This quote shows Abigail’s disgust that the Proctor’s treated her so poorly when she worked for them and this explains how she used Tituba to blame as she was without full rights and could be accepted as the culprit with ease. The phrase “I will not black my face” is a direct reference to Tituba and slaves from abroad showing Abigail believes she is superior.
Other emotions are shown by Arthur Miller in ‘The Crucible’. Many people were executed because of their beliefs and there are three main reasons for those executions that took place in Salem in the 1600’s and one such reason is revenge.
Revenge had a huge impact on those who were accused. One character in particular accused others to seek revenge, a totally selfish act and because of the actions of Abigail Williams, many innocent people died.
‘The Crucible’ tells of the chaos in Salem when a group of young girls claim that the devil is at work in the village and that many women in the village are witches and are sending out their spirits to attack other townspeople. Abigail Williams, their leader, desired revenge against Elizabeth Proctor because she was thrown out of the Proctor household when her relationship with the head of the family, John Proctor became intimate. His wife, Goody Proctor found out and made Abigail leave, but this did not stop Abigail’s feelings for John;
“I know how you clutched my back behind your house and sweated like a stallion whenever I come near! Or did I dream that? It’s she put me out, you cannot pretend it were you. I saw your face when she put me out, and you loved me then and you do now! (Page 18).
As this quote shows, Abigail really believes that John loves her, even when he denies it. This makes her more vengeful against Elizabeth because she put Abigail out and they ended the affair. She has misinterpreted looks of disgust for love as she says “I saw your face…” because when she sees John Proctor looking at her and loathing her she becomes confused. She believes that the look of disgust is aimed at his wife, Elizabeth, for putting Abigail out while he loves her but really all the hatred is meant for Abby because she has come between John and his wife and could have potentially ruined their marriage. Abigail does not see it this way and she then goes on to coarse a stir in the vain hope the love could be rekindled. This hidden agenda is deliberately included by Miller to highlight how the lust or desire for something can force untold consequences on innocent people. The lies Abigail spreads to seek her revenge are similar to the lies people told during the trials Senator McCarthy staged in America during the 1950’s.
The climate of fear which communism created was running rife in the 1950’s and McCarthy placed absolute trust in the trial system, like Reverend Danforth did without checking the accuracy of the information. Innocent people were ruined or hung in Salem as a result and fear lingered in Salem for a long time after.
Fear plays a big part in ‘The Crucible’. The character of Reverend Parris fears being driven from his position in the church;
“There is a faction that is sworn to drive from my pulpit” (page 8). In the stage directions it says “Reverend Parris is praying now, and, although we cannot hear his words, a sense of confusion hangs about him”. This shows that he is in a state when he speaks those words and is struck with fear. Reverend Parris is not liked by his congregation because they believe he is more interested in material possessions than the words of god so he fears that his position could be lost. This was not the norm for Reverends then as religion was the most important thing to everyone at this point in time and obviously as reverend should he should be more interested in god than other material possessions.
Parris shows fear again for the second time in the play when he is afraid of the consequence of dabbering with the dead.
“Goody Ann, it is a formidable sin to conjure up the dead!” (Page 12). Parris is refusing to accept that Salem has a problem with witchcraft.
Mary Warren is another character that shows fear in The Crucible. She fears hanging for not telling the truth about what happened in the woods that night.
‘Abby, we’ve got to tell. Witchery’s a hangin’ error, a hangin’ like they done in Boston two year ago! We must tell the truth, Abby! You’ll only be whipped for dancin’, and the other things!’ (Page 14)
She really thinks she should tell the truth and is struggling to convince Abigail to do this. Here she’s really panicking and fear stricken and Arthur miller portrays this well because he uses lots of exclamation marks to show her alarm and distress at what is going on and you can see how much she knows what is happening is not right.
Later in the play Mary Warren shows fear again, not by what she says but how she says it. When she is questioned about the poppet she made in court, the stage directions show the reader how she fears for herself.
‘Frightened for herself, her voice very small’ (Page 61)
As it shows in these stage directions, she is worried she has done something wrong and the audience can see this because it says of how her voice becomes very ‘small’. In these circumstances with all the hysteria in Salem she is more worried about what she has been asked than what she normally would be and Arthur Miller shows this well in the stage directions.
At the time when the play was written many people living in America felt threatened by communism and a government committee was put together to identify all communists. Arthur Miller was called to the court and was placed in nearly exactly the position John Proctor was put in during the play. Because he was in such a similar position to John Proctor, this would have helped him when writing the play because he would know exactly how to write John Proctors parts and create his character to stand for the truth, rather than forfeit others; both John and Miller remain silent.
As a result of the McCarthy trials against communism in America taking place during his lifetime, Arthur Miller experienced the raw emotions firsthand. The trials were practically identical to the Salem witch trials and as Arthur Miller was experiencing them first hand this would have made writing this play a much more emotional experience. He could see how people were reacting so he could transfer these emotions into his play which made his work much more realistic. For example, good innocent people were made to become paranoid and then do anything – even lie to save themselves and in the play the audience can see how he has shown this.
The people who lived in the village of Salem were all puritans and believed that god would only accept them if they were pure people. These beliefs ultimately destroyed them because the people of Salem would do anything not to be found guilty. As the audience see, the power of superstition, fear and revenge can distort the truth and these were all reasons for the accusations that flew. Arthur Miller portrayed the emotions well in ‘The Crucible’ by letting them shine through his characters. The play does not just show these emotions, it makes the audience feel the tension, the angst and the desperation.
