Lies In The Crucible

“The trust of the innocent is the liar’s most useful tool.” According to award-winning author and screenwriter Stephen King, liars have the ability to utilize the trust of the innocent to accomplish their own agenda. Similarly, Arthur Miller’s The Crucible delves into the inner workings that motivate people to lie. To illustrate this, Miller uses the various characters of the play to represent the different motives to lie which include fear, lust, and greed. As the play progresses, it becomes clear that all of these motives occur mainly due to self-interest and desire.
The initial accusations and labeling of people as “witches” during the era of the Salem Witch trials was a product of fear. When Abigail and her friends become caught dancing
After the Salem Witch trials pick up irreversible speed, Abigail decides to utilize her position to her advantage and drive a wedge between Proctor and his wife once again. Abigail even admits that she has “a heat [for John]” and “looks for the John Proctor that took me from my sleep and put knowledge in my heart” (Miller 24). Evidently, Abigail still has repressed desires for John. Given that Abigail and John’s affair ended poorly with Abigail fired from her job due to Elizabeth, Abigail not only lusts for John, but also looks to seek revenge on his wife, Elizabeth. In Act II of the play when Elizabeth is anonymously accused of witchcraft, she automatically associates Abigail saying that “[Abigail] wants me dead” and “I knew it all week it would come to this” (Miller 60). Abigail’s lust for John and jealousy of Elizabeth motivated her to lie to achieve her repressed desires. As the accusations keep spreading around the town, even Proctor comes to realization that Abigail “thinks to dance with me on my wife’s grave” (110). Abigail’s lust for John takes the accusations to extremes where no one is safe, and Abigail’s unchallenged dishonesty gives her free reign over the outcome of the trials. Her lies not only help her accomplish her selfish agenda, but also give her a power over the entire town. While lust or love is a main drive
As soon as it becomes evident that the witch trials could be used as a tool to accomplish personal goals and gain status within the rigid social structure of the time period, other characters begin taking advantage of the situation. Particularly, greed drives Putnam to use the Salem Witch Trials to accuse Jacobs in order to expand his own wealth and social standing. Giles Corey reveals Putnam’s true intentions by claiming “if Jacobs hangs for a witch he forfeit up his property…and there is none but Putnam with the coin to buy so great a piece. This man is killing his neighbors for his land!” (96). Putnam planned to have Jacobs accused so that he could seize Jacobs’ land for himself. Moreover, Corey goes on to reveal that “I have it from an honest man who heard Putnam say it! The day his daughter cried out on Jacobs, [Putnam] said she'd given him a fair gift of land” (96). Therefore, not only did greed motivate Putnam to manipulate and lie to use the trials in his favor, but it also motivated him to ultimately sacrifice the lives of others for his own personal