abigail’s venue of power. The witch trials, in which Abigail and the girls are allowed to act as though they have direct connection to god, empower the previously almost powerless Abigail. Abigail’s power is shown most in the play at the point that Abigail proves that she has power over Danforth when he suggests that what she has been seeing are illusions and not people’s spirits, and she implies that he mistrusts her; she then says “Let you beware, Mr Danforth. Think you to be so mighty that the power of Hell may not turn your wits? Beware of it! There is-” This is an open threat and proves she has a vast amount of power and authority if she has power over such a highly respected judge, and he is not somebody who likes his authority questioned. But the main scene where we see power and an incredibly high amount of hysteria is in the yellow bird scene. This is a very dramatic scene by Miller and the fact of hysteria is very highly displayed, Abigail and the girls are saying that they see a yellow bird on the beam in the court, they accuse that Mary Warren has sent her spirit, while Abigail is looking up at the ‘yellow bird’ and pleading for ‘Mary’ not to hurt her, and Mary replies that Abigail “sees nothin’,” Abigail mimics the exact tone of Mary’s cry and repeats what Mary had said. The other girls then follow, and along with Abigail, they repeat all that Mary says.  They then accuse the ‘yellow bird’ of coming down, and the girls run to one wall, and as though cornered,  they let out a gigantic scream, Abigail’s power over the girls forces Mary back to her, and she too, as though infected, opens her mouth and screams with them. Mary then accuses Proctor of being the Devil’s man.

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   Abigail’s power affects the play as a whole because a mere accusation from herself or one of the girls in her troop is enough to imprison and convict even the most well-respected inhabitant of Salem. Whereas others once looked down at her and disapproved of her for the rumours of her adultery, she gained the power, and the opportunity to accuse them of the worst sin of all in Salem: Devil Worship. Abigail uses her authority to create an atmosphere of fear and intimidation. She threatens the other girls with violence if they refuse to go along with her ...

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