“I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you. And you know I can do it.”
This exhibits what a nasty girl Abbey is, and the girls in the town are scared rigid of her and will do whatever she says. This demonstrates the kind of power she has over the girls. She uses the forcefulness of her personality on the girls of the town, this leads them to do whatever she says. John was in love with Abbey and she uses this against him, she exploits it over him to get him to do what she wants for example;
“She is blackening my name in the village.”
“You sweated like a stallion whenever I came near.”
These quotes show how Abbey uses what power she has over John to get him to do what she wants. It shows that Abbey knows what power she has and when to use it. This sexual power is her main power and she uses it over everyone she can. Abbey Williams is a very cruel and arrogant person she insults the judges and is aggressive towards Danforth for example;
“I’ll have no such looks!”
“If I have to answer that I will leave and never come back again.”
This shows that she can say this to the judges and get away with it, and that Abbey even seems to have power over the judges and court officials. Abbey Williams pretends she was taken by the devil in order to get power over the people of Salem and to get what she wants, this shows how evilly twisted she is.
On the other hand the Putnam’s have a totally different kind of power. They have the power of their material possessions. They are very wealthy, but they are greedy and they have a habit of claiming land that is not theirs for example;
“Your grandfather had a habit of calling land that never belonged to him.”
This leads the Putnam’s to be disliked in the town. The Putnam’s do have a lot of land most of it swindled from their neighbours and because the rest of the people in Salem aren’t as rich, lots of them are resentful towards the Putnam’s. All the Putnam’s sons have died; we learn this during the play When Mrs Putnam says;
“Reverend Parris, I have laid seven babies unbaptised in the earth. Believe me sir you never saw more hearty babies born. And yet they would wither in my arms the very night of their birth.”
This leads them to become very bitter towards the community. Mrs Putnam believes that her husband would blame her for the deaths, so she blames anyone she can as we heard in the last quote another example of this is;
“I knew it were Goody Osborne were midwife to me three times. I begged you, Thomas, did I not? I begged him not to call Osborne because I feared her. My babies always shrivelled in her hands.”
This goes to show Mrs Putnam will blame anyone but herself and this shows a different power in them.
Another person with power is Elizabeth Proctor. She has power over her husband John Proctor. She is such a morally righteous person, she can do no wrong, but knows her husband committed adultery. So Elizabeth ends up taking the moral high ground against John, she becomes cold towards him, but she was never warm to him throughout the marriage. Proctor knows she is cold because he says;
“Your justice would freeze beer.”
This shows that Elizabeth has never loved John like Abbey Williams did. This means that it is partly Elizabeth’s fault that she has driven John towards Abbey. Elizabeth is being cold towards John to try and punish him for what he has done so it is partly her own fault. John knows that he was wrong and tries to please Elizabeth all the time to make up for it. For example;
“I mean to please you Elizabeth.”
Eventually at the end of the play Elizabeth realises what she has done to John and also admits she was in the wrong too. Even after all this she still has power over John because they love each other and this is the strongest power of all. It is this story of power and love that is one of the plays main parts. The plot of the play revolves around this power, in the end the judges know what power Elizabeth holds over John and send her to try and persuade him to confess. For example;
“Let me speak with him Excellency.”
“You’ll strive with him?”
“Will you plead for his confession or will you not?”
“I promise nothing. Let me speak with him.”
Elizabeth Proctor has totally different power to everyone else the power of love over her husband. It is this alone that will make John Proctor do anything to make her love him too.
The last people with any real power are Judges Danforth and Hathorne. They represent the power of the law. They hold the power of life and death. They are meant to be carrying out God’s will, their power is the power of justice and freedom. Even though they are the most powerful members of the community Abbey Williams is still able to threaten and intimidate the Judges and still get away with it. For Example;
“I have been hurt, Mr Danforth, I have seen my own blood runin out! I have been near to murdered every death because I have done my duty pointing out the Devil’s people and this is my reward! To be mistrusted, denied questioned like a.”
“Child, I do not mistrust you.”
This goes to show how evil Abbey is in not telling the truth to the Judges. Everyone else in the town is scared rigid of the thought that they might be sentenced to death! This shows that the judges have another power the power of fear, this is one of the biggest powers because it can lead people to do anything you want them to. But the only problem with this fear is that it can lead people not to tell the truth and bend the law to suit their own purposes and this can help bring about the downfall of everyone in one town. This shows how the Judges have a different power again over the people of the town
In the end The Crucible is a very clever play it functions on the level we, saw but it is also mirrors the McCarthy witch hunt years. In the play we see many different characters all struggling to survive in one town that turns chaotic when normal village life is disrupted. It shows how when different powers are used against each other the outcome becomes the village’s downfall and brings down the good and the bad as society collapses in chaos. This is shown perfectly in The Crucible and shows how one person can corrupt many and bring down a whole society.
By Robert Thorne
