Sometimes, fear motivates people to behave recklessly. Personal fears incite some characters in Arthur Miller's play The Crucible to cry witches. Reverend Parris fears losing his job, Abigail fears a trial and losing John Proctor, and Tituba fears physical punishment. Fear causes people to defend their personal whims and use their power to harm others. Reverend Parris' fear of losing his job drives him to cry "witch." Reverend Parris' daughter pretends to be in a coma. When the doctor orders Susanna to tell Reverend Parris that she "might look to unnatural things for the cause of it" (9), he denies this possibility because he fears that rumors of witchcraft under his roof would aid his "many enemies" (10) to drive him from his pulpit. Subsequently, by supporting the Salem witch trials, Reverend Parris secures his position in the church. When John Proctor brings into court a deposition signed by Mary Warren denouncing the swindlers of Abigail and her girls, Reverend Parris urgently tells Judge Danforth that "they have come to overthrow the court" (88). When Mary Warren cannot faint in court, Reverend Parris accuses her of being “a trick to blind the court” (107). After Abigail pretends that Mary Warren is attacking her, Reverend Parris incites accusations by telling her to "cast out the Devil" (118). Reverend Parris fears that if Abigail is exposed he will be punished for supporting an illegitimate legal proceeding. When the day of execution arrives, Reverend Parris fears that the "rebellion in Andover" (127) over the hangings will occur similarly to Salem. Reverend Parris implores Hathorne that “. . . it was another type that we have hung up to now. . . these people still have great weight in the city” (127). Reverend Parris's latest attempt to preserve... middle of paper... the government we support. Salem law enforcement used preventative techniques by convicting and executing those suspected of witchcraft without real evidence. Our former president's policy, the “Bush Doctrine,” convicted people without hard evidence or without giving them fair trials. Iraq was invaded and searched, but no weapons of mass destruction were ever found. With an appropriate amount of fear and suspicion, the government will launch a potentially devastating “preventive war” against suspected attackers. In The Crucible, every time one witch confesses many more appear, just as international aggression by US forces spawns more international aggressors. What does our fetish for aggressively suppressing our enemies say about society and what we learn from history? We are incapable of learning from our mistakes or we are simply addicted to hatred and violence?