Is saving yourself by lying worth getting others in trouble or even killed? In The Crucible by Arthur Miller many people are blamed for the wrong doing and lying of other characters. The three people that should be blamed for all of the lying and getting others in trouble are Abigail Williams, Ezekiel Cheever, and Reverend Hale. First, Abigail Williams is the most important character to blame for people getting blamed in Salem. Abigail was a compulsive liar, which made her lie to get out of anything.
Abigail was the center of attention in town due to her blaming everybody of being a which. “She sends her spirit on me in church; she makes me laugh at prayer! ” (Miller 1109). Abigail Williams is blaming Tituba for being a witch by saying that she distracts her at church. She is also saying that Tituba has contact with the devil because they devil would not want her to pay attention at church. Abigail goes around accusing almost the whole town of having contact with the devil or being a witch. While in trial Abigail decided to start another lie. Mary, please don’t hurt me! ” (Miller 1149). Abigail is now in court with all the girls including Mary Warren and she is looking up at the beams in the ceiling and says she sees a yellow bird. She claims that it is Mary and that it will hurt her while there is nothing there. This causes Mary to be believed as a witch. Next, Ezekiel Cheever is the one to fault for the people of Salem getting arrested. Ezekiel is a court officer who brings warrants and searches people’s houses and then has the obligation to arrest them if needed. “Mr.
Proctor, I have little time. The court bid me search your house, but I like not to search a house. So will you hand me any poppets that your wife may keep here? ” (Miller 1125). Ezekiel Cheever was a friend of the Proctors, so he should have told John to hide the poppet so he could not find anything. This would help Elizabeth not get arrested, but Cheever insisted on getting the poppet and found it. After finding the poppet he arrested Elizabeth. During the time that Cheever was going to arrest Elizabeth, John Proctor took the warrant and ripped it into pieces. I think it be by duty, sir you’ll not deny it, John. When we come to take his wife, he damned the court and ripped your warrant” (Miller 1135). Not only did Cheever arrest Elizabeth, he also told on John Proctor, which could have also gotten him arrested.
Finally, Reverend Hale is responsible for the arrests and deaths for people in Salem. But towards the end, Hale became more innocent and started to believe the people and not Abigail and the church. In the beginning when Tituba was accused of witchcraft, he tried to convince her that she actually was. You have confessed yourself to witchcraft, and that speaks a wish to come to heaven’s side. And we will bless you Tituba” (Miller 1110). Hale is saying that he can help Tituba and bring her to heaven’s side although she is not even inflicted with the devil. Now that Hale fully believes that Tituba is drawn in by the devil, he wants her to say other names of people that are with the devil too. Hale considers that some people in Salem are also witches. “When the Devil come to you does he ever come-with another person? Perhaps another person in the village?
Someone you know” (Miller 1110). Reverend Hale is sure that more people in Salem have something to do with witchcraft and the devil. According to Webster’s Dictionary, blame means to hold responsible for. This means blaming somebody would be holding him or her responsible for that doing. Blame is expressed in The Crucible many times. I believe that the three people that use blame a lot are Abigail Williams, Ezekiel Cheever, and Reverend Hale. They are the ones responsible for most of the deaths and arrests in Salem. I don’t believe that there could be another witch-hunt in our time.
Although we do have some witch-hunts today. Some of them include terrorists and gays. As a result of 9/11, most of America hates all Arab people. Just because certain terrorists did this horrible incident, does not mean all Arabs are bad. Also with the gay people, just because people are gay does not mean they are different and some people cant take that. This causes them to discriminate them. Even though we cannot ever have an actual witch hunt, we still have discrimination towards other people and blame them for things they don’t commit.
