In the play The Crucible the structure of power goes through many different changes, different character groups such as farmers, slaves, preachers, judges, the girls and the wealthy landowners start to see their influence get strong or weaker as the play progresses. In the beginning of the story the preachers were looked at as one of the bigger powers in the community, because they were the ones who decided if someone was with God or with the Devil and they could either have you confess and turn back to God or send you the courts, which would hang you if you were convicted. The only time a slave ever had any kind of influential power in this story was when Tituba told Reverend Hale that the girls led by Abigail made her do what she did in the woods. For a second they actually believed her and turned the heat on to Abigail and the other girls, but then her power was quickly snatch when Abigail and the other girls started making claims that Tituba was in deed the one at fault and she forced them to dance in the woods. The farmers such as the Proctors and Goody Nurse, were always the ones being accused of some kind of wrong doing and being put to death. They were walked all over all through the story.
Even in the beginning stages of the story they struggled for some sort of power and a voice in the community. The wealthy landowners had a very big influence of power in the community; because they were rich and owned land, and no one ever question what ever they said. Another reason they had so much power is, because some of the wealthy landowners would use their daughters as tools to get what they want. Telling them to make up stories about witch about certain enemies they wanted to take out, because they knew that people believed what ever the girls had to say. In the opening stages of the story the girls didn’t have much power, in fact they were under heat them selves, until they started to accuse other people of witchcraft. They knew they could maintain there influential power if they stuck together and kept the same story.
The Essay on Ideal Woman In Kincaid’s Short Story “Girl”
In an endeavor to define an ideal woman, we compare two Literature works which are the Kincaid’s short story “Girl” and Jane Martin’s play, “Rodeo”. Comparing these two works, we see two contrasting definitions of an ideal woman as they are brought out in different settings. In the Kincaid’s short story, “Girl”, we notice for instance that a girl should live a humble life that is respectful to all ...
As the story progressed the girls knew that the could use their new found power to take out anyone, because it seemed like everyone they accused was being put in trouble, and the people and the court were believing everything they said. One of the girls named Abigail tried to use her power to get with John Proctor. She falsely accused john’s wife Elizabeth Proctor of witchcraft, in order to get her out of the way so she could be with John. This worked; only John did not want to be with her.
Mary Warren used her influence on the court to get John Proctor arrested for witchcraft, after the rest of the girls turn on her in court. Ultimately in this story the judges held the most power, because they had the power to have u hanged, arrested, or put in jail. They felt as they were doing Gods work and absolutely no one could question their actions. They had many people hung from false accusations from the girls, but as much as everyone pleaded their innocence there was nothing they could do. Even though the preachers tried to plead with the judges that the people being accused were innocent the judges were to powerful and took the authority out of the preachers hands. That is why Reverend Hale left the court.
Power was shifted very often from character group to character group in certain parts of the story and each power change was important in showing the reader the importance of a particular character group at that time.
