Arthur Miller’s play Essay

â€Å"In the book of record that Mr Parris keeps, I note that you are rarely in church on Sabbath day†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ twenty-six times in seventeen month, sir. I must call that rare†¦ † this can cause people be rebellious and there is also the fact that not everyone feels the same way about religion and forcing people would cause resentment between the community it self, and that is exactly what we find happening. Let’s take the Walcott’s. They blamed Martha Corey of being a witch. This was due to the fact that she had sold them a pig and it died. When they asked for their money back saying that she had given them a sick pig, she refused and said â€Å"Walcott, if you haven’t the wit to feed a pig properly, you’ll not live to own many† After that, the Walcott’s claimed that they couldn’t keep a pig alive for more than four weeks and so accused her of being a witch. The whole witchcraft business turned into something to settle old grudges. We even find Ann Putnam accusing Rebecca Nurse, who as we know was a very religious and god fearing woman. She accuses her because of her jealousy of Rebecca having so many children and grandchildren and not one of them died. She accused Rebecca of murdering her babies with her powers as a witch. So we find that the community was very much involved in accusing and taking advantage of these witch trials as a way of solving old grudges and to put it to use for their personal vendettas. There was also the mistake of John Proctor. He should have gone to the court and told them at the beginning what Abigail had told him, before the whole thing got so out of hand. â€Å"The towns mumbling witchcraft. † â€Å"Oh, posh! We were dancin’ in the woods last night, and my uncle leaped in on us. She took a fright is all† This shows that Abigail admits that there is no truth in the witchcraft rumour. By the time he went and told them, they had already thrown a lot of people in jail for witchcraft. For them to listen to Proctor would be admitting that they had made a mistake, and that in it self would mean that other problems would arise for them. Proctor’s affair with Abigail had also somewhat caused these witch trials. Abigail, due to her infatuation with Proctor had gone to the woods where she drank a blood charm to kill his wife and was discovered by Parris. That was the start of the rumours of witchcraft. There was also the mistake of Elizabeth Proctor. If she had not lied, the court would have been overthrown. â€Å"Is your husband a lecher?! † â€Å"No sir† â€Å"She spoke nothing of lechery, and this man has lied! † The lie caused the fact that Abigail had confessed to Proctor that she had been dancing and that there was no witchcraft done on them, to be dismissed as a lie told by Proctor. So once again the witch trials were back on. Rebecca Nurse seemed to be the only person who understood what was going on. â€Å"I have seen them all through their silly season† She knew that what Betty and Ruth were doing was just their childhood mischiefs. In fact Abigail, when talking to Proctor, had said â€Å"She took fright, is all† about Betty’s condition. So we can see that not all of the community was bad. And of course we cannot forget the legal system â€Å"the court’s† input into the trials, as they had held them. First of all the rule that if you confessed to witchcraft you would not be hanged but if you didn’t then you will hang, is totally preposterous. This means that even if people were innocent, which we know they were, they would have to confess to save their lives. If people confess then it would be known that witchcraft is about in Salem and so there would be no talk of overthrowing the court. In fact even after finding out that the accusations of witchcraft had been a hoax they were not ready to admit mistake and went on further and executed some more people. â€Å"I cannot think they would run off except they fear to keep in Salem anymore. Mark it, sir, Abigail had close knowledge of this town†¦. † This shows that Abigail had been lying. So the question is how much was it Abigail’s fault that these witch trials took place. After gathering sufficient evidence from the play, one cannot be certain and say that Abigail was to blame entirely because we know it is not entirely true. We know there were other factors and people who supported and played a big part in the trials. We also know that a lot of it was to settle old grudges and to deal with individuals personal vendettas. Still we cannot deny the fact that Abigail was the main reason for these witch trials. The drinking of the blood charm and dancing and heaven knows what else and then being discovered started the talk of witchcraft and after that, one after the other, the drastic events of the Salem witch trials unfolded. In my opinion I feel that Abigail was to blame somewhat although I would not blame her entirely. Living in a strict community and having seen terrible things happen in front of her as a child could definitely not have helped her behaviour and mentality. I myself would also hold responsible the court and people like the Putnam’s and the Walcott’s and also Parris, to some extent, for the trials. Not really for being a cause for starting them as such, although I do think they played some part, but mainly for contributing to them after they had started. As for Abigail, her behaviour cannot be excused, yet we can try and understand why she did what she did. We know that a lot of it had to do with her obsession with Proctor but if we were to look just beneath the surface we would find that, at least in my opinion, that Abigail was somewhat mentally psychotic in some ways and really needed a good and loving home to support her after the murder of her parents to have prevented her from her terrible deeds. By Kausar Hussain 10S Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Arthur Miller section.