Salem Witch Trials In The Crucible

In Arthur Miller's tragic play the Crucible the author describes the life of puritans in Massachusetts in the 1700s revolving entirely around god, and all who said otherwise would be banished or hanged. The Salem Witch trials arose between this time and lead to an overall uncontrollable and unreasonable set of deaths in Salem. One could argue that the reason for these deaths lied in the hands of the people but in reality the fate of the victims in the Crucible lied with Abigail, a young girl in the town of salem who had relations with a well known character in Salem, this propels the story towards his eminent death and others ulike.
Abigail has not only started the uprising of witches in Salem but by the end of the book is accounted for most if not all the deaths that occurred during this time. In the beginning she blackmails the entire group of girls to side with her or else “[she] will come to you in the black of some terrible night and shudder you”.(Miller 20) By having live witnesses as proof, this puts Abigail in a great position to choose whatever outcome she wants. Abigail could simply accuse anyone as a witch and have support to backup her claim, making her victorious regardless of the victim's case. This is shown where later in the novel she accuses Elizabeth of tampering with witchcraft to obtain Proktor for herself.
As Abigail is the person that controls the court, proctor confronts abigail to stop “[seeing] them any more, [and to] never cry witchery again”(Miller 152). This turns out to be ineffective to proctor because Abigail does not confess in court and as long as Mary Warren does not tell the truth she will still be able to control the court. This crucial part of evidence could have made the difference in the outcome of the Novel if it wasn't for Mary's lack of