In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the madness of the Salem witch trials is explored in great detail. Thereare many theories as to why the witch trials came about, the most popular of which is the girls' suppressedchildhoods. However, there were other factors as well, such as Abigail Williams' affair with John Proctor,the secret grudges that neighbors held against each other, and the physical and economic differencesbetween the citizens of Salem Village. From a historical viewpoint, it is known that young girls incolonial Massachusetts were given little or no freedom to act like children. They were expected to walkstraight, arms by their sides, eyes slightly downcast, and their mouths were to be shut unless otherwiseasked to speak. It is not surprising that the girls would find this type of lifestyle very constricting. To rebelagainst it, they played pranks, such as dancing in the woods, listening to slaves' magic stories andpretending that other villagers were bewitching them. The Crucible starts after the girls in the villagehave been caught dancing in the woods. As one of them falls sick, rumors start to fly that there iswitchcraft going on in the woods, and that the sick girl is bewitched. Once the girls talk to each other,they become more and more frightened of being accused as witches, so Abigail starts accusing others ofpracticing witchcraft. The other girls all join in so that the blame will not be placed on them. In TheCrucible, Abigail starts the accusations by saying, "I go back to Jesus; I kiss his hand. I saw Sarah Goodwith the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!" Another girl,Betty, continues the cry with, "I saw George Jacobs with the Devil! I saw Goody Howe with the Devil!"From here on, the accusations grow and grow until the jails overflow with accused witches. It must havegiven them an incredible sense of power when the whole town of Salem listened to their words andbelieved ...
