Reflection: The Crucible Act 3

I think that human nature is at the heart of this whole book. I think that the story was not written to show what happened in Salem from the point of view of people who were there, but to show the side of humans that people do not want to write about. Everybody has a bad side, no matter how innocent they seem on the outside.

One example of human nature shown in this book would be that people are generally slow to admit their faults. This is displayed by what started all the events in this book, the girls have been lying to everybody so that they will not get in trouble, even if it means that they are going to get other people in trouble, even killed so that they can stay blame-free. Eventually people will admit what they have done like how Mary confessed to John Procter that they are all lying to keep themselves safe (Miller 100). Mary’s confession might have been part of their plan to incriminate John Procter, but it is a truthful confession none the less. Abigail even had previously admitted the lie to John Procter earlier in the play, in Act One actually. When Procter first brought up witchcraft Abigail said “Oh, posh! We were dancin’ in the woods last night, and my uncle leaped in on us. She took fright, is all” (Miller 22). I think that the only reason that Abigail only told him the truth in confidence because she had “feelings” for him still and he could never prove that she said what she did. It would be his word against her word, and at that point in time the children were considered to always be telling the truth.

I also think that is a part of human nature to fear things just because other people fear them. In this case, people were afraid of witches all of a sudden because of people like Reverend Hale, who claimed that he had found and expelled a witch in his town (Miller 14). Now that Reverend Hale and others like him have opened the public’s eye to the present “threat” of “witches”, people are starting to claim their neighbors witches on a whim or with revenge or some other kind of gain in mind. It is the perfect excuse for the girls to use, everybody is already wary of “witches” and so when something mysterious happens, they automatically jump to the fear of the time, which in this case it would be witches. When Mary and the rest of the girls act like Mary was possessed by the Devil and Mr. Procter made her do it, the judge immediately believes them even though he can see nothing. Even Reverend Hale is furious because he can not believe that the judge would actually think that the girls were serious and telling the truth just because they act like they are being “attacked” by the Devil (Miller 120). I would be very upset if Danforth was my judge.

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York, NY: Penguin, 1996. Print.