The Tragedy at Salem .
"The Crucible," by Arthur Miller, is a horrible tale of a great injustice done unto the innocent people of Salem, Maine. It is a tale of a prosperous town torn apart by the whim of a group of young girls; ultimately sentencing twenty-five innocent persons to their deaths. Throughout the play, Arthur Miller makes it known to the reader that there are natural explanations, not supernatural ones, for the tragedy that occurred in Salem in 1691. There were no witches, talking yellow birds, nor red cats. Nary had a man with white hair bid unto the townsfolk to sign his black book. Arthur Miller makes it perfectly clear that it is out of pure fear and vengeance that the witch hunts began and continued for such a tremendous period of time. .
"I"ll tell you what's walking in Salem; vengeance is walking in Salem. We are what we always were in Salem, but now the crazy little children are jangling the keys of the kingdom and common vengeance writes the law. This warrants vengeance!" This quote said by the good John Proctor clearly states the main motive for the trials in Salem. Vengeance. The first and most obvious form of vengeance in the story occurs between Abigail Williams and John Proctor. John Proctor, a reformed sinner, engages in a callous affair with the young Abigail Williams. When Proctor's wife learns of the affair, she encourages him to put it out immediately and he is quite eager to obey his loving wife. He and his wife promptly dismiss Abigail (who was staying with them as a servant) and Proctor swears to have nothing to do with her again. Although John and Elizabeth agreed to let her go mutually, it is suspected that Abigail holds a grudge against Elizabeth and not John. She tells him in private that she still loves him, and that if Elizabeth had not kicked her out he would love her yet (a motive?). It becomes apparent that the grudge Abigail feels is stronger than suspected when she makes the horrible accusation condemning Elizabeth Proctor as a witch.
