Rachel Montgomery
Honors American Literature
October 9, 2011
Provenzano, 1st
Responsible
To be responsible for something is one thing. It is another thing completely to be responsible enough to take the blame for a fault. In The Crucible, multiple people were responsible for the deaths of the acclaimed “witches” in Salem, Massachusetts. These people were responsible whether they were willing to admit it or not. They had some part in the procedures before or during the trails of these acclaimed “witches”, that led the “witches” to their untimely deaths. Some people caused the start of the whole affair through the accusations against the “witches” and or were just too cowardly to admit their faults. Betty, John Proctor and Abigail were major contributors through their accusations. Some of their decisions caused a major event or series of events that led to deaths of the accused “witches”. This makes Betty, John Proctor and Abigail the most responsible for the deaths of the acclaimed “witches” in the Salem Witch Trials.
Betty, the daughter of Paris (the minister of Salem), was one of the girls that started the whole idea of witchcraft being in Salem. Betty appeared to be in some sort of trance that she could not be awakened from in the beginning of the story. One night, Betty’s father discovered her and her friends dancing in the woods. Dancing was to be known as devil’s work back then, which made Paris furious at the girls for doing it. The next morning though, she was discovered asleep in her bed, but unable to wake-up. “She ails as she must-she never waked this morning… and hears naught, sees naught and cannot eat,” (Miller 13). This type of behavior was unheard of and extremely unusual in that time period. Religious as they were back then, the people of Salem believed that the only explanation for this behavior had to be witchcraft. These people fully convinced themselves that someone had made a compact with the devil and placed a spell on her that sent Betty into this weird “coma”. “The rumor of witchcraft is all about…,” (Miller 9). Aware of this whole affair happening around her or not, Betty was responsible for the thought of witchcraft and witches being placed in the minds of the people of Salem. If it weren’t for the trance she was placed under, the people of Salem wouldn’t even have the slightest thought of witches ever being in their community. Then to make matters worse, when she did finally awake, instead of dismissing the idea of witches and witchcraft, she plays along with the idea. “I saw George Jacobs with the devil! I saw Goody Howe with the devil,” (Miller 48)! Betty could have easily put the minds of the people of Salem, Massachusetts to rest after awakening from her coma. But instead, she only enhances the idea to save herself from the wrath of her father for dancing in the woods the night before. Betty clearly was a major contributor in creating the idea of witches and witchcraft in Salem Massachusetts. This makes Betty partly responsible for the deaths of the acclaimed “witches” during the Salem Witch Trials.
Those who were most responsible for the deaths of the “witches”, made decisions that lead to the outcome of the Salem Witch Trials. John Proctors’ decisions affected the outcome of the trials. One decision, when his wife was sick and bed ridden, he had an affair with Abigail Williams. When Elizabeth found out, she fired Abigail and started distrusting and ignoring John. After the affair happened, it was kept a secret so John can keep his good name in the community and so Abigail wouldn’t be called a whore. When John came to town to see what everyone was fussing over with Betty, he ran into Abigail. She confessed that the reason Betty was in a trance state was not because of witchcraft, but because Paris caught them dancing in the woods. “We were dancin’ in the woods last night, and my uncle leaped in on us. She took fright, is all,” (Miller 22). John Proctor had a confession that could have prevented Salem from thinking that witchcraft was what sent Betty into a coma-like state. Still, he didn’t say a single word about it until Mr. Hale came to visit and Elizabeth forced him to tell. By that point, there were already thirty-nine people accused of being “witches”. If Proctor said something when Abigail first told him, he could have saved the thirty-nine people from being accused. So when he did finally go up against the judges, it was difficult for them to believe Proctor since they were so far into the trials already and people already confessed to being witches. In a final act of defense, John stated that he had an affair with Abigail, but Abigail denied it. “It is a whore,” (Miller 110)! When Elizabeth came in to state whether or not the affair was true, she says “no” in order to save her husband’s life and name. If the affair became public sooner, John would have lost his name, but they wouldn’t have believed Abigail when she started accusing of people of being witches. Her name would have tainted and she would have been an outcast that no one would have believed. John’s decisions were crucial to the deaths of the accused witches and made him partly responsible for the outcome of the witch trials.
Betty and John played a major part in the Salem Witch Trials, but Abigail played a much larger role in the whole affair. The girls who danced in the woods may have had all the power over the town, but Abigail was their fearless leader who called all the shots. Abigail threatened to hurt anyone who said anything about what happened the night they danced in the woods. Later she told the lies about Tituba summoning the devil and making them drink blood. “She made me do it! She made Betty do it! …She makes me drink blood,” (Miller 43)! Abigail was also the one who listed off names of people who she “saw with the devil”. The foundation of lies that where built to lead to the witch trials were all Abigail’s doing. She created the story and followed it through all the trials in court. She was considered a “saint” in the town and was known to everyone as the one who brought salvation to Salem, Massachusetts. In court, she manipulated the girls and people of the court by fainting and getting “sick” or worse whenever someone was on trial for being a witch. “She only pretended to faint, Your Excellency. They’re all marvelous pretenders,” (Miller 106). Then she would claim the accused sent their spirits to take over. Then when she was finally challenged in court, by Mary Warren and John Proctor, she claimed Mary Warren of being a witch who was sending a bird upon her. Mary Warren became so frightened at the prospect of being hated in town and considered an outcast, she confessed to being a witch. “No, I love God; I go your way no more. I love God, I bless God. Abby, Abby, I’ll never hurt you more,”(Miller 119). Abigail was the ultimate ruler throughout the Salem Witch Trials. She had the power to control the outcome of the trials. Abigail could have ended the trials at any point in time, but she just made it worse with more lies. With all the lies she created, she became the ruler of Salem during the witch trials. By being the ruler during the trials, Abigail ended up playing a huge role in the trials and had a great deal of responsibility for the Salem Witch Trials.
Betty, John Proctor and Abigail were most responsible for the Salem Witch Trials. Through the decisions they made before and during the witch trials, they affected the outcome of the trials. They had opportunities, information or power to change the outcome of the trials, but didn’t take them. This made them very responsible for the Salem Witch trials, but not responsible enough to take the blame for their own actions.
Bibliography
Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York, New York: Penguin Group, 1953. Print.
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