Jada LefrancoisMrs. KromidasEnglish III1/19/18The Crucible In Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible,” the actions of Judge Danforth, Abigail Williams, and Reverend Parris leads to tragedy in Salem Massachusetts, which is known as the Salem Witch Trials.Throughout the story of The Crucible, Danforth acts with lots of pride. In act III, Danforth gives his point of view on the witchcraft trials by saying, He is saying that the laws, and what he is saying, is fair and that no one can change that. Right there is an example of his pride that’s not letting him listen to other peoples point of view. Also, with hearing about the rebellions at the Andover trials, Danforth will still not postpone the hangings of the people on trial for witchcraft and he tells Parris He believes that postponing the hangings will raise questions of his credibility as a judge.
Danforth’s self-pride of being a man of power, and a judge won’t let him believe that his actions can actually lead to the death of innocent people. Abigail Williams is a whole different story. Abigail starts to abuse her power throughout the story by scaring and teasing the other girls that were also caught dancing in the woods. She blames most of it on Tituba. Also, she accuses innocent people of witchcraft.
After they get caught dancing in the woods, Abigail gets scared that the other girls with say something, so she saysAbigail is a mentally sick girl, and she will say and do anything to protect herself. She is also “in love” with a man named John Proctor, and she accuses his wife of witchcraft. Abigail abuses her power in a way where she makes people see her as an innocent, young girl that couldn’t hurt a fly.
Everyone believes the lies that she is telling. Reverend Parris was in charge of making laws that are based on the Holy Bible. Parris abuses his power as the Reverend of Salem in many ways. Parris practically destroyed his position as head of the church. He was very unapproachable, and he was a constantly angry man.
He was also a selfish man whose only concern was his own His unjustness within the Church, and towards other people caused issues within Salem.In conclusion, if it weren’t for the actions of Abigail Williams, Reverend Parris, Judge Danforth, and their abuse of power, perhaps the witch trials in Salem may have never happened. This comes to show that greed, selfishness, and power can mess with your head and make you make wrongful decisions.
?Work Citedhttp://www.markedbyteachers.com/gcse/english/the-crucible-misuse-of-power.htmlhttps://www.shmoop.com/crucible/reverend-parris.htmlhttps://freebooksummary.com/the-crucible-abuse-of-power-22182https://www.time4writing.com/writing-resources/writing-a-good-conclusion-paragraph/”The Crucible” by Arthur Miller