The Themes of Manipulation and Corruption in The Crucible Essay Example

Small societies often are built upon unity and trust within one another, all of that can be destroyed by one rotten apple. When looking upon Arthur Miller’s The Crucible the themes of manipulation and corruption within society play a main role in the Salem Witch Trials. It is seen through Abigail Williams that when given a huge amount of power with a limited threshold, it can often lead to personal greed over the town itself, therefore leading to harm within the society. Abigail is the most to blame for the unnecessary deaths of all the innocent people throughout The Crucible by Arthur Miller which portrays themes of corruption in society. Abigail demonstrates greed and selfishness through the unnecessary drama that she had started for her benefiting her own interests. 

Abigail Williams, through each act of The Crucible, was using methods of manipulation to further benefit herself and her needs, from threatening all the girls into following her act to stabbing herself with a needle to get Elizabeth Proctor sentenced to jail. These methods of manipulation follow through with the lives of innocent people being sentenced to jail and worse to death, all through the lies of demonic activities and witchcraft to follow through with her own agenda. “Now look at you. All of you. We danced. And Tituba conjured Ruth Putnam’s dead sisters. And that is all. And mark this. Let either of you breathe a word, or an edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you” (Act 1, 13). Abigail uses manipulation of using that night when the girls went dancing, to silence them into saying nothing that would make her guilty. She uses the manipulation of doing something “bad” as a motive for silencing their perspective of that night. 

Throughout The Crucible the acts of selfishness and manipulation gradually escalate to the unnecessary deaths of multiple townspeople, which all are impacted by the choices of Abigail. The illicit affair between John Proctor and Abigail happens to result in the sentencing and deaths of Elizabeth and John Proctor. This is due to Abigail’s selfishness and greediness of wanting to have John for herself, thus meaning she needed to get rid of Elizabeth. She ends up accusing Elizabeth Proctor of witchcraft, having her sentenced for witchcraft for a doll that wasn’t even made by her. Abigail tries to keep up with the ruse and accusation by going so far as to even stab herself repeatedly with a needle. “And he goes to save her, and, stuck two inches in the flesh of her belly, he draw a needle out”. (Act 2, 23). This quote shows the drastic lengths that Abigail will go to prove her innocence to the townspeople to manipulate the town's corrupt court into believing her false accusations. “ And in the belly of the poppet a needle’s stuck” (Act 2, 23). She uses the doll that Mary Warren made for Elizabeth to prove to the rest of the jury and court that she was truly guilty. 

The theme of a corrupt society is shown through all the complex characteristics within the townspeople and the society shown through The Crucible. The amount of corruption through the judicial system is emphasized greatly within the story. This is seen through the innocent deaths, and trials of the witchcraft trials. Abigail was given a large amount of power within a short amount of time, which she uses to further her agenda of keeping the love of John Proctor. When Abigail is being questioned about the new testimonies from Mary Warren, she keeps stating that she is not lying about the doll that was made. “I have naught to change, sir. She lies”(Act 3, 18). This quote shows the amount of power Abigail holds within that court and the power her testimony holds against the other girls, even when they were truthfully speaking out against Abigail’s false accusation. The accusations of the witch trials escalated due to the outrageous lies of Abigail has led to the mental decline of the accused such as Tituba, Sarah Good.