A Conflict With Hypocrisy In Arthur Miller's The Crucible

The play, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, takes place in the town of Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. This time in Salem, witchcraft was suspected of almost everyone in the town. Preserving one’s reputation becomes recurring concept throughout the play. The witchcraft accusations are usually made by people that have a biased view against others, which is why everyone tries to make sure their reputation looks well with the rest of the town. This concept is proven through the characters of John Proctor, Reverend Parris and Reverend Hale. These three characters go to great lengths to protect what the town of Salem thinks of them.

Purist Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 suffered from a rapidly increasing phenomenon: witchcraft accusations and trials. The Crucible is a play that recounts the times of this incident. For the most part, it follows a man known as John Proctor. He is a sensible, honest, and hardworking man who made the mistake of succumbing to lust which sets off a chain of events that leads to the witch trials, and to his own demise. Arthur Miller’s The Crucible’s protagonist John Proctor proves to be a flawed human being who struggles to make sense of his past relationship with Abigail, his love for his wife, and his pride.

Salem is not what it appears to the naked eye for dishonest children accuse and condemn the innocent to swing on the gallows. The Crucible a tragedy by Arthur Miller, relates to the Salem, Massachusetts witch trials in 1692. The reputation of Salem at the time is that no one is safe, anyone can be a witch in their eyes in order for their own benefit of freedom. Truth can stand on its own against any circumstance. Such as John Proctor stands up against Abigail for the troubles she is causing. In the same way it is almost impossible to be an outlaw to this way because of the substantial consequences if you are not just like society. This ultimately brings out the darkness in Salem. Due to envy, revenge, and lies this town

Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is a play set in the late 1600’s. The play is based on the events that occurred during the “Salem Witch Trials.” As a result, the council members bring the townspeople to the church to confront the problem at hand. In the play, a group of girls accuse townspeople of practicing witchcraft. One of the main characters, John Proctor, has an affair with a young girl named Abigail Williams. As a result of Proctor ending his affair with Abigail, Abigail accuses Proctor’s wife, Elizabeth Proctor, of using witchcraft to stab her. Therefore,as a result from the stabbing, Elizabeth is arrested. In an attempt to free his wife, Proctor self-admittedly confesses his affair. When the church council brings Elizabeth Proctor forward, she denies the accusations in order to protect John’s reputation. Following the accusations of witchcraft, proctor is then arrested. John is given the option to confess to witchcraft, whether it is true or not, in order to save his life. After signing the confession, John is informed that his confession must be made public. After

The year is 1692. Throughout the small, Puritan, seaside community of Salem, rumors and accusations fly like gusts of ocean wind. Neighbors turn on neighbors, and even the most holy church-goers are accused of being the devil’s servants. The Crucible details this real-life tragedy of the Salem witch trials, in which nineteen members of the Salem community were hanged for alleged witchcraft. Abigail Williams, a seemingly innocent girl, accuses dozens of Salem’s citizens of witchcraft through the support of her mob of girls and the complicity of the court officials. The title of this play gives significant insight into the experiences of several of these Salem citizens. Although a crucible is often used in chemistry for heating up substances, the title of the play carries a much greater weight. In his famous play The Crucible, Arthur Miller uses the title of “crucible” to signify the severe and unrelenting tests of faith and character that many of the community members endure throughout the Salem witch trials, which he achieves through the use of figurative language and fallacies of relevance and insufficiency.

Questionable morals that later reveal themselves to be admirable in the actions of an individual encases the overall meaning of moral ambiguity. The character may display traits that suggest they are merciless to start; however as their story progresses the character’s true, good nature is exposed. Moral ambiguity is significant to Arthur Miller’s The Crucible because through the character Reverend Hale, it develops prominent themes of theocracy and fear through the corruption of a higher power. The themes are currently displayed in contemporary society, resulting in Miller’s play being incredibly relevant to the modern reader.

Strange and peculiar happenings occur in The Crucible, a play by Arthur Miller. In this story of hypocrisy, guilt, and revenge, innocent people are accused of the bizarre crime of witchcraft. In Salem, Massachusetts, hysteria sets in among every person over fear of being accused of these shocking accusations. Each and every person experiences a severe test or trial in order to live to see another day. In addition to this, these people witnessed their own friends be sentenced to death over a crime in which many were found guilty. The morals of Elizabeth Proctor, Reverend Hale, and John Proctor are tested in the crucible of the Salem witchcraft trials.

In 1692 in the tight-knit town of Salem, Massachusetts, honor and morality were important aspects of the lives of the religious townspeople. As depicted in Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, the dishonorable acts of one young girl lead to a series of events that test the moral fiber of the community and leave the town of Salem in despair as hysteria threatens to overwhelm its people. Once accused of practicing witchcraft, a person has the option of lying to save his/her life and living with the stigma of being a witch, or telling the truth and being condemned to death. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller emphasizes the necessity of personal sacrifice in order to restore social order in theocratic Salem.

Arthur Miller writes about the tragic results of human failings in his play, The Crucible. He presents characters from the past and infuses them with renewed vitality and color. Miller demonstrates the horrifying results of succumbing to personal motives and flaws as he writes the painful story of the Salem witch trials. Not only do the trials stem from human failings but also from neglect of moral and religious considerations of that time. Characters begin to overlook Puritan values of thrift and hope for salvation. Focusing on the flawed characters, they begin to exhibit land lust, envy of the miserable and self-preservation.

Paranoia and fear have always played a significant role in United States society. The witch hysteria in Salem, Massachusetts is in a way, no different from many other panics that have plagued modern society, including the McCarthy era. This was a period during the Cold War where prominent members of society were arbitrarily accused of being communists, including Crucible author, Arthur Miller. The inner dilemma Miller faced when refusing to confess to this false accusation can be seen as a parallel to the conflict Proctor faces during his very similar experience in the Salem Witch Trials. One of the most prominent reasons for Proctor’s conflict with himself is derived from his affair with Abigail, the play’s antagonist. An important conflict in The Crucible is Proctor vs. self because it’s development throughout the play is crucial both to the trials and Proctor’s perception of himself.

Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, depicts a dark but important period of American colonial history. The Crucible portrays the Salem witchcraft trials of the mid to late 1600s. As the drama depicts, hysteria was rampant, and the implications of that hysteria can have major effects on the surrounding community. John Proctor, a historical figure and the protagonist of the play, is a well-regarded man who ends up being accused of witchcraft. He is faced with the choice between living a lie and dying as a symbol of truth. Ultimately he decides that a dishonorable death with an honorable message is of greater importance. He cannot fathom that he could live but his name would be cursed. Therefore, in the conclusion of Act Four, Proctor cries

In the town of Salem in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, a mass of hysteria broke out. It all started in the spring of 1692, when a group of adolescent girls claimed the works of black magic within the village. This ultimately led to a “series of investigations and prosecutions that caused 19 convicted ‘witches’ to be hanged and many other suspects to be imprisoned” (Salem witch trials 1). Sparked by interest over such a series of tragic event, Arthur Miller produced an original play The Crucible to depict the haunting madness. However, Arthur Miller 's sole purpose for writing and producing The Crucible would be to not only give his audiences exposure, but to also give them a little “taste” of all the delusional hysteria that took place in that small village. Through his play, he conveys the messages about a theocratic society within Salem and how the lack of separation between state and religion, ultimately led to recurring themes that are also reflected in modern society such as hypocrisy, intolerance and fear.

In Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible describes the corruption during the salem Witch trials of 1692. Many innocent people were hanged because they were thought to practice witchery, and pact with the devil. During this time a Reverend, Hale- was asked to rid the town of witchery; however, his view on witchery and his ability to save the town from the devastation changed.

Many characters in The Crucible are faced by the formidable task of deciding between two options: confessing for an uncommitted sin and returning to an ordinary life and professing innocence, upholding their reputation as well as their own morals and values. In analyzing Miller’s story, it becomes evident that those who choose the former fuel a catastrophic chain of events, feeding on the hysteria which arises following the inciting events of the Salem Witch Trials.  Hence, The Crucible serves to illustrate that the existence of men who favor honesty and integrity, who acknowledge and concede their shortcomings and faults, is essential to putting an end to the vicious cycle of dishonesty and fabrication which allowed for the trials to even occur.  By willing to pay the price of their own lives, characters in the play aim to put an end to the baseless fear which fuels continued injustice. Proctor so strongly regards virtuousness and moral rectitude that he would sooner meet death than renounce his honor and taint his self-image in capitulating to the very court system which so tragically failed to pursue justice.  His desire to denounce the trials as opposed to substantiate the allegations against others accused drives his ultimate decision to hold to the truth despite his initial tribulations over the dire consequences of such a decision.

The series of unfortunate events that unfolded in The Crucible by Arthur Miller is, to a fault, caused by Abigail and her carnal desires toward John Proctor, however, this does not by any extent mean she is completely to blame for what occurred. The Crucible is about the Salem Witch Trials that turned up in 17th century Massachusetts. This was the place where eighteen people were hanged for witchcraft and one, Giles Corey, who died by being crushed to death during torture to make him give the name of his informant. Though Abigail was the trigger to the mass delirium that arose, she is not the only culprit.