What is the work?[]
The Crucible is a four-part play written by Arthur Miller as an allegory for McCarthyism during the Cold War era. It stars John Proctor as he's trying to adjust to the recent witchcraft scar that befell on the town of Salem because of Abigail.
It later had a film adaptation.
The Issues[]
It goes as not much of a surprise that the major theme of the play is the effects mass hysteria has on an entire populace. When the Salem Witch Trials are sparked, the unprecedented circumstances override the logic of the townspeople. That, and several villagers used the opportunity to acquire the property of their neighbors that they coveted. In short, hysteria sacrifices justice and reason. Reverend Parris uses the chaos as an opportunity to strengthen his authority; scapegoats are made to be accused of witchcraft out of personal vendettas like how one accuses Rebecca Nurse of murdering babies with the dark arts.
What I'm trying to get at is no one stands out in the play because the theme of the play is how mass hysteria completely overwrites sound reasoning and how many characters are willing to use the witch hunts to their advantage to strengthen themselves. But when you have a play where it paints the entire town of Salem, Massachusetts, as in the wrong, no character stands out.
Yeah, I get the argument that Abigail started the witch hunt because she wanted to incriminate John Proctor's wife as being in league with the Devil in order to have her imprisoned on false charges so she could have John all to herself, but the issue is...she doesn't do enough to stand out. Her being the one to kick start the trials doesn't work in the same way like how other villains accidentally cause mass deaths and the like because the rest of the events in the play are, simply speaking, out of Abigail's reach. While you can make the argument that she simply did not care about all the misfortune she caused with her lie, it nevertheless shows how mass hysteria and panic clouds people's judgment and make them commit atrocities that they otherwise would not.
Verdict[]
Ultimately what makes me feel that Williams should be cut is that she doesn't do enough to stand out from the other Salemites and their evil deeds. While Abigail sparked the witch hunts and kept lying to save face, it comes across as kind of missing the point of the main theme of mass hysteria corrupting a town by perpetuating fear. You can say that the events of the play fall squarely on Abigail's feet, but so much is out of her control at that point, you simply can't attribute it to her.