John Proctor and Abigail Characters Analysis in The Crucible

During The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller. This play is about the abuses of power during the Salem witch trials and the false accusations. Many of the characters' powers out to an end or created with the charges of witchcraft and reputation investigations. John Proctor is an example of someone facing this problem of power abuse. Abigail is also an example of someone who gains power during the witch trials.

Before the trial, Proctor was a highly regarded and respected figure. An outstanding member of the Salem community. However, when he confessed to the crime, he was quickly labeled as a sinner. When Proctor was accused of using witchcraft and had a chance to admit his life, he decided to save his name and save his life. Plead not guilty. This decision killed Proctor. When Proctor said, "Because that is my name!" Because I lied, I also joined the lie! "(P.143) He is unwilling to lie and said he participated in witchcraft. He is showing his own power just by standing up to Salem. John Proctor lost his life to the abuse of power and he did not want to lie about anyone else's sins.

Abigail becomes a very believable witness and she soon discovers that she can manipulate most of her listeners to believe anything she wants them to believe. This is unfortunate because whoever the court convicted from Abigail, it was a lie. Abigail has the primary responsibility when using and abusing the newly discovered power to accuse Elizabeth Proctor of witchcraft so that she can destroy the marriage of John and Elizabeth and leave John completely alone. Abigail accuses people because she will get something out of it. By doing so Abigail uses coercive power to get people to believe her accusations.

The notion of abuse of power usually goes hand-in-hand with the notion of empowering roles, but abuse of power is a more important topic in The Crucible because abuse is the cause of death and death. Most of the power in the crucible comes from Raven's Five Forms of Power. The most used power was coercive power and some informational power. As you can see in The Crucible power abuse played a big role in people’s lives. In this book, people either suffered from abused power or abused their power.