The Crucible 31-49

Stephen Simmons
Ap English 11/Mr. George
12/3/09
The Crucible

"How can it be the Devil? Why would he choose my house to strike? We have all manner of licentious people in the village!"(41).

Calm down, the only devilish happening is your stupidity. Due to the fact that Betty basically went brain dead for a little while, the Devil must be involved. In our modern day society science and religion fail to co exist and when and occurrence like this happens, science seems to explain it the most accurately. Usually if someone basically turns into a zombie-like figure, it is because their body is not functioning properly due to some internal failure or an external cause that does not involve any religious matter. We see that people living in that society are so blinded by superstition and theories, that they try to find answers that would satisfy themselves. People in the society are like little children who always get what they want. They adapt themselves to only hear what they want and what is in the best interest of them and disregard everything else. Furthermore, society is corrupt during this time because it lacks education and intelligence. Instead of testing for brain damage, for example, they use tests to see if someone is possessed or a witch. These people are crazy, only because that is the only thing they have been accustomed to.

"I saw Goody Booth with the Devil"(48).

Everyone in the world has blamed someone else for something that they did in order to avoid suspicion of them or the truth. The most common example among children is when some kid farts and blames it on the kid next to him in order to feel less embarrassed and more confident in themselves. This is exactly what Abigail is doing, she is trying to avert suspicion away from herself by blaming others for witchcraft and being with the Devil. Although this is completely childish, there is some intelligence that goes along with it. Knowing how insane the society is, Abigail intentionally drives away suspicions about herself by blaming someone else which as we know today, usually works. She knew that once she mentioned the Devil or witchcraft that peoples eyes would be off her and put on Goody Booth. Is this foreshadowing that Abigail might be a witch because she is smarter than everyone else and is already suspected of witchcraft? No, this just simply means that she is ahead of everyone else in society and will be able to manipulate society.