John And Elizabeth's Abuse Of Power In The Crucible

In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, the readers are faced with John, Abigail and Elizabeth’s love triangle and its impact on the Salem witch trials. In The Crucible, the responsibility for the Salem tragedy falls on the shoulder of the three main characters, because each character’s action takes part in a chain reaction, which, ultimately, leads to the tragedy. This can be proven by Abigail’s manipulative nature, Elizabeth’s coldness, and John’s abuse of power and lack of self-control.
Abigail’s manipulations are partly responsible for the hanging of the 19 innocents. From act 1, her manipulative nature can be seen. She manipulates the girls with whom she practiced witchcraft with to not tell anyone what they did otherwise she would “bring [them] a pointy reckoning that will [shudder] them” (20). We can see other evidences of her cunningness in act 3, where Mary Warren, John’s current servant, accuses her and the girls of faking their ability to see spirits. Abigail, and the other girls, faked in front of the court to see spirits and fainted, which Mary was not able to do. Her acting was so good that Mary went back to her, knowing she would not be able to win.
Furthermore, John’s abuse of power and lack of self-control in the affair he previously had with Abigail contributed greatly to the death count of the events of spring 1692.
Abigail was John’s servant. She is in hardly any position of authority. Proctor is the owner of the property. While he could have said no to her advances, he still chose to have an affair with her while his wife was sick. In the time period of the story, adultery was punishable by death, and John probably knew that. Even if he admits in act 3 that “he lusted” over Abigail, it does not matter, since he has already given Abigail false hopes, and, thus, the motivation to pursue him
(110).
Moreover, Elizabeth has responsibility for the tragedy due to her coldness towards her husband. Elizabeth could easily be considered responsible, since it is her coldness that brought John to seek for pleasure in Abigail. Elizabeth even admits it in act 3 that “It needs a cold wife to prompt lechery”, meaning that, by being cold, she believes she drove him away (137). We could argue that John was not a Puritan. He is a man who likes pleasure and, to her, pleasure is a sin. For example, while she abstains to add salt to the rabbit she cooked in act 2, John goes behind her back and adds some. Salt is considered a pleasure.
Through the actions of the three characters, we are able to perceive what caused the death of so many. From Abigail’s manipulation, John’s abuse of power and Elizabeth coldness, we are able, as readers, to come to an understanding of what caused the tragedy. Therefore, all 3 characters are vital to understanding what happened in spring of 1692.