Betrayals in the The Crucible
The Crucible
In The Crucible, the community in Salem is depicted as motivated by fear, greed, and revenge shown by the witch trials. Some people of the community are afraid for their lives of being condemned a witch, while others take advantage of those fears. As a results, people will do anything to satisfy these motivation including betrayal. In The Crucible three types of betrayals are evident which are betrayal of oneself, theocracy, and community.
In Salem, the puritan society is supposed to be a community where everyone in this community is tightly knit and demonstrate purity. However, this sense of unity is broken with betrayal, so therefore, the community in Salem does not actually exist.
Betrayal of community is the most evident them of betrayal in Salem because of the idea of a broken community. Everyone in Salem is accusing another of witchcraft for fear of being condemned. Therefore, this action is an effort to save one's own life and avoid suspicion. The Putnams are an example of the betrayal of the community. Ms. Putnam accuses Betty for having been seen flying over a neighbor's barn. This is shown on page 13, "How high did she fly, how high?" "Mr. Collins saw her goin' over Ingersoll's barn, and come down light as bird". Before, the Putnam's brother in law was up for the candidacy for reverend but Parris received the job. As a result, the Putnams retained a grudge against Parris and therefore on his daughter. Therefore, because of this grudge, Ms Putnam accused Betty of certain witch like activities even though she herself never saw the action. This demonstrates the betrayal of a member of the society because the Putnams try to condemn Betty from a grudge. Another example is of Danforth because he transforms this society from religious to a courthouse. This is shown on page 85, "Do you take it upon yourself to determine what this court shall believe and what it shall set aside?" and on page 100 "I have been thirty-two year at the bar, sir, and I should be confounded were I called upon to defend these people." These examples show that Danforth betrays the religious purpose of the community and converts the community to a courthouse where he can exercise his power. Since he is the...