The Crucible
The Crucible tells the story of the Salem witch trials, and how the town
tears itself down. The three main fears in "The Crucible" were that there was
witchcraft in the village, the fear of being caught for lying, and the fear of getting
convicted when innocent.
One main fear in “the Crucible" is the fear of witchcraft in the village. When
the village found out that Betty and Ruth had been cursed, they worried that they
could be next. So when weird things would happen they would blame one
another of witchcraft. Ruth's mother Ann Putnam has lost seven children in the
past, so when Ruth, the last surviving, is cursed. Ann thinks that Rebecca Nurse
did it. Mrs. Putnam says this to Rebecca and to Hale "let god blame me, not you,
not you, Rebecca! I'll not have you judging me any more! It is a natural work to
lose seven children before they live a day?" (pg. 39).
Another main fear in "the Crucible" is the fear that the girls, who were
dancing in the woods, would be known as liars if they were caught for wrongly
accusing people of witchcraft. In the beginning the only ones who know about the
girls dancing in the woods is Reverend Paris and the girls who danced. But,
when word gets out that they were dancing the towns people begin to think that
Tituba conjured the sprits and cursed the girls. So, to save themselves they start
to say that different people in the village cursed them. Abigail says this to the
girls who danced with her, " Now look you. All of you. We danced. And Tituba
confured Ruth Putnum's dead sisters. And that is all. And mark this. 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. And you know I can do it." (pg. 20).
The final main fear in "the Crucible" is that of the people in the village who
had been accused by the girls to make the choice of making a false confession
and being thrown into jailor not confessing and being sentenced to death. Once
in court the girls began to throw false accusations like being choked or being
stabbed with a needle. So they had to make the hard choice to confess and live
or not confess and die. Marry Warren said this about Goody Osburn, If She will
hang! He sentenced her. He must. But not Sarah Good, For Sarah Good
confessed, y'see," (pg. 56).
All because cause of one lye it built into a big fear that ended with the
death of many people. Theses three fears were the main fears of the people in
Salem at the time of the trials.