Fear in The Crucible Literary Essay Example

Few would deny that fear is a powerful force in the world. It shapes the way that people act, treat one another, and even treat themselves. Arthur Miller’s The Crucible displays the power of fear, and more importantly, the power it has when it’s used as a weapon. When one person has control over the fear of others, that person is dangerous, and this is shown most clearly through Abigail. During the Salem Witch Trials, Abigail locks in on the fears of those around her and uses them to her advantage. By manipulating the people around her, she almost completely restructures the power dynamics within Salem, and manages to keep even the most respected people in the town under her boot for a time. By illustrating Abigail’s control over the hierarchy in Salem, Arthur Miller demonstrates that fear is a tool which can reshape society to its wielder’s whims.

Throughout the majority of the play, Abigail Williams manipulates the widespread fears in Salem to reshape the hierarchy of power and respect. Fear was an integral piece of the town’s social structure, and Abigail used this almost flawlessly. In Salem, to be feared by someone more powerful than yourself was dangerous. However, to be feared by someone weaker was a way to force respect from that person. Abigail began utilizing this in Act One when she was accused of participating in witchcraft by Putnam. Putnam and the majority of the town were terrified of witches, and those people feared her for her supposed participation. She realized how dangerous that was and redirected the town’s fear to one of the few people who had less respect than herself: Tituba. The moment she was accused of participating in a magic ritual, she panicked and cried out “‘I never called him! Tituba, Tituba…’” (Miller 1.42). Given that Tituba was a slave, there was little doubt in the townspeoples’ minds that she was, in fact, a witch. Now Tituba was the one in danger, and for her own safety, she confessed and accused others in the town who had as little respect as herself. By this point, Abigail had only used fear as a tool to protect herself, but soon enough she would begin reshaping the dynamics of their society as a whole. Once multiple people had been accused and the witchcraft trials had begun, Abigail realized that the people of Salem and their deep set fear of witches could be of use to her. She and the rest of the girls had the judges, the most powerful people in Salem, as an audience. Even Hale, who once described his books as “‘weighted with authority’”, feared witches, and the judges were no different (Miller 1.36). Abigail was able to direct that fear to those she disliked by accusing them. The accused were left with the choice of death or losing their good name, so those who survived lost all respect. Anyone Abby accused was pushed to the bottom of the hierarchy, which indirectly moved her up. She continued this through Act 3, using the hysteria over witches to shift the entire dynamic of Salem and placing herself on top.

In addition to manipulating the widespread hysteria of Salem, Abigail Williams used the fears of certain individuals to direct their actions to her benefit. There were a number of people in The Crucible with the potential to make or break Abigail’s plan. This can first be seen with the other girls, namely Mary Warren. When the girls were accused of participating in witchcraft, Mary was adamant about coming clean. Abigail knew they would be in trouble though, and threatened Mary and the girls, saying “‘[l]et either of you breathe a word[…] I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you’” (Miller 1.20). By targeting Mary’s fear of violence, she was able to keep the girls in line, which later was crucial to her plans. This type of manipulation became just as important later in the play in the case of Judge Danforth. For most of Act 2, Hale and Danforth truly believed that the girls were telling the truth about seeing witches. However, by Act 3, Hale had left the court entirely and Danforth seemed to have become more skeptical. The only reason Danforth continued supporting Abigail was because she was able to take advantage of his particular fear as well. Danforth feared losing his reputation more than anything. By the time he realized that Abigail was manipulating him, she already had incredible power over the community, and in order to take her down, he would have to admit that he was wrong to hang and imprison hundreds. Though he claimed he held his position out of fairness, it’s clear that the threat of publicly losing respect forced Danforth in line, giving Abigail just enough power to skip town before all trust in her was lost.

Although in the end Abigail failed, she still managed to reshape and destroy much of Salem. Through manipulation and lies, she harnessed the power of fear, sculpting a new hierarchy to put herself in power. The Crucible is a fantastic example of how fear can be weaponized to hurt people, an extreme form of something that happens every day. Fear is a tool that can change the world and, in the wrong hands, become a weapon.