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Daniel Parada

Language Arts

Mrs. Hartsock

3 November 2021

The Crucible Essay: Who Is Responsible for the Events in Salem, Massachusetts

“Mary, please don’t hurt me!” Abigail screams in terror, deceiving many people in the

courtroom of Act 3 in the playwright The Crucible. The Crucible playwright, written by Arthur

Miller, is based on the historical events of The Salem Witch Trials, in which a woman, named

Abigail, leads a group of young girls in accusing citizens in and around Salem, Massachusetts, of

witchcraft. In this historical fiction playwright, the author portrayed Abigail as the prominent

antagonist, who is responsible for instigating and furthering the historical events of this witch

hunt. Abigail is the antagonist in Salem because she had sinful intentions and motives; and

because she became the leader of the group of girls accusing people in the town; however, Judge

Danforth also is an antagonist and deserves blame for his role in the trials of the playwright.

Throughout the play, it is unmistakable that Abigail had sinful motivations for her

actions. In the play, Abigail lived with her uncle, Reverend Parris, an unpopular priest in the

town. As a young teen, Abigail worked at the home of John Proctor as a house servant. This led

to an unholy relationship between the head of the house, John Proctor, and Abigail. When Goody

Proctor found out about this relationship, she would, as Goody Proctor described, “[She] put her

out on the high road,” (Act III, Line 412). However, Abigail wanted to be with John Proctor, but

she knew that Goody Proctor was restricting her from her dreams becoming reality. She would

dance with Tituba, Reverend Parris’s servant, and other girls in the woods to try and summon
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spirits. In fact, Betty says “[Abigail] drank blood, Abby!... You drank a charm to kill Goody

Proctor!” (Act I, Line 155-157). This proves that Abigail was spiteful of Goody Proctor in efforts

to get to John Proctor. During the play, Abigail manipulated evidence using a puppet that Mary

Warren, another one of the girls Abigail is the “leader” of, had sown. Mary Warren had created a

puppet for Goody Proctor and stuck a needle in the stomach of the puppet for safe keeping. The

puppet was located at John Proctor’s house following Mary Warren’s return from court that day.

Cheever explains that, “And [Parris] goes to save her, and, stuck two inches in the flesh of

Abigail’s] belly, [Parris] draw a needle out. And demandin’ of her how she come to be so

stabbed, she testify it were [Proctor’s] wife’s familiar spirit pushed it in,” (Act II, Line 352). It is

clear that Abigail stuck the needle in her own stomach and is desperate to accuse Goody Proctor

of anything. This led to the arrest of Goody Proctor, exactly what Abigail had planned and hoped

for. Abigail’s evil intentions of trying to get rid of Goody Proctor is evident throughout the play.

She seems to stop at nothing to try and get her way. Because of her desires to be with John

Proctor, she ends up ripping a town even further apart, a town that was already hurt.

Secondly, it quickly became apparent in the play that the leader of the Salem Girls was

Abigail. When these girls were caught in the woods with Tituba, some of them became ill and

would not speak, like Betty Parris, who was the Reverend Paris’s daughter. During the scene

where Abigail was alone with Betty, Mercy, and Marry Warren, Abigail seemed to always boss

Marry Warren and Mercy around, by saying, “Shut it! Now shut it!” (Act I, Line 158). Abigail

also starts the “I saw [accused person] with the devil” and Betty joined in, following Abigail’s

lead (Act I, Line 481-490); a prime example of Abigail becoming the leader of these girls.

During the court room trial in Act III, Abigail is pretending she sees the spirit of Mary Warren as

a bird in the rafters. Mary Warren replies pleading for Abigail to stop. When Mary Warren says,
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“She sees nothin’!” Abigail then mimics what Mary Warren said (Act III, Line 451-452). This

prompts the girls to start mimicking everything that Mary Warren says on Line 454.

Undoubtable now, Abigail is the obvious leader of these girls, and she knows it. Her evil

character in the court scene in Act III shows that she was not only the leader of the group of

girls, but that her knowledge of her superiority led her to continue doing even more despicable

things, accusing more people, and acting even more irrationally – a “self-fueling” cycle for

arrogant Abigail.

Although Abigail is the most responsible person in the play for these events, Judge

Danforth also deserves a great amount of blame for his handling of the trials. His handling of the

trials are awful in the sense that he believes Abigail, what she says and what she acts out, and

takes it as hard evidence to convict someone in court. This is called “spectral evidence,” and a

court of law should not use this kind of evidence to convict someone. And once someone raises

an accusation against Abigail, he refuses to consider them, despite the number of people raising

concern, like John Proctor, Mary Warren, Giles, and even Goody Proctor. When Reverend Hale

left the court, saying “I denounce these proceedings, I quit this court!” Danforth seemed not to

budge from his standings, and neither would he change the way he was conducting the hearings

(Act III, Line 525). Even up until the last scene, Danforth still would not openly change his

opinion or ruling, or confess to doing wrong, even though he most likely knew that he had made

a mistake. The only time Judge Danforth seems to budge, when he says “I will myself strive with

him till dawn,” (Act IV, Line 92). He agreed to give Rebecca Nurse and John Proctor even more

time and opportunity to repent and confess that they have been associated with the devil, sparing

their lives. But he probably allowed this only because he was fearful of a mob sprouting out of

anger in reaction to the hanging of these two powerful names in the community. Overall, Judge
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Danforth’s unwillingness to disregard Abigail’s testimony and undo the courts actions and

punishment, in a way, can justify him even more responsible for these witch hunt proceedings –

if one considers that he is the ultimate arbiter of justice; therefore, the “buck stops with [him].”

Abigail is the main antagonist in this playwright because of her leadership in conducting

the Salem girls in this coup, and her selfish and rude plans and goals illustrated throughout the

play, although Judge Danforth also is very responsible for the acceptance of these proceedings

and sentencing of innocent people based off of the spectral evidence presented to him. This

playwright of historical events continues to show how mob mentality can escalate into hysterical

and surreal human events. Historically, the events The Crucible depicts were important events in

the creation and founding of the United States of America, because the trials would contribute to

James Madison incorporating the “guilty beyond a reasonable doubt” clause into the 5th

Amendment of the Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution – which is the clause about criminal

court proceedings and the rights of the accused. Ultimately, Americans should remember these

trials, and what roles these two characters are depicted to have played in them, so that history

will not repeat the events that took place in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts.