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The Crucible: Human Nature In the Puritan town of Salem, Massachusetts, a group of girls, Betty, Abigail, Mercy and their black slave, Tituba, were dancing in the forest and performing witchcraft. These actions were not allowed in the extremely superstitious town of Salem or anywhere else as a matter of fact. Very soon, the girls were spotted by the local minister, Reverend Parris and consequently the reverends daughter, Betty, passed out when she found out they were seen and that was the beginning of the Salem witch trials. A theme expressed in this play, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller is that humans tend to do what benefits them, even if the action is not morally correct. Later in the storyline, as Reverend Parris is attempting to evoke the truth from Abigail about what happened the night in the forest, he refers to his ministry a tad much, Now tell me true, Abigail. Now my ministrys at stake; my ministry and perhaps your cousins life... (Parris p.8). Afraid to give up his power, Parris seeks to get as much word out of Abigail before the town starts saying that witchcraft is what caused Betty to not wake and that witchcraft is what the girls were doing in the forest. If this were to happen, Parris would most likely be stripped of his power in the ministry since Parris knows that the people of Salem dont like him and they wish to remove him from his position anyways. If the people of the town were to find out Parris was allowing witchcraft in the parish, he would have the ministry taken away from him. For this reason, Parris is so overwhelmed about what may happen to him that he almost forgets that his daughters life is also at risk because shes allegedly possessed by witchcraft. This passage is a great interpretation of man's natural inclination to care more about oneself than other people. By having Abigail confess what happened the night in the forest, Parris can get to the people and tell them what happened before rumours spread and get Parris in trouble for allowing the alleged

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witchery to take place and therefore voting Parris out of the ministry which is what he is preoccupied about. A few days later, it was discovered that Abigail had a grudge against the wife of John Proctor, a local farmer who had hired Abigail in the past, because Elizabeth Proctor, Johns wife, fired Abigail from her job at the Proctor farm for having an affair with John and then Elizabeth spread bad rumors about Abigail preventing Abigail from being able to get a job with the other farmers of Salem. In addition, it was also discovered that Abigail had drunk blood (the night she and the other girls were found dancing in the forest) to rid of Elizabeth to gain her revenge on Elizabeth and keep John Proctor for herself yet later, Abigail claims it was only sport, but now Abigail has come up with a new method to get rid of Elizabeth and that is by working with Mary Warren, the Proctors new worker, to frame Elizabeth and accuse Elizabeth of witchcraft against Abigail for having an affair with Elizabeths husband, John. The accusations include Elizabeth performing a type of voodoo on Abigail where Abigail is found with a needle stuck in her belly which is the same spot where there is a needle stuck in a poppet Mary Warren handed Elizabeth that night. Mary Warren assured to Elizabeth that she made the poppet during the court trials and that Mary saved the needle inside the poppets belly to finish it later. A few minutes later, Reverend Hale, an expert minister in exorcism called forth by Parris the day before to see what was wrong with his daughter Betty, would arrive followed by Cheever, the deputy governor and policemen. The desperate men turn Proctors house upside down looking for anything related to witchcraft and find the poppet and insist it is Elizabeths poppet. They spy the needle in the dolls belly and link it to Abigails accusations of a stabbing by Elizabeth. Insistently, they decide to take Elizabeth to court. Proctor, who knows it was all Abigails work and he knows Abigails true intentions, begins raging against the men, (rips [Cheevers] warrant) Out with

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you!... damn you [Cheever].. this warrants vengeance; I will not give my wife to vengeance!... [to Elizabeth] you will not go! (Sweeps his gun up, pointing it at Cheever)... (John Proctor p.44). A very frustrated John Proctor reacts quickly and unexpectedly to Cheever and the policemen taking away his wife. This may demonstrate what John Proctor would do to keep his wife and in this case, Johns gone as far as to rip Cheevers search warrant, yell, and point a gun at Cheever which may indicate that Proctor is willing to kill a man so important in the town just to keep his wife and not grant Abigail the satisfaction of gaining vengeance on Elizabeth Proctor since Elizabeth Proctor ruined Abigails opportunities of getting a job in Salem by firing her and spreading rumors about Abigail for having an affair with Elizabeths husband, John. In the final scene of the play, John Proctor has already been betrayed and accused by Mary Warren of sending his spirit out on her during court and of forcing Mary to sign the Devils book and come with him to the court to help save Elizabeth Proctor since Mary Warren had become official of the court some time earlier. By now, John Proctor has already been arrested and sentenced to hang unless he confessed to committing witchcraft and to sign a paper confirming the confession of him interacting with the devil and performing witchcraft upon Mary Warren. Elizabeth Proctor who was discovered to be pregnant when John was accused was sent by Reverend Hale to attempt to convince John to confess and free himself from being hung. Convinced, John struggled to lie and admit he performed witchcraft on Mary Warren, but when he was asked by Danforth, main judge of the Salem court, to give up the names of his friends and sign a paper confirming Proctors confession which would then be nailed to the walls of the town so that people may see what sinister actions John Proctor committed, Proctor became angered and responded with, (putting paper behind him) No-- no. I have signed it. You have seen me. It is done!... I confess to God and God has seen my name on this!... You will not use me! It is no

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part of salvation that you should use me!... I have three children-- how may I teach them to walk like men in the world and I sold my friends?!... say Proctor broke his knees and wept like a woman; but my name cannot...leave me my name! (Proctor p.90). John Proctor fights for the pride he has in his name, he would rather die than live, but give up the names of his friends for Cheever to search them and have them arrested or executed. He sees that betraying his friends to stay alive would not benefit him since it may make him seem untrustworthy amongst the remaining people of the town, therefore he would rather be hung than be seen as a traitor. By human nature, most humans are inclined do whatever they can possibly do to get what they want or keep what they already have. Sometimes out of greed or selfishness, other times out of pride and occasionally out of love. In situations where man sees that something of his possessions is at risk, man may be willing to perform extraordinary tasks that they wouldnt normally perform on a regular basis which is a natural human behavior and this specific behavior, amongst others, was interpreted almost perfectly in this story of a complex crucible by Arthur Miller.