Act+IV


 * 1) Guilt and revenge have a great influence on the events that occur in Salem, and they rarely bring about positive outcomes in the characters’ lives. The girls feel guilty about their activities in the woods in the opening of the play, but they temporarily avoid the accountability by forcing it onto other people who have given no apparent reason for any kind of suspicion. By charging witchcraft on random townspeople, they do manage to appear blameless for a while, but they also doom the people who they accuse to either jail or death. Eventually, every main character is trying to evade judgment, rescue their loved ones, or keep the trials going to save themselves from public disgrace. Revenge drives Abigail to strike against Elizabeth and Proctor to make his affair with Abigail known, and both events significantly maneuver the court’s decision concerning the fate of Proctor in the end. These negative motives lamentably present themselves too often in the story of Salem, and the effects they have on the characters never cease to be disastrous.
 * 2) Just like how this tale relates to the Red Scare in the 1950’s, it also illustrates events that occurred after the tragedy of September 11th . After the proclamation of the possible presence of terrorists was heard by America, Middle Eastern residents who were once above suspicion suddenly became hidden enemies in the eyes of many. Government scrutiny conveniently started to focus on people of that race, and many innocent members of society were harassed by individuals who sought to purge any foreign threat themselves. Before the attacks, these citizens were treated the same as any other race, but then mistrust and suspicion were directed at them for crimes they had no part in. Just like in the Red Scare and //The Crucible,// people who once were without blame randomly became criminals to everyone, and sadly, no one really learned from the mistakes made in history, otherwise this prejudice would have never occurred.