Talavera 1

Ricardo Talavera

5 November, 2015

Period 4

Griffin

Lies Upon Lies

In The Crucible, Arthur Miller tells the story of young lady whose actions are controlled

by lust and greed. The young lady, Abigail Williams created a lie for her own personal motives

that led to the hysteria of the witch trials. Several other people in Salem contributed to Abigails

cunning and quite devious lie. All the other girls for example, followed Abigail without

questioning because as she said, Let either of you breathe a word, or the 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 (20) creating a game of follow the leader. Fear took a

major part in the actions of these girls and the lust and jealousy of Abigail commence a lie that

keeps unwinding. Due to Abigails selfish necessities her actions grew into something bigger

than just a lie, they brought the death of several innocent people.

Abigails personal motives were quite naive and very troubling. As the play goes on, her

intentions unwind and grow bigger with every turn. Fear consumes everyone and it turns the

smallest of lies into a greater danger. This single emotion drives her and several others to make

poor and regrettable choices. The fear of getting caught and the very fear of being seen as this,

image of a witch in the Puritan community has a huge effect on these girls.

Strong emotions that are misplaced usually have precarious consequences. Love, anger,

lust, greed, fear all make you do things out of your control. Abigails complete and utter lack of

Puritan characteristics build this villain who unwinds a menacing storm in Salem. The way she
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blamed the whole thing on Tituba, and the way the rest followed because of the fear Abigail

bestowed upon them is a perfect example of her abusing her emotions and piling lies upon lies.

In summary, fear is the controlling factor of this hysteria and also the main reason this

young lady didn't confess to her intentions. Abigail is a very strong minded, cunning, deceiving

character. Abigails emotions are heightened when she realizes that she cant hide from the truth.

She lied, blamed others, and above all she misplaced her white image of the Puritan

community. Conclusively, the strong emotion that had controlled Abigail and most of the other

characters was fear of what follows.