The Crucible

After studying Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible, I have come to the conclusion that the three people most to blame for the witch hysteria and the subsequent death of innocent people are Abigail Williams, Reverend Parris, and the judge Hathorne. Each of these people, in some way, caused harm to blameless people, and I will, in this essay, explain what these people, knowingly or unknowingly did to contribute to the death of the innocent people hanged as witches in Salem Village in 1692. Abigail Williams was most responsible for the Salem witch hysteria. She was part of an affair that shouldn't have ever happened. If she had not had this affair, the Proctors wouldn't have been in any of this crisis. Secondly, she lied to the whole town of Salem. If she had just told the truth about her dancing in the woods and how she was acting inappropriate by trying to put spells on Elizabeth Proctor all of this would never happen. Instead, she tells them a lie about people who are supposedly performing witchcraft. Reverend Parris was also responsible for the tragedy. He was quick to blame those who didn't like him. Parris often gave the judges prejudiced back-stories on people brought into the courts. He also conveniently left out the fact that his own niece had been caught dancing and casting spells in the forest; desperate to protect his reputation, he didn't tell these important pieces of information to the judges, if had had told them they wouldn't have believed Abigail and the other girls who lied about people in their village being “witches”. Lastly, Judge Hathorne is responsible for the hanging of innocent people. This judge often rejected logical fact, devised tricky scenarios, and refused to hear testimony that would prove the innocence of many who were accused of this nonsense. Some of the people clung to their pride, refusing to falsely admit to their convictions, so that their reputations wouldn't be put to shame. In