An Essay on Fear Relating to “The Crucible”

This is an essay pertaining to the power of Fear to drive any person to extreme and irrational acts. In The Crucible there are many examples of this; such as Abigail accusing innocent people, Danforth ignoring evidence, Proctor giving up his good name, and Hale attempting to save the condemned. Even though The Crucible is fictional it holds many very important lessons.

The first lesson, and possibly the most important, is the actions of Abigail. Miller expertly portrays how anything can be taken too far, and how once a lie starts that it just builds and builds. Abigail was motivated by fear and her lust for Proctor. Abigail feared being punished for what she had done and what others imagined she had done, so she redirected those suspicions towards others. Once she had started the trials and accusations, she would not have been able to stop them even if she had wanted to. Abigail would not have been able to stop them because she involved too many fanatical people, people also motivated by fear, albeit more subtly.

Perhaps the character most responsible for continuing the trials into the realms of lunacy was Danforth. Danforth was part of the high court and quite a powerful man in his day, but he was still driven by fear, the fear of witches. Someone once said “In real hatred there is always an element of fear.” Danforth proves this perfectly. He was so obsessed with hunting down every witch in the province that he was distracted from the validity of the arguments of Proctor and the falsity of Abigail. Although Danforth was corrupted and blinded by his fear, Proctor was ennobled.

Proctor feared for his wife’s life, and that fear was so strong that he ruined his own life for her. As praise-worthy as that is another fear drove him to literally give his life up. He would not sign his name to the confession because he feared what others would think of him, and what god would think of him, if he made the concession. He also feared the eternal punishment in hell if he lied and continuing his life in a living hell because of a lie. Hale dreaded a similar living torment.

Hale also feared witches, and convicted them, but he was not as blind as Danforth. Hale realized that the trials were based on a jealous 17 year-olds accusations. He tried to stop the trials because he knew that the “witches” were innocent and that if they died it was at least partially his fault. After killing innocent people Hale knew that he wouldn’t be able to live with himself.

Fear was not the only force at work in this play, but it was probably the most prevalent. The more people Fear has to work with, the more powerful it can be. If one person thinks twice the others will merely carry him along. The power of fear is portrayed in many books, and The Crucible is an excellent illustration of one of the most dangerous human traits.