Power In The Crucible

539 Words3 Pages
Some people would do just about anything for power even if the cost is the lives of others. In the play, The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, power was your key to survival. Abigail Williams had power over everyone in Salem, where the play took place in the year of 1692. She gets this power by lying and falsely accusing others of witchcraft to get to John Proctor, her "true love ". The hunger and greed for power can cause the lives of those who are innocent to be lost. Being piggish for power was one of the most important themes of the play. In the play, numerous characters fiend for power. They all had their own unique way of obtaining that power. At the time period in which the play took place, a person could capture that power in three…show more content…
In the beginning of Act One, Reverend Parris discovered his niece, Abigail, his daughter, Betty, and his slave, Tituba, along with other girls of Salem in the forest conjuring spirits. When the girls are caught, they're startled and run off. In the 17th century most people were Puritans, so were all people in Salem. Also, the forest was believed to be the home of the Devil. Since the girls and Tituba were caught in the forest they were thought to have affairs with the devil and they were to be punished for having these affairs. The girls wanted to save themselves from any punishment that may have come for their actions, so they blamed Tituba and many other innocent women of witchcraft. The allegations the girls made gave Abigail power that she couldn’t help but use for her own selfish reasons. In Act One of The Crucible, Abigail tells Proctor the truth by saying, “We were dancin’ in the woods last night...” (Miller, 1224). The lie the girls were telling gave Abigail the power to decide who lives and who dies in Salem. According to Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development people that are level one, Preconventional, stage one, Punishment and Obedience, feel that, “Right and wrong is determined by what is punished.” Abigail fits perfectly within level and stage of Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development. Abigail knew of the consequences when she and the girls were dancing in the woods. She also knew those consequences would be
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