Written by Sean Quinn
"For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." - Sir Isaac Newton How true is this statement? To find this out we can do the actual physical experiment or we can do an in-depth analysis of actions causing reactions that were and were not those originally intended. A very good example of this is the play "The Crucible" in which many such actions and reactions take place. This play is set back in colonial America in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts in the 1692. Salem is a powder keg waiting to explode. Salem has been filling with so much anger, hatred, and resentment over the previous years that it is inevitable that one day, this "happy" little community will be turned upside-down. All it needs is a spark to start off a chain reaction that will leave the town in an uproar and turn friend against friend and neighbor against neighbor. This spark is provided by a group of teenage girls and a slave named Tituba. One night, this group of young women, is out in the forest performing rituals and dances to tell the future, talk to dead, etc. Things that are considered witchery in their time. The Reverend Parris happens to be in the woods at the time that the girls were and he claims to have seen a girl running through the forest naked. The next morning, his daughter and another girl are taken ill. The other young women that had been in the forest that previous night try to convince Parris that he had frightened the girls and that he, Parris, was the reason why they had become ill. Parris does not believe this theory and he begins to press on with questions until one of the girls eventually breaks down and tells him everything that had happened in the woods. She tells of how they were dancing etc. and blames it on the slave girl. (The spark is made) When questioned, Tituba confesses because Parris gives her the ultimatum to confess or die. Along with her confession, Tituba tells the names of other that she had seen with Satan. (The spark catches) Then, all of other girls catch on to what Tituba is doing and they too begin to name off the names of all the women that they "saw" with Satan. (BOOM!!! The town explodes in a hysteria of witchcraft) Many in the town decide to take advantage of this opportunity and begin to accuse their enemies as being witches, warlocks, and wizards. The three characters that take the most advantage of this fragile situation are: Abigail Williams, The Reverend Parris, and Mary Warren. They do this for their own, personal reasons. Eventually, their actions cause more than the reactions that they had originally wanted. They actually cause many unwanted reactions. (Both equal and opposite reactions) These three all help a great deal in spreading the witchcraft hysteria in Salem.
Abigail Williams is by far the most influential character in this play. She causes the most problems with her personal motive of revenge. It starts off that she was just trying to protect herself by laying the blame on others, then she realizes that the others she laid the blame on could be those that she dislikes and that she is seeking revenge against. She does this by naming them as people that she had previously seen with Satan. Seeing this, the other girls join in because Abigail is the leader of their little clique and they want to look good in her eyes (more on this later). It basically boils down to, Abigail provides the spark for the explosion that will eventually see a vast majority of Salem being accused for practicing witchcraft. As time progresses, Abigail realizes that if she had Elizabeth Proctor charged, she would then be able to have John Proctor all for herself and eventually marry him. They, John and Abigail, had had a previous "engagement" but then John began to pull away from Abigail. She tries to frame Elizabeth by convincing Mary Warren to stick a needle in a doll that would be given to Elizabeth and then she would stick herself with a needle and blame Elizabeth for using a voodoo doll on her. John is later held for being a warlock and is given the choice to confess or die. He very proudly chooses to die rather than lie and bring more dishonor to the Proctor name. Ironically, Abigail tried to have Elizabeth killed so that John could be hers but instead, her plan backfires and John is killed instead of Elizabeth. All of this shows how Abigail's personal motives affect many more people than she had wants too and how she helps to spread the hysteria of witchcraft in Salem. Her actions cause both what she wants and the exact opposite of what she had wants.
Another character that helps to prove the theory of Sir Isaac Newton is the Reverend Parris. His driving motive is self-benefit. Parris had recently become the minister of Salem, even though he was not the most popular of the candidates bidding for the job. He feels that a lot of the people of Salem are bitter about his getting his job and are therefore out to get him. He figures that if he jumps on the band wagon of witchcraft hysteria that he will be able to gain a larger majority of the public support. Although he never actually accuses anyone of being a witch, he is quick to point out who had not come to church in awhile and who has shown possible signs of being a witch. He is glad that the attention is now being drawn away from himself. He testifies against Proctor to help out his own image and to remove one of his biggest opponents. His main motive is to protect himself and his family and he continues to go along with popular belief to try and make himself look better in the eye of the community. Everything he does is for his personal motive of Self-benefit.
Finally, Mary Warren is the third major factor in the spread of the hysteria. Her motives for this are peer pressure and the fact that she wants to look good to her friends. Mary is one of the council that testifies against the accused. She would moan and cry to make the accused look like witches. Mary is pressured into this by Abigail. Abigail has Mary plant evidence on people to make them look guilty, such as Elizabeth Proctor. Mary knows that what she is doing is wrong but she continues on so that her friends will continue to like her. Eventually, Mary builds up the courage to confront Abigail, but when Abigail and the other girls begin to make accusations that she is a witch, Mary crumbles and says that Mr. Proctor is a warlock and has put her up to this lie. She personally condemns the Proctor's and has a part in condemning many others; all of this just to look good in the eyes of her peers.
To sum it all up, the personal motives of Abigail, Parris, and Mary help to spread the hysteria throughout Salem. Abigail provides the spark that starts off the wildfire in this small community. Their personal motives of revenge, self-benefit, and of wanting to be seen in a better light, by one's peers, placed many innocent lives on trial and put to death almost as many. All of this evidence suggests that "for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction".