"The Crucible" Lust For Power
Thomas Jefferson once said, "Power is not alluring to pure minds". This quote could fit in nicely with the type of minds there are in _The Crucible._ Pure minds do not want power, which leads any reader to believe that Abigail Williams does not have a pure mind. In the play she is constantly telling on people getting them thrown in jail and hanged. However, she just wanted the attention of a certain man that she loved with a burning passion. In Arthur Miller's _The Crucible_ Abigail Williams lust for power causes mass hysteria in the town of Salem.
Salem is a small Puritan village in Massachusetts. The Puritan society felt that God is sovereign; Man is sinful, and nothing seeking power. Puritans believe that anything anyone says about someone is true until proven false, "The individuals must be purged separately so that the community as a whole may be preserved"(Miller 1223). For instance, Abby was snitching on everyone but when she was called out, she denied expressively. John Proctor's wife fired Abby and when Rev Parris, Abby's father, asked about it, Abby retaliated by saying, "My name is good in the village! I will not have it said my name is soiled! Goody Proctor is a gossiping liar," (Miller 1221).
A lot of the time people that get a taste of power usually turn greedy. They want anybody they do not like to disappear and anything they say to be done in an instant. Abby was getting greedy so she decided to get rid of the people that were on her bad side, "I saw Goody Hawkins, Booth, Sibber with the devil" (Miller 1235). It does not matter that these people were innocent; the judge believed Abigail and threw the women in prison. "All these squabbles seem to be occasions seized upon by individuals in order to assert their rights in a basically oppressive society" (Bonett). Abby took every opportunity she had to get another person in jail, almost every time the judge and her were together she was getting another person in trouble. For example, Abby, along with
Salem is a small Puritan village in Massachusetts. The Puritan society felt that God is sovereign; Man is sinful, and nothing seeking power. Puritans believe that anything anyone says about someone is true until proven false, "The individuals must be purged separately so that the community as a whole may be preserved"(Miller 1223). For instance, Abby was snitching on everyone but when she was called out, she denied expressively. John Proctor's wife fired Abby and when Rev Parris, Abby's father, asked about it, Abby retaliated by saying, "My name is good in the village! I will not have it said my name is soiled! Goody Proctor is a gossiping liar," (Miller 1221).
A lot of the time people that get a taste of power usually turn greedy. They want anybody they do not like to disappear and anything they say to be done in an instant. Abby was getting greedy so she decided to get rid of the people that were on her bad side, "I saw Goody Hawkins, Booth, Sibber with the devil" (Miller 1235). It does not matter that these people were innocent; the judge believed Abigail and threw the women in prison. "All these squabbles seem to be occasions seized upon by individuals in order to assert their rights in a basically oppressive society" (Bonett). Abby took every opportunity she had to get another person in jail, almost every time the judge and her were together she was getting another person in trouble. For example, Abby, along with