Avarice in the Crucible

Cambria Anderson Petersen AP English III/ design 3 11 November 2012 Avarice and Vengeance in The Crucible The work on The Crucible takes place during the Salem Witch Trials of the 1800s. Yet Arthur Miller does not reveal the tragedy of the witch trials in the manner expected. Miller expresses the fundamental causes of the accusitions do as those stemming from personal greed and the feeling of revenge. Abigail Williams, Mr. and Mrs. Putnam, and Reverend Samuel Parris only have their own agendas as to why they cry witch on others in their colonisation.Miller outlines the history between Abigail Williams and John keep an eye on in make for One Abigail was removed from the Proctor home by Elizabeth, Proctors wife, because of an affair happening between her and Proctor. Because of this, Abigail harbors a hate and jealousy towards Elizabeth. In stage Two, a warrant was sent for Elizabeths arrest The girl, the Williams girl, Abigail Williams, sir. She sat to dinner in Reverend Parri s house tonight, and without word nor warnin she falls to the floor.Like a struck beast, Parris says, and screamed a scream that a bull would weep to hear. And Parris goes to economise her, and, stuck two inches in the flesh of her belly, he draw a chevy out. And demandin of her how she get in to be so stabbed, she testify it were your wifes long-familiar spirit pushed it in. (Miller 79) Abigail knew that from the beginning of the witch scare that she could comminuted revenge on those who she felt wronged her or took something from her, which would be the case of Elizabeth.Abigail knew Mary warren made a doll, and was planning to give it to Elizabeth she also saw Mary Warren stick the needle back in. Abigail took advantage of the moorage to provide apparently irrefutable evidence of witchcraft on Elizabeths part. Through this, Proctor sees that vengeance runs these trials, and how easily people turn on one some other to get what they want. Proctor also knows that Abigails revenge has no limits she has no shame, and always believes that she is right, much like the character of her uncle, Reverend Parris.At this point, Proctor had to snow keeping his past a secret from the public and protecting Elizabeth, as Abigail will turn on anyone who wrongs her. Mr. Thomas Putnam and Mrs. Ann Putnam have a pitiful history of losing their newborn children, while only having one that survives. Mrs. Putnam finds comfort in blaming their midwife, Sarah Osburn, for the deaths, saying, I begged Thomas not to call Osburn because I feared her. My babies always shriveled in her hands (I. 50). Mrs. Putnam finds that crying witch on Goody Osburn would solve the execute of her children, yet does not desire to take into account her own habit in her pregnancy, being that Miller says she is fourty-five years old (I. 13). Mrs. Putnam, in a way, wants someone to feel the pain of losing seven children, being that she is a stingy woman putting her child in the dangers of witch craft to find the identity operator of the person who killed her babies.Accusing someone of witchcraft, and potentially running their life, was the unblemished way to exact her so-called revenge. Although Reverend Parris never accused anyone of witchcraft, he refuses to give Proctor of any charges brought up against him from insulting the court to claims of witchcraft. In Act Three, Parris takes Proctors depositions from Corey Giles and Mary Warren personally, warning Judge Danforth that since he come to Salem Proctor is blackening his name (110) and Proctors come to overthrow this court, Your award (97). Aside from trying to protect his reputation, Parris makes such allegations about Proctor in an attempt to prove Proctor as an unreliable messenger. Parris wants to get vengeance for what he feels Proctor has done to him, just as Abigail wants revenge on Elizabeth. But, these alleged wrong-doings have only come from Parriss mouth he seems to enjoy taking things personal when they come from Proctor, and the courtroom scene is the perfect place for Parris to return the hate he feels from Proctor.The Salem Witch Trials prove to be a time of tragedy and mass hysteria as accusations ran rapidly through the small Massachusetts village. The source of the witchcraft charges came from the village peoples personal greed and want of retribution, as well(p) as many other contributing factors. Abigail, Parris, and the Putnams all used this situation to their advantage, hoping to get some personal satisfaction out of their charges, thus ruination lives of their victims Elizabeth Proctor, John Proctor, and Sarah Osburn.