Topic > Distribution of blame among the characters in Arthur Miller's The Crucible

IndexAbigail WilliamsJudge DanforthJohn ProctorReverend ParrisMary WarrenWorks CitedAbigail WilliamsAbigail Williams deserves 55% of the blame because instead of accepting responsibility for her actions, she lied and let innocent people die . The symbol I gave Abigail was a snake, because she is deceptive and manipulative. While being accused by Betty for her actions in the woods, she threatens her by saying, "I saw the Indians smash my dear parents' heads on the pillow next to mine, and I saw some reddish work done in the night, and I can make you I wish that you had never seen the sun go down! (Act I) This portrays Abigail's narcissistic and fearful personality to the audience, because of how she only cares about protecting herself. Abigail is in love with John and expects the same because she states “You loved me, John Proctor, and whatever the sin, you still love me John, pity me, pity me!” (Act II.) She was lustful towards John Proctor and jealous of Elizabeth Proctor. She did everything she could to get closer to John and get Elizabeth out of the way plagiarism. Get a custom essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Judge Danforth Danforth deserves 15% blame because he would always question John and Mary's word and trust Abigail's. . Danforth gets the symbol of an uneven scale because he values ​​his reputation more than he values ​​the truth. Danforth shows what he really thinks about the witch trials and says, "there is fear in the land because there is a touching plot to overthrow Christ." in the land" (Act III). Danforth believes that the people of the Court are God's people. He believes that they are all doing the right thing by trying people for witchcraft. He believes that the people are either for or against the Court. When 91 people claimed that those accused of witchcraft were innocent, he wanted to question them too instead of questioning Abigail or the girls whether their claims were true. He believes that witchcraft is present in the city and it is his job to get rid of it. When Giles says his wife was innocent in court, Danforth exclaims, "do you take it upon yourself to determine what this court will believe and what it will set aside?" (Act III). Danforth believes that Giles is not on his side, he will not listen to him. It doesn't allow people to stand up for what they believe in. Instead of putting Abigail and the other girls on trial, he interrogates the people who are trying to prove themselves innocent. Danforth cares more about what people will think of him than about doing the right thing for the city and the court. Danforth deserves blame because if he had listened to Proctor, Giles, and the others, many of the executed people would have been saved. John Proctor John Proctor deserves 15% of the blame because Abigail started calling Elizabeth a witch because of a "promise" John made during his affair with her; although Abigail bears most of the blame, it is John who unknowingly encourages her in the witch trials. John gets the Yin-Yang symbol because even when he tries to do good, there is always a bad part to it. When Elizabeth is accused of witchcraft, she says that "there is a promise made in every bed" and thinks that Abigail wants that promise to come true now (Act II). Elizabeth realized that Abigail was lustful towards John and was jealous of Elizabeth's position in her life. She did what she had to do to get rid of Elizabeth and be with John. If he had been honest about his relationship with her from the beginning, he could have avoided the drama of the trialto witches, which started from there. Instead of trying to end the witch trials with the truth, he tries to save his dignity and reputation by hiding it; this ended up giving the city an even greater punishment. After months of trying to hide his affair with Abigail, he finally tells the court, “she thinks she's dancing with me on my wife's grave! And it very well could, because I thought of her with sweetness." John gave up trying to reveal Abigail's true motive without ruining his name, and finally confessed the truth. He knew that the witch trials had started because Abigail was angry that he had ended their relationship and chosen Elizabeth over her. Even though he knew the truth, he wanted to save his reputation in Salem, so he didn't tell the truth until it was too late. Unfortunately, instead of exposing Abigail, Proctor's affair is shown to the entire town and he is called a witch. John deserves a small share of the blame because if he had told the truth about his affair, the whole witchcraft hysteria would have happened on a much smaller scale or not at all. Reverend Parris Parris deserved 15% of the blame because even though he didn't he accused everyone of witchcraft, he always said that Proctor was against the church and the court and wanted to overthrow it so no one would believe what he was trying to say. I gave him the badge/medal of valor symbol showing the high rank he desperately wanted to uphold. When Parris finds out about the witchcraft done by Abigail and the girls, he demands that Abigail tell him the truth, saying, "Abigail, I have fought here three long years to bend these stiff-necked people to me, and now, simply now that it is being born for me a little respect in the parish, you compromise my own character.” After seeing the girls dancing in the forest, he realized that witchcraft could have reached his home too reputation as a reverend if people found out that his daughter and granddaughter might be the ones in contact with the devil From the beginning he thought something was wrong with the witch trials, but instead of worrying about the girls, he was more worried about the his reputation. When Proctor or anyone else said anything about the girls lying, he would immediately say, "beware of this man, Excellency, this man is a crook... they have come to overthrow the church, sir" because he was afraid that the his reputation would have been ruined. Parris was an honorable person in town, but he saw everyone as either for or against the church. He thinks everyone belongs to God or the Devil. Since the court is conducting the witch trials, anyone who opposes the trials, such as Proctor or Giles, is an enemy of the court. Parris believes that the court does God's work, so anyone who goes against the court goes against God. If Parris' first priority wasn't his reputation and he admitted what he saw in the forest, then the innocent people in town would have could have been proven innocent. Please note: this is just a sample. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom EssayMary WarrenMary Warren deserved 5% of the blame because even though she had a big part in the witch trials, she had the opportunity to prove that the witchcraft was all a lie, but she felt bad on Abigail's side. I gave her the Pinocchio symbol because she lied in court. When Mary was part of the court, she provided evidence of Goody Osborn's hanging, and when Proctor asked her for the evidence, she said, “I told you. It's a tough test, as hard as rock, the judges said." In Proctor's eyes, this evidence was disregarded.