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Julian Guzman

Mr Choi

English 11

05 November 2017

John Proctors affair

The Salem witch trials and McCarthyism were both alike in many ways. They both

began with people accused of things without any actual evidence, and gullible people who fueled

these accusations. People in Salem believed there were witches in town, while McCarthyism

allowed people to feed into the belief of communist spies among them. The Crucible, by Arthur

Miller, dealt with these trials and communities that were apart of the Salem witch trials. In The

Crucible, by Arthur Miller, there are characters, like Abigail and Elizabeth, that are manipulative

and selfless. They both use logical fallacies against other people and are used against them.

In The Crucible, Abigail Williams is portrayed as a manipulative character. She was able

to manipulate others in order to get what she wanted through the use of logical fallacies such as

ad-hominem and red herring. The day after Reverend Parris discovers the girls dancing in the

forest, Abigail convinces all the girls to lie about what actually happened the night before and get

them all on her side when she says Now look you sit up and stop this. (Miller 20) Abigail is

indirectly characterized as a manipulative person when she takes on a threatening tone by saying

shell come to them at night with a pointy reckoning. Ad-hominem comes into play when

Abigail tries to manipulate John into leaving Elizabeth for her when she says Oh I marvel how
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such a strong man may let such a sickly wife be-(Miller 23) however, she was unsuccessful in

her attempt. Instead, this resulted in John deciding to cut ties with Abigail. During the trials,

Abigail is under suspicion of lying and gets called in to be questioned but places the blame on

Mary Warren when she says I- I know not. A wind, a cold wind, has come.(Miller 108) After

she says this, she looks to Mary, causing everyone to believe that Mary is a witch. By doing this,

she is using red herring when shifting the attention off herself and onto Mary. Abigail

accomplishes this through a combination of skill and lying.

Abigail is further characterized as a pathological liar. When asked about what happened

in the forest, she responded by saying I never sold myself! Im a proper girl She makes me

drink blood! Through this claim, Abigail makes it seem as though she is a victim of Titubas

witchcraft in order to receive pity from Hale and Parris. She is directly characterized as having

an endless capacity for dissembling. She claims that shes a good and proper girl and

denies accusations about her asking Tituba to make a spell to kill Elizabeth. When Abigail says

Abigail: Oh heavenly Father, take away this shadow! Proctor: How do you call Heaven!

Whore! Whore!(Miller 109), ad-hominem is being used against her because John is attacking

her character. He refers to her as a whore in an attempt to try and ruin her reputation as a

member of the jury. Abigail causes Elizabeth to get arrested by creating an association between a

doll Mary made for Elizabeth and her getting stabbed in the stomach. Cheever confirms this

when he says The girl, the Williams girl, Abigail Williams, sir spirit pushed it in.(Miller 74)

Abigail uses guilt of association against Elizabeth by making people think that the poppet was a
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voodoo doll. Although Elizabeth is constantly being sabotaged by Abigail, she is consistently

portrayed as altruistic.

In the Crucible, Elizabeth is depicted as a selfless character. She mainly focused on

helping others. Although Abigail is trying to turn the whole town against her and John, Elizabeth

still tries to help people in anyway she can. Although she knew that John and Abigail had

something going on in the past, when questioned about it she still says Your Honor, I-in time

And this girl-.(Miller 113) Elizabeth is using an appeal to consequences here because shes

thinking of John and how it could ruin his reputation. This is also a form of dramatic irony

because the reader knows that Elizabeth has to admit that John did indeed cheat on her for the

best possible result. Elizabeths situation mirrors the proverb Where theres smoke theres fire.

Although she thinks protecting Johns reputation is the most important thing, she ultimately

makes the whole situation worse by lying. By lying, both John and herself are now charged

whereas if she told the truth both of them could've lived and Abigail wouldve been charged

instead.

Elizabeth is also a boring and emotionless character in the playwright. If she wouldve

been a better more exciting wife to John, he wouldnt have done anything with Abigail. In the

beginning of Act 2, John walks into his home after a long day of working in the field. He smells

food being cooked in the fireplace but Elizabeth isnt to be seen in the kitchen, John then

...swings a pot out of the fire and smells it. He then lifts the ladle and tastes washes his hands

and face. Elizabeth enters.(Miller 49) We can compare the pot of bland food too John and
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Elizabeth's relationship because the bland pot of food represents their boring relationship and the

salt shows that they need more spice in it. Abigail talks about how boring Elizabeth can be

when she says Oh, I marvel how such be a strong man let such a sickly wife be-, but John cuts

her off. Abigail is using ad hominem against her because shes attaching her personality and tries

to get John to leave her. In act 3 she lies to the court when she says Your Honor, I And this

girl-(Miller 113) She only gives the half truth here and doesnt admit that John had an affair

with her. This shows how emotionless she is, she didnt admit that there was something wrong

between her and John because she chose to ignore it. Throughout the play both Abigail had their

problems but at the end, it seems as if Abigail ended with the better outcome.

In conclusion, both Abigail and Elizabeth are both static characters. Id say theyre static

characters because they stay the same throughout the whole play. Abigail stays a manipulative

character who only causes problems throughout Salem. Elizabeth, on the other hand, was a

boring but selfless character who wanted to help people confess throughout the whole play. One

of the themes in THe Crucible is hysteria. Hysteria is an overwhelming fear that overrides all

logic. With people fearing that anyone can be a witch, they didnt sit down and think if any of

this can be real or not. Hysteria is still a problem in modern society because rumors and fake

news start easily and everyone forgets to use logic before they think.