After studying Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible, I have come to the conclusion that the three people most to blame for the witch hysteria and the subsequent death of innocent people are Reverend Parris, Abigail, and Danforth. Each of these people, in some way caused harm to blameless people, and I will, in this essay explain what these people, knowingly or unknowingly did contribute to the death of the innocent people hanged as witches in Salem Village in 1692.
Reverend Parris was most responsible for the Salem Witch hysteria. Reverend Parris was spying on Abigail when he saw the girls dancing in the forest in the middle of the night. He told Abigail that this would harm is position in the town and that she must do something about this. So Abigail went and accused the other women of witchcraft starting with Tituba. In addition, during the trials Reverend Parris took every attempt to end the court with the truth, such as Proctor attempted too, he would call it an attack on the court.
"Petition for bail from accused witches"
Map of Salem Village, 1692
Reverend Samuel Parris (1653-1720)He would not let the court hear the truth that could set innocent people free and also show that Abigail was in fact dancing in the woods out of her own free will. Reverend Parris in covering up his house's name led to many innocent deaths.
Abigail was also responsible for the tragedy. She had many options in ways she could have explained the dancing in the woods. In the end she decided to turn the accusation of witchcraft on the people she didn't like. She decided her personal interests were more important than the other peoples' innocent lives. Another reason she is to blame is because she didn't rest with the accusation against the person. In court she would pretend that they were...
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It is sometimes better to get your opinion in by writing in the third person. That way people do not automatically take the offensive.
The fact is nobody wants to hear "I think" but are more responsive to "the author thinks".....just a suggestion.
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