The story of Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible, revolves around the witchcraft hysteria and human vengeance that plague Salem and split the town into those who use the trials for their own ends and those who desire the good of the society. It is this paradox that Miller finds to be a major theme of The Crucible: good versus evil. In order to keep the community together, members of that community believe that they must in some sense tear it apart. Miller relates the intense hysteria and vengeance over the integrity of the Puritan community to their belief that they are in some sense a chosen people who will forge a new destiny for the world.
             Vengeful motivations of many characters instigated the Salem Witch Hunt. A prime example character is Abigail Williams, a seventeen-year-old girl who was out for revenge against Elizabeth Proctor. Elizabeth Proctor was the wife of John Proctor, a man Abigail was madly in love with. Abigail did everything she could to get her revenge.
             On waking up, Betty accuses Abigail of drinking blood the previous night in a ritual to kill Elizabeth Proctor. Abigail intimates that she has terrible powers and threatens all the girls with punishment if they speak of the night's events. If questioned, they are to say that they had merely danced and that it was only Tituba who had practiced witchcraft as she tried to conjure Goody Putnam's dead children. Betty collapses once again on hearing Abigail's dreadful threats. Abigail admits that Tituba had called the Devil the previous night, but claims that neither she nor Betty had participated in any rituals. Tituba is summoned, and Abigail accuses her of making her drink blood. Tituba denies this; she is still is threatened with being whipped to death or hanged. Being cornered, she admits that the Devil comes to her. When asked by Hale whether the Devil is accompanied by anyone from the village, she names Sarah Good and Goody Osburn under Putnam's prompting.
             ...