In The Crucible, there were a lot of people to put blame on for the Salem Witch Trials. The person that was the easiest to put the blame on was Abigail. She was the easiest put to blame because she was the one who was the main accuser and had gotten the most people killed. Abigail was one of the higher people in the social class, so it very easy for her to gain followers. She could guide them through the trials along side of her. She is very manipulative, selfish, persuasive and a fraud. In act one, Abigail says, “Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you.” I feel that this particular quote is a very good representation of all four of these characteristics that Abigail shows throughout the play to persuade others to follow her.
Abigail is not the only one to blame though, some more characters that we can blame are:
1. Marry Warren- She had the chance to speak up and out against Abigail but was too deep with regret to turn on Abigail and say that all of the girls were lying.
2. Putnam- Prompted his daughter to get George Jacobs accused of witchery so they could take over his land.
3. Goody Putnam- With her consistent blaming of Goody Nurse killing her babies, she accused Goody Nurse of Witchcraft.
4. Danforth and Hathorne- Both of these characters were very similar in the fact they they only cared about their reputation. They would do anything on earth to keep dirt off of their own names.
5.Parris- Parris liked to blame the people that didn’t like him. Parris asked questions that would, with no doubt, make people look like witches and then bring that “information” to the court.