Deterioration Of Salem During The Witch Trials

trials the accused witch had two choices, death or imprisonment. The punishment of deathwas given to all people that pleaded not guilty; the other punishment was to plead guiltyand go to jail. John Proctor gave his view of the justice system when he said I like not thesmell of this authority (29). And do you know that near to four hundred are in the jailsfrom Marblehead to Lynn, and upon my signature? (85) said Danforth, describing thenumber of people that were in jail on charges of witchcraft. There were so many peopleexecuted that Hale commented there are orphans wandering from house to house;abandoned cattle bellow on the highroads, the stink of rotting crops hangseverywhere… (130) Salem was turning into a ghost town. With Abigail controlling thecommunity, the church no longer getting the whole town to prayer, and an unjust legalsystem, it is natural that the people were in a state of total chaos. The unexplained was caused by the devil, so some members of Salem used theunexplained to their advantage. Mrs. Putnam told the truth when she said, There arewheels within wheels in this village, and fires within fires! (26) Mrs. Putnam did her shareof spreading rumors after she heard that the girls were flying, so she asked Parris Howhigh did she (Abigail) fly, how high? (11). These rumors happened because people did notwant any blame put on to themselves. This passing the buck made people start fightingwith one another such as Corey charging Putnam of having his daughter accuse a residentof witchcraft in order to get Corey s land. Abigail used her power of getting people tolisten to her to her advantage when she charged Proctor s spouse with being a witch soAbigail could live with John. This again proves that Abigail had control of the town andthe unexplained turned neighbor against neighbor. The social breakdown in Salem was the major factor in the tragedy that took thelives of many innocent people. There was more than one tragedy in The Crucible. The firstwas the murdering of many innocent people, and the second was that a community thatwas once very close had been broken apart. It appeared that the people of Salem were likea family but isolation actually made them unable to adapt to a troublesome situation. If thecommunity could have had a greater influence from another group of people then thesocial structure would have been able to adapt.