Almost everyone in Salem is responsible for the witch hysteria in one way or another. Characters such as Abigail Williams and Thomas Putnam are motivated by selfish and cynical ends—Abigail by revenge and self-aggrandizement, Putnam by greed—and may be regarded as the most morally depraved. There is no indication that either of them believes in witches at all, but the witch-hunt serves their ends.
Ann Putnam, in contrast, has been so deranged by the deaths of her children that she is desperately looking for someone to blame and seizes fervently on the witch-hunt as a way of assuaging her grief. Mr. Parris is motivated by fear, as, in a different way, is Judge Danforth, who seems to have the intelligence to realize that the proceedings, if not a total sham, have clearly taken a wrong turn. However, he is willing to kill innocent people to protect his reputation.
One of the most culpable characters is Mr. Hale, who has dismissed a charge of witchcraft in his own parish of Beverly but is only too willing to believe the charges against Tituba on the flimsiest of evidence. Mr. Hale may be the most intelligent and thoughtful character in the play and is able to realize that he has made a mistake, but he is also a symbol of what is wrong with Puritan society. He is deeply concerned when questioning the Proctors on whether they believe in witches. His expertise on a non-existent subject is of the greatest importance to him.
It is the unquestioning attitude with which witchcraft is treated in Salem that allows credulous people to seize on it as an explanation and cynical people as a pretext for their greed and spite. In this sense, the whole society is responsible.
The Putnams are certainly responsible for propagating the hysteria regarding the presence of witchcraft in the community. They immediately believe that Tituba is guilty, and Thomas Putnam physically threatens her, which causes her to accuse two lowly citizens of being witches. Thomas Putnam also uses the witch trials as a land grab by telling his daughter to falsely accuse George Jacobs of being involved in witchcraft.
Reverend Parris is partially responsible for the hysteria after he calls Reverend Hale to investigate. Rather than handling the issue by himself and punishing the girls for dancing in the forest, he bows to prominent citizens like the Putnams because he does not want to lose his position of authority.
Both Abigail and Tituba are responsible for the hysteria after falsely accusing innocent citizens in order to avoid being punished for questionable behavior. Abigail holds the most responsibility for the spread of hysteria, as she threatens the other girls into corroborating her story and acts as their leader. She proceeds to lead the other girls, and they continue accusing innocent citizens of witchcraft during the proceedings. Abigail's followers, like Mary Warren, Ruth Putnam, Mercy Lewis, and Betty Parris, are also responsible for the hysteria.
John Proctor bears some responsibility for the hysteria since he refuses to mention that Abigail and the others are lying. John Proctor does not want to ruin his reputation and is initially afraid to challenge Abigail Williams. He does not want his lechery to be revealed and only testifies against the girls when Elizabeth is falsely accused.
Deputy Governor Danforth and Judge Hathorne are also responsible for the hysteria because they refuse to recognize that their court is corrupt whenever Giles Corey, John Proctor, Mary Warren, and Francis Nurse challenge its validity. They are only concerned with maintaining their positions of authority and refuse to acquit falsely accused citizens.
The Putnams bear some responsibility for the witch hysteria because, in Act I, they are eager to believe a witch is to blame for the deaths of seven of their eight children. They repeat their suspicions again and again, fueling rumors of witchcraft in the town, and express their immediate certainty of the guilt of the women Tituba names.
Tituba and Abigail Williams are partially to blame for the hysteria as well because Abigail first names Tituba as a witch to shift blame away from herself, and then Tituba confesses and names two others as witches to save her own life. At this point, Abigail confesses to witchcraft, too, and she and her cousin Betty Parris go on to name many others as witches.
The group of girls consisting of Abigail, Betty, Mercy Lewis, Ruth Putnam, and their friends are also to blame because they continue to accuse people they know are innocent. We must include Mary Warren in this group because she initially participates, though she tries to tell the truth later. When she fears being accused, Mary then accuses her employer, John Proctor, of being a witch and tempting her away from God.
We must even fault Proctor for the hysteria because he knew the girls were lying early on—Abby told him herself—and he kept this information to himself until it was too late. Likewise, we can blame Mr. Hale because he knew the court was corrupt and failed to speak out against it soon enough, to stay in Salem and try to prove the innocence of those accused. What he did was too little, too late. For obvious reasons, we can blame Judges Danforth and Hathorne because they choose to believe the girls' accusations, seeming to enjoy the immense power their position enabled them to wield over others, even in the face of evidence to the contrary. Really, very few, if any, characters are without blame.
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