Characters To Blame In The Crucible

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said “‘Tis weak and vicious people who cast the blame on fate”. This means that people blame others for something because they are so vicious that they will blame someone just to save themselves. This is exactly what many characters do in the play, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller. The three people who are ultimately to blame for the deaths of innocents during the witch trials are Tituba, Abigail, and Reverend Hale.
Tituba is one of the main characters to blame. When they were talking about what happened in the woods, Reverend Parris says “I saw Tituba waving her arms over the fire when I came on you. And I heard a screeching and gibberish coming from her mouth. She was swaying like a dumb beast over that fire!” (11).
Tituba knew that the Puritans had a very strict creed, but she still snuck out the forest with the girls to perform witchcraft. She could have prevented the witch trials if she had just not taken the girls out and made sure Abigail stayed home. Also, when Reverend Hale was pushing Tituba to confess to witchcraft and to tell him who she saw with the devil, she finally says “There were four” (47). She lied to keep her ass off the line and so Reverend Hale would stop pressuring her to confess. She should have stuck with the truth even if Reverend Hale pressing her because if she hadn't said that she saw people with the devil, Abigail and Betty probably wouldn't have started yelling out names like they did.
Another person to blame for the deaths of innocents is Abigail.
After Tituba confessed, Abigail says “I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osborn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil! I saw Goody Sibber with the Devil! I saw Goody Hawkins with the devil! I saw Goody Booth with the Devil!” (48). Abigail could have left it at Tituba’s confession but instead she decided to go listing names of people she claimed to see with the devil. She became powerful through those accusations even though they were not true. She liked to have the power so she lied continuously about seeing people with the devil. Later, when Danforth questioned Abigail about if she was telling the truth she denies lying and tells him “I have been hurt Mr. Danforth; I have seen my blood runnin’ out! I have been near murdered every day because I done my duty pointing out the Devil’s people- and this is my reward? To be mistreated, denied, questioned” (108). Danforth gave Abigail an out but she wouldn't take it. She continued to lie about the witchcraft instead of admitting that she was wrong. That's why Abigail is to
blame.
The last person ultimately to blame would be Reverend Hale.
When he first arrives Reverend Hale tells them “we shall find him out if he has come among us, and I mean to crush him utterly if he has shown his face!” (38). By saying that, he puts the idea into their mind that it was the Devil's work, but now here he is to save them. Later in the play when accusations about the poppet are going around, Reverend Hale asks Mary Warren “Child, are you certain this be your natural memory? May it be, perhaps, that someone conjures you even now to say this?” (76). Even when Mary Warren tells the truth about what happened with the poppet, Reverend Hale still tries to push her towards witchcraft even though she said that it was her fault. If Reverend Hale wasn't so pushy about people admitting to witchcraft, the whole situation with the witch trials would have been very different.
The three people who are ultimately to blame for the innocent deaths during the witch trials would be Tituba, Abigail, and Mary Warren. They pushed, prodded, and lied about what happened causing many people to
die.