Examples Of Persecution In The Crucible

Throughout the play, persecution proves to be a direct consequence of fear. Parris wants Proctor to confess and wants everyone to convince him to confess because he fears the town and what they’ll think of him. The obsession Parris had about how the village thought of him overcame and that’s when he started pressuring the people to convince Proctor. Another character that falls into the trap of fear is the Abigail Williams. Abigail, a former servant to the Proctors, was kicked out because of the affair she had with John and that’s when it all started. Abigail and the village girls were caught dancing in the woods, they were afraid of what would happen to them so they started acting weird and accusing people of witchcraft. To John in private,
Abigail stabs herself to get Goody Proctor out the way because she claims Elizabeth was blacking her name in the village. The obsession Abigail had with John Proctor was getting serious. She would go from the devil to an angel in a matter of seconds if John was around. There is another way Abigail falls into the category vengeance. She pierces herself in the stomach with the needle that was in Mary Warrens poppet. Abigail then says Goody Proctor’s spirt pierced her. Cheever and Hale go to the Home of the Proctors to see if Elizabeth did such a thing. Cheever finds the poppet and says, “Herrick, Herrick, it is a needle” (Miller 176). Once they found the needle they let her kiss the kids goodbye and took Elizabeth away. Proctor basically forces Mary Warren to testify against Abigail so they could get Elizabeth out of jail. When Abigail found out Marry Warren was testifying, she was furious and came up with the perfect plan to teach her a lesson, to simply get the girls to turn on Mary. Mary remembered what Abigail said she’d do if they told anyone, she was very afraid, Mary did what she had to do to save herself and that was to turn on John. Abigail was a pro at getting her own vengeance of people for went against