In Arthur Miller's The Crucible, Self-Preservation is very common in the town of Salem. Self-Preservation is when a person protects themselves or someone else, whether it be by telling the truth or a lie. In the town of Salem many people use Self-Preservation to protect themselves from the consequences of performing witchcraft. However, others may use Self-Preservation to protect their reputation or image in society, such as Reverend Parris. He himself started, what is called a chain of self-preservation when he reported Abigail Williams and the girls performing witchcraft. This led to Abigail having to use self-preservation to protect herself from the consequences of witchcraft which later on led Elizabeth Proctor to protect herself and her …show more content…
She was accused of performing witchcraft. When Parris catches her and the girls doing witchcraft in the woods, they realize that they could be in very deep trouble and face some severe consequences. Abigail says to Parris, "But we never conjured spirits" (10). Abigail knows that performing witchcraft is against the law and she could get executed, because of that she is lying about not doing witchcraft. Abigail and the girls were roleplaying witchcraft in a sense for entertainment. She ended up drinking blood, Betty also became unconscious which all led to Parris assuming that the girls conjured spirits. Another point in The Crucible when Abigail used self-preservation was when Tituba was brought in and Abigail accuses her of witchcraft. Abigail says, "She made me do it, she made Betty do it!" (43) This quote shows that Abigail is willing to do anything to protect herself from the consequences of committing witchcraft, which means accusing someone else. Accusing Tituba, however, was quite smart since Tituba is black and is a slave from Barbados, which means people will most likely believe what Abigail has to say. Many accusations later, the court fully believes what Abigail and the girls have to say. Abigail now knows that she is basically in control and can say anything she wants and everyone will believe her. She takes self-preservation to a whole new level by accusing Elizabeth Proctor, John Proctor's wife of witchcraft. The reason is because she previously had an affair with John Proctor and wants him in her life. Abigail claims that Elizabeth is in charge of "Poppets" also known as Voodoo Dolls. She says they are in Proctors home and that Elizabeth and John use the dolls to bewitch her. She screams with pain and says that they have done something to the dolls that makes her stomach