In the town of Salem, Massachusetts, during the early 1690’s, the accusing of witchcraft spiraled out of control. There were many different characters that took some kind of responsibility for the witch trials. The people of Salem were making false accusations for greed and self-protection. Almost everyone in Salem had to lie at some point. The three characters that are most responsible for the witch trials are Mr. Putnam, Parris, and Abigail Williams.
Mr. Putnam is a very greedy man in ‘The Crucible’. He owns a large portion of land in Salem. The way he acquires all this land is not necessarily noticed by the other citizens of Salem. He basically steals the land from other people in town. He does this by falsely accusing people of witchcraft. If you are accused of being a witch, and you don’t admit being a witch, you are tortured and eventually your land is put up for auction. Mr. Putnam was so ‘obsessed’ with owning all this land that he forces his daughter, Ruth into accusing people of witchery. Therefore, once their land is up for auction, he buys the land. He ends up accusing many people, good people, and taking everything they have.
Another, slightly less responsible, character in Salem is Parris. Parris is an extremely selfish man. He looks at the whole witchcraft situation as every man for himself. He is so worried and focused on his position in the town that he puts himself and his reputation before his own children. This state of mind that Parris has is what drives him to do everything in his power to not get accused of witchcraft himself. Whenever Parris was in court, and someone was trying to prove themselves not guilty, he would step in. At the very moment he sensed that someone had good evidence of being not guilty, he would shout, “This man is trying to overthrow the court”! He did this when John Proctor was trying the innocence of the people of Salem.
Abigail Williams was insane for power. She would do anything in her ability to obtain more power. Abby has the most responsibility for the witch trials out of anyone in Salem by far. Even though Abby accused more people than anyone else, she was the closest one to actually being a witch. In Act I Abby danced naked by a fire and was said to have drunken a blood potion in order to kill Elizabeth Proctor. That’s how all this nonsense started, because after she had an affair with John Proctor, she wanted him all to herself. In order to protect herself, she started to accuse other people in town of witchcraft. She also got all the other girls to play this ‘game’ with her. Although, that would seem like the smart thing to do if it meant not being accused. Throughout the play Abby uses her power in every way possible to protect herself and get what she wants. But in the end she failed her overall goal of this whole thing, because her actions end up killing John Proctor.
In conclusion there is more than one character in Salem that is responsible for the witch trials. Abigail was the obvious menace who started this craziness and continued to make it grow and grow into an overwhelming mess. Everything could have been prevented if Abby wasn’t so crazy and evil. Mr. Putnam was just a sneaky and greedy man who wanted nothing but more land. The worst part of his scam was that he could choose anyone he wanted and accuse them of witchcraft and get away with it, even if they were perfectly good Christians. Parris basically made anyone accused in court found guilty.
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