Who is Responsible?

     I believe that Abigail Williams is responsible for 19 people losing their lives.  I believe that she is responsible because she started the accusations.  When Reverend Parris was questioning her about dancing in the woods, she claimed that it was all Tituba's fault and that Tituba was always trying to get her to interact with the devil.  "Abigail: I never called him! Tituba, Tituba . . ." (Pg. 40)  Because Tituba was a slave, nobody would believe her when she said that she did not work with the devil.  Even though Abigail did this just to get out of trouble, she began to accuse more people just for the sake of accusing them.

A Jail Cell

     Abigail also accused Elizabeth Proctor.  She accused Elizabeth because she had been having an affair with John Proctor and she wanted Elizabeth dead so she could marry John.  This caused suspicion to arise around the entire family so that after Elizabeth was arrested, John was taken in for witchcraft.  Because of this, her plan backfired and John was killed.  This caused her to run away because she knew that everyone was on to her.

     Abigail's accusations also caused the other girls in the town to accuse people of witchcraft.  "Betty: I saw George Jacobs with the Devil! I saw Goody Howe with the Devil." (Pg. 45)  Because the girls looked innocent, people believed them and this caused mass hysteria to arise.  The people of the town started accusing anyone that they didn't like.  Many people who, for example, wanted more land, would accuse someone who was an outsider of society of being a witch to get their land.  However, eventually this lead to respected members of society being accused and killed.