n what happened in Salem was a fluke, a case of one bad apple spoiling the barrel. Everyone else is therefore innocent; they just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.One thing that supports this idea is an old convention of writing plays that goes back to the Middle Ages. Certain plays called "moralities" always had a stock character called the Vice. The Vice was a troublemaker; his whole purpose was to stir things up, to set characters against each other, and to try to destroy the established order of things. Often the Vice was the Devil in disguise, but since these plays were put on by the church, he always lost in the end, most of the time by getting caught in one of his own traps. Abigail certainly fits this description, except for the last item--she doesn't get caught.But some believe that considering Abigail the "bad guy" misses Arthur Miller's point. These people think that the real "bad guy" in The Crucible is superstition. With or without Abigail, there'd have been no witch madness if there'd been no belief in witches. If you look at it this way, Abigail, although you'd hardly call her innocent, is not entirely to blame either. Other girls cry out witches too; and it looks as if they were prompted, not by Abigail, but by their parents. If Abigail is evil, she's not alone. The madness itself, caused by superstition, is to blame. One person alone could never wreak such havoc.But however you think of her, Abigail Williams is a fascinating character. We see her only twice--in Act I and Act III--but her presence and her influence dominate the whole play.^^^^^^^^^^THE CRUCIBLE: MARY WARRENPoor Mary Warren! When we first meet her briefly in Act I, she's afraid of everything. She was afraid to dance with the other girls in the woods. Now that the girls have been caught, she's afraid she'll be hanged as a witch, if Abigail doesn't tell the whole truth. Most of all she's afraid of Abigail--until John Proctor comes in and ...
