In Salem's patriarchal Puritan society, women do not occupy positions of authority and are expected to be passive, quiet, and obedient. Women are oppressed individuals and expected to live up to a certain moral standard or risk their reputations. There are numerous examples throughout the play where women are portrayed as less powerful in Salem's community. In act one, Reverend Hale arrives and Abigail confesses that Tituba was conjuring spirits in the forest. As a black female slave, Tituba has no rights and is a voiceless individual with no authority. When Reverend Hale begins to question her about being in contact with the devil, Tituba vehemently denies the accusation and Reverend Parris says,
You will confess yourself or I will take you out and whip you to your death, Tituba! (Miller, 44)
Reverend Parris's comment illustrates Tituba's powerless status in Salem's community, where she is completely subjected to the will...
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of distinguished men like Reverend Parris.
Miller once again portrays women's lowly, powerless status in Salem's community in act two. When John Proctor learns that Mary Warren has been neglecting her duties to travel into Salem, where she acts as a court official, he loses his temper and physically threatens her by saying,
I’ll whip you if you dare leave this house again! (Miller, 55).]
The fact that a man could physically punish a woman by whipping emphasizes the social hierarchy and highlights women's oppressed status. Mary Warren is powerless and vulnerable at this moment and begs Proctor not to hurt her.
In act three, Miller depicts how women are being used as puppets by powerful men to do their bidding during the corrupt proceedings. When Thomas Putnam enters the court, Danforth tells him,
Mr. Putnam, I have here an accusation by Mr. Corey against you. He states that you coldly prompted your daughter to cry witchery upon George Jacobs that is now in jail. (Miller, 96)
Giles Corey's accusation reveals that Thomas Putnam is using his daughter to accuse innocent citizens of witchcraft so that he can buy their forfeited land. According to the town's social code, Putnam's daughter is obligated to obey her father and does his bidding. She is powerless against her father's will and proceeds to falsely accuse innocent citizens at his request.
"My name is good in the village! I will not have it said my name is soiled! Goody Proctor is a gossiping liar!"
This is Abigail Williams, indignantly denying rumors related to her by her uncle, the Reverend Parris, that she's been dismissed from the Proctors' service because of an affair with John. A "good" reputation is essential for women in Salem. The prevailing double standard means that women cannot be seen as anything other than paragons of virtue when it comes to sexual relations. Abigail understands the importance of this, which is why she's so anxious to defend her impugned honor.
"It needs a cold wife to prompt lechery."
Elizabeth Proctor is effectively blaming herself for her husband's affair with Abigail. She seems to have internalised the dominant social prejudice that regards women as ultimately responsible for acts of adultery, either as cold, neglectful wives or as brazen temptresses.
ABIGAIL: Oh, I marvel how such a strong man may let such a sickly wife be.
PROCTOR: You’ll speak nothin’ of Elizabeth!
ABIGAIL: She is blackening my name in the village! She is telling lies about me! She is a cold, sniveling woman, and you bend to her! Let her turn you like a—
PROCTOR, shaking her: Do you look for whippin’?
When pushed to anger by Abigail, it's telling that John has no hesitation in threatening to give her a whipping. In taunting John about "bending" to Elizabeth's will, Abigail's not just impugning his manhood, she's also expressing the prevailing moral code which says that men must have complete control over women, even if it means resorting to physical violence.
In The Crucible, it is very common to see a husband tell his wife what to do, which demonstrates the lower position of women in this community. When the Putnams arrive at Reverend Parris's house in Act One, Mr. Putnam addresses his wife, saying, "Ann! Tell Mr. Parris what you have done." This sounds like a father speaking to his child rather than a husband speaking to his wife, at least by modern standards.
John Proctor addresses his wife in a similar way in Act Two. He gets angry that she allowed Mary Warren to go to town, saying as he "hold[s] back a full condemnation of her": "It is a fault, it is a fault, Elizabeth—you're the mistress here, not Mary Warren." The fact that he can speak to her in such a way indicates their inequality. This inequality is also implied by his statement, "I should have roared you down when first you told me your suspicion [about my affair with Abigail]. But I wilted, and, like a Christian, I confessed." One equal does not "roar down" another.
The way John speaks to Mary also demonstrates the discrepancy in power between men and women. When he arrives at Mr. Parris's house in Act One, she is quick to tell him that she's headed home, but he says, "Be you foolish, Mary Warren? Be you deaf? I forbid you leave the house, did I not? Why shall I pay you? I am looking for you more often than my cows!" Again, this sounds more like a parent (and an unkind one at that) speaking to a child than one adult speaking to another.