Examples Of Scapegoating In The Crucible

If you had to choose between your life or someone else’s, which would you pick? Everybody wants to think that they would do the noble thing, but when it comes down to it, would you? Miller describes it was a choice that can go both ways in his play, The Crucible. The Crucible explores how scapegoating functioned in the Salem Witch Trials and how its characters like Mary Warren and Tituba embody this theme in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. The very first example we see of scapegoating in The Crucible occurs in the first act. When some teenage girls are found dancing in the woods by the minister, Reverend Parris, two of the girls collapse due to the shock of being caught red handed. During this time, dancing was not permitted in Puritan society. The two

One of the best examples of scapegoating occurred in act three in the Salem courthouse. The protagonist, John Proctor, confronts the court for his wife’s freedom and by doing this inadvertently confronts the honesty of the accusers, the girls that danced in the woods. He brought one of the girls that danced in the woods, Mary Warren, with him to testify against the other girls that danced. When she began to testify, the other girls, led by Abigail Williams, pretended to be attacked by Mary Warren’s spirit to scare her and to save themselves. Mary Warren, scared by the possibility of being hanged, said that John Proctor made her testify to try to overthrow the court. This is one of the most critical and influential examples of scapegoating in The Crucible. Mary Warren embodies and follows the scapegoat cycle perfectly. First, she was accused of sending her spirit to attack the other girls. Second, she thought of someone else to blame. Lastly, she accused John Proctor of trying to overthrow the court in order to save herself. Her decision to lie for her survival changed the end of the play and caused the death of several innocent