Women In The Crucible

Our story begins with dancing, not the footloose kind, although the two towns have similar policies on the matter, but a much more ominous dancing in the woods. The setting is early 1800’s Massachusetts in a puritan colony. We are first introduced to the main character in the play when reverend Parris, a rich reverend from Barbados, stumbles upon girls dancing. It is never stated why Parris was in the woods to begin with, and it is never questioned either. Parris discoveres the girls dancing and is horrified to see one of the girls naked, and again straying from Footloose, where daisy dukes and crop tops reign, seeing a woman’s ankles was considered risque at the time. Parris is quick to break up this atrocity and brings all the girls home, two of them being from his own household and another his maid, Tituba. Betty, his daughter, soon falls ill and it is said that the ‘dancing’ was the cause, but other begin to suspect witchcraft when Betty begins to exhibit strange behavior. All the girls are questioned, but Abigail, the smartest and most aggressive of the group, warns them not to say a word. They are questioned further and further till their only option is to confess to the crime. Abigail realizes that all their reputations are on the line, and seeing as how a woman’s reputation is everything, she confesses and points the blame to Tituba. Reverend Parris is quick to believe her and soon Tituba confesses shouting the names of people she, “saw signing the devils book”. These accusations soon spiraled out of control and lead to a witch hunt none of the girls could have foreseen. Women’s rights within the Puritan communities were limited. …show more content…
They were considered to be, “the weaker vessel in both body and mind”, and expected to be quiet, so they often had to manipulated their born roles in order to fulfill their own aspirations and goals. Since puritan leaders were all male, there were few that would stand up for the rights of women and they were often upset when women defied these gender roles. A good example of this in The Crucible, is when Martha Corey is accused of witchcraft because she was reading. This is the perfect example of men being afraid of a woman expanding her knowledge. Knowledge is power, and power was something women were scarcely given. The oppression of women can also explain Abigail’s ruthless, manipulative tactics. Not only is she a woman but also an orphan, and an unmarried teenager. The only person …show more content…
Dancing was a forbidden pleaser, possibly because it was considered wild and unruley, but what if it had been young men dancing in the forest? Since men could do no wrong, I assume the term, “boys will be boys” would be tossed around. As if the fact they are male exuses their actions for anything. Abigials behavior is seen as crazy and extreme, but Reverend Parris exhibits many of the same traits and he is not hated. For example, Abigial is quick to accuse other women in order to avert attention from herself, Revered Parris does the same thing when Hale questions his motives in the church. This, along with many others, are prime examples of how The Crucible had a lot of gender inequality and the main conflict in the play could have been avoided if women were awarded the same rights as their make