Mrs. Burns
Eng. 11
1 Jan. 2012
Appearance vs. Reality
Appearance vs. Reality is a prominent theme in The Crucible as some people are carried and blinded by appearance while others actually look at the facts, John Proctor and Elizabeth are not carried away by lies while Abigail and the rest of her friends are ignorant and spread lies. The town of Salem, Massachusetts went through a yearlong period of witch trials. A group of girls led by Abigail the reverend’s niece manipulated the people of Salem to make them believe that witchcraft was happening in Salem. It began with Mrs. Puttman wanting Tituba to conjure up spirits of her dead babies, Abigail and her cousin Betty joined in along with other girls. “She always sings her Barbados songs, and we dance.”(Act1 line102)This is when she is trying to explain to her uncle what was actually going on in the woods. They were caught by Parris, Betty became sick and the girls decided that they were going to convince everyone this was witchcraft. This led to Abigail spreading rumors about people she did not like in the town. “We must tell the truth Abby!”(Act1 line 318) this was Mary Warren trying to convince Abby to tell the truth.
It appeared that Elizabeth was committing witchcraft because of the voodoo doll found in her house when Cheever went to her house to arrest her. “Tis’ hard proof?(To Hale)I find here a poppet Goody Proctor keeps. I have found it, sir.(Act2 lines 812) Marry Warren told her she was mentioned in court but not yet accused and she attempted to clear her name but clearly failed. She knew that Abigail just wanted to get rid of Elizabeth because she wanted John for herself. “It’s a bitter woman, a lying, cold, sniveling woman”(Act1 line138) Abby was bitter that Elizabeth had fired her from the job but it was all Abby’s fault as she was getting to close to John. She needed Elizabeth in jail or killed for that to happen. So Abigail started the rumor that Elizabeth was doing witch craft