Theme of Deception in The Crucible Essay Example

Generally, the goal of deception is to protect yourself from harm or to gain power and advantage for yourself. “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller also takes on a similar concept wherein Abigail Williams, a character in the play, serves her own self-interests by dishonesty and lying. Abigail’s motives are rooted in jealousy, greed, and self-preservation. This also impacts the overall meaning of “The Crucible” Abigail Willaims was a servant for John and Elizabeth Proctor. In addition to being young and manipulative, she loved John.

Abigail believed that because Elizabeth tied John down, he could not have a relationship with her. As a means to remove Elizabeth from her path, Abigail resorts to witchcraft with the help of Mercy Lewis, Betty Parris, Ruth Putnam, Mary Warren and Tituba (a slave). Abigail's uncle Reverend Parris caught them dancing in the night and committing witchcraft with the intention of killing Elizabeth. The first scene we witness that demonstrates Abigail's manipulation is how she threatens to kill the girls if any of them say anything. Soon after Abigail feels worried that she will get caught and blames everything on Tituba because she is a easy target as a outsider and slave. The concept of deception in order to protect yourself is astonishingly at play at this moment. Her first action of deception initiates because she doesn't want to be hanged, her instinct of self protection motivates her to blame Tituba.

Abigails realizes that her life may be in danger and shifts the blame by lying. This develops the overall thought that the townspeople all accuse each other unfairly with unsubstantiated allegations, fueled by personal quarrels and fear of persecution. This consequently develops the theme of passing the blame and instigates the hysteria that engulfs the town. All of this led to Abigail deceiving the townspeople to gain power rather than to protect herself. For instance the court began to trust Abigail completely and arrested anyone she and her group of girls accused. At this point in time Abigail's word has become extremely powerful and her reputation grew immensely. Elizabeth stated, “She speak of Abigail, and I thought she were a saint, to hear her. Abigail brings the other girls into the court, and where she walks the crowd will part like the sea for Israel. And folks are brought before them, and if they scream and howl and fall to the floor—the person’s clapped in the jail for bewitchin’ them.

Evidence demonstrates that Abigail's deception has led to considerable power and influence that cannot be ignored. Tying back to the paragraph above, Abigail's love for Proctor and her feelings of jealousy made her accuse Elizabeth of witchcraft in order for her to marry John proctor. Abigail's jealousy and greed, coupled with the power she gained, led her to make unfounded accusations against Elizabeth and arrest her. Through Abigail's actions and deception the town changed. The townspeople began accusing each other to avoid suspicion, as mentioned above all were accused with unsubstantiated allegations as a result of personal quarrels and fear. If “The Crucible '' is meant to represent a period of time that falsely accuses people with no basis then Abigail's deception is the perfect symbol and influence.

In summation, Abigail Williams' deception is rooted from self-preservation, greed and jealousy. “The Crucible” uses her character as a symbol and cause for the general interpretation of the play. As a result of Abby's lies and dishonesty the town was thrown into chaos and hysteria in which everyone suspected and accused the other in order to be safe. Especially in cases where the people disliked each other or were jealous of one another. At the heart of the story every character was deceitful in a way and Abigail was simply a case where I was able to thoroughly analyze and connect her motives to the overarching meaning.