The Crucible by Arthur Miller

Q :Are people basically good or bad?


A: I think Miller would say that basically, people are bad. He wrote entirely about people lying and pretending and cheating. Abigail Williams lied. Her, along with her group of followers, pretended that they were being attacked just to get out of trouble. John Proctor cheated on his wife with Abby, the little conniving girl that she is. The judge at the courthouse BELIEVED Abby's word, which in turn made everyone else believe her as well. No one thought for themselves, and that, generally, is a bad quality.

However, as we see in The Crucible, people are capable of good as well. In the midst of all the lies and tales of witchcraft and compacts with the devil, there are those who were truthful. Those who refused to lie just so as not to be hanged. Rebecca Nurse, John Proctor, Giles Corey.

Back to people being seen as bad, though. Let's think about this. The girls were dancing in the forest and performing witchcraft. It was only generally to make boys like them, but even that's bad in its own way. You're not supposed to be able to control freewill. This isn't a Sims game where you can turn off that option. But... that isn't that bad. Not compared to what Abigail did, or rather, thought she was doing. She tried to bewitch John Proctor's wife and kill her via a spell. That is not okay. 

Abigail and the girls lied about a lot of people in order to stay out of trouble. They could have just confessed, been whipped, and gone on with their lives as honest Christians, but they told so many lies... They got people hanged due to their lies. 

"I saw Sarah Good (Betty’s hands appear above headboard raised toward the heaven.) with the Devil! I saw Good Osburn with the devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!"- Abigail Williams

That quote is a prime example of Abby's lying. After she started shouting those ridiculous things, all the girls joined in and... that's more peer pressure than anything, I suppose.  Abby is the mean kid who told you to throw rocks at the teacher and then feigned innocence. She's not going down with you. It's your fault for listening.

The play is a little different from the movie, and both are far different than the actual occurrence. According to Wikipedia (which, I'm not saying is right) Abigail got 20 people hanged, and two dogs. Now that I'm really thinking about it.... Abigail is the worst one out of all of them. She lead the girls, after all. Without her, none would have followed. They probably would have confessed, been whipped, and been done with it. But Abby had them convinced. Convinced that lying was the better option, that they'd stay completely out of trouble if they went along.

Mob mentality had a lot to do with everything going sour. In case someone somehow starts reading this and isn't part of my English 3 Honors class, "mob mentality" is basically when one person thinks something or does something, and a few agree or do it too, so everyone ends up doing the same. Mob mentality is how Abby gained control over everyone. Perhaps they weren't all bad. They probably had doubts. But you couldn't tell and it didn't matter because everyone seemed to be on the same page.

In general, not all people are bad. But Arthur Miller might have something different to say about the whole ordeal. I can't get inside of his head to tell you.

Pictures: 
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Play Source:
http://www.pleasanton.k12.ca.us/avhsweb/hartman/IntermediateDrama/TheCrucible.htm
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