Themes
A theme in The Crucible is that a society ruled by theocracy and status based on religion is bound to fall apart. Salem 's strict adherence to the Christian shurch is evident in everything the citizens do. They use measures of a person 's knowledge and adherence to the religion as a means of judging their character and also their status in society. They believe "God [was] provoked so grandly by such a petty cause" (121), which is why the "jails are packed" (121). If the citizen did anything to make God angry, they were punished. This is why the judges were so relentless and naïve in putting the accused women to trial and convicting them. They believed "the law, based upon the Bible, and the Bible, writ by the Almighty God,
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She accuses multiple people of witchcraft and even states how she was forced to dance "for the Devil...[see] him... and [kiss] his hand" (88) to protect herself.
Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York; the Penguin Group, 2003.
Plot Summary
The Crucible is a historical play by Arthur Miller, and is set in the town of Salem during the late 1690s. The main characters are John Proctor, the protagonist, and Abigail Williams, the antagonist. The conflict occurs when Abigail falsely accuses others of witchcraft. This leads to hysteria in the town, with people turning in innocent people for witchcraft. Many people including John and Elizabeth Proctor are arrested and put on trial, despite their innocence. John Proctor is sentenced to death after refusing to denounce his friends as witches, forgiven by Elizabeth for his affair with Abigail, and restores his reputation of being a good man. The Crucible delves into the extent people will go betray others in order to benefit themselves
Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York; the Penguin Group, 2003.
Literary devices
Metonymy is used when "We shall need hard study if it comes to tracking down the Old Boy" (80) is said. The Metonymy of "Old Boy" refers to the devil in the play.In The Crucible,the idea of good and evil is portrayed through God and the Devil, where the characters are constantly trying to capture and
The play The Crucible, was written by Arthur Miller in 1953. It is a story he wrote after his own experience being accused of communism. This affected a lot of well-known people in the United States during this time, and was considered a witch hunt similar to the Salem witch hunts. Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible about a man, John Proctor, who has an affair with Abigail Williams. She catches feelings for him and tries to cast a spell on John Proctor’s wife to kill her; this gets out of hand when Abigail’s uncle catches her and some other girls dancing during the spell in the woods. Suddenly, the whole town is living in fear of who is practicing witchcraft, who could be a witch, and innocent people are killed if they don’t confess to being witches. Overall, mass fear and panic, and false accusations are seen over and over throughout the play.
"The Crucible" which was written by Arthur Miller, is a shocking look into the events of a tragic period early in history that America will not likely forget. The setting of "The Crucible" is that it takes place in the Puritan community of Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. The story revolves around the Salem Witch Trials. John Proctor is facing a moral dilemma. It turns out that Abigail Williams, Proctor's former servant girl and mistress, along with several other young girls, were caught out in the woods dancing naked and practicing witchcraft.
The Crucible is set in 1600s Salem during the Salem Witch Trials. The story starts with a group of girls dancing and making a potion.The character Abigail had an affair with John Proctor. While the other girls were making a love potion Abigail wanted a charm to kill John’s wife. The day after two of the girls act as if they are under a trance, Reverend Parris sends for Reverend John Hale who to investigate if there is any supernatural causes. Abigail starts falsely accusing people of witchcraft, leading to many people being hanged. In the end Abigail gets away and John Proctor is hanged. Reverend John Hale is the most dynamic character, because he changes from being a strong believer of witchcraft to being skeptical, then to being regretful.
In the book “The Crucible” is about The Salem Witch Trials that took place in 1692 and ended in 1693. Arthur Miller wrote the book about the trials that were so hateful. His book was made a play and stared John Proctor who was affected greatly by the crucible. He tries to keep his “name” and morals end up forcing him to surrender. The act of vengeance of one girl's, Abigail, made the towns people choose sides.
I feel that extremism is dangerous because it can lead to intolerance, lying and hurting others.
Jennifer Torres Ms. Wyatt AP English Language and Composition, Period: 6 8 February 2016 Woe of Fools Within his play "The Crucible" Arthur Miller utilizes hysteria, hypocrites, and closed-mindedness in order to create an allegory to 1950s McCarthyism. Miller utilizes hysteria to make an allegory for what he went through in the 1950s. The "afflicted" girls of the town shriek, "I saw Goody Sibber... Alice Barrow...
The play “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller portrays a powerful drama based on the witch trials in Salem of 1692.It all started when the girls was caught dancing in the woods. The girls accused others being seen with the devil cause they was afraid of been punished or even accused of witch craft. John Proctor is one of the main characters.John Proctor is well respected man is considered an magic hero and because of his tragic flaw of adultery leads him to his death.
“What'll we do? The village is out! I just come from the farm; the whole country's takin' witchcraft! They'll be callin' us witches, Abby!” (1.17). This quote is representative of the entire play for it portrays several of the major themes developed in the literary piece. Such themes include hysteria, reputation, and revenge. The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is a tragedy in which people attack one another via accusations as a means of revenge ultimately creating an atmosphere of hysteria around the entire village. As a result, the accused characters face both internal and external conflicts in an attempt to maintain their reputation as well as integrity. Since Reverend Jonathan Hale of Beverly is initially motivated by his zeal for finding the Devil, his decision to find the Fiend and condemn the witches in the village of Salem
Arthur Miller writes The Crucible a play based on the witchcraft that occurs in Salem, Massachusetts. The small community was condemned and accused if they’re found guilty of performing any witchcraft. This lead to the deaths of many citizens in Salem who were falsely charged in court. Abigail, one of the main characters, is the cause of all the witchcraft and blamed others for her actions to avoid any punishment. She is an orphan and an unmarried girl who had an affair with John Proctor. The first step for Abigail to gain power over Proctor was having an affair which led to her trying to take Elizabeth’s place. Abigail begins to plan her vengeance towards Elizabeth Proctor which affected the whole community who believed her accusations.
To begin, Mary Warren is one of the many girls that accuses several people of practicing witchcraft and aids in getting them convicted. She knows she is doing a wrong, but still she gets caught up in the excitement and thoroughly enjoys the power she discovers she has; she can turn on anyone and the court would believe her without a hint of doubt. Evidently, the weight of her lies make her weak, for she declares: “I am sick, I am sick, Mr. Proctor. Pray, Pray hurt me not. My insides are all shuddery; I am in the proceedings all
The Crucible is a play written by Arthur Miller in 1953. The action around the play is based on a historical event, the Salem Witch Trials, which takes place in Salem, Massachusetts. Most of the people living in Salem, Massachusetts were Puritans and they were expected to attend church and were restricted to work during the Sabbath. People believed in the existence of Satan and that he chooses the weakest individual to carry on his work and the people who follow Satan were considered as witches. They believed that witchcraft is one of the greatest crimes a person can commit and the punishment for practicing witchcraft is death. The fear of witchcraft increased among the people, so when a person act or think in a different way the people considered the person as a witch. 20 people were killed during the Salem witch trials, many of them were really innocent and extremely religious. The play is centered around three main characters, John Proctor, Abigail Williams and John Proctor’s wife Elizabeth Proctor. The relationship between Abigail and John Proctor is the crux of all that goes wrong in Salem during the trials. In Arthur Miller’s Crucible John Proctor has sinned and committed adultery, but he has a lot of courage and confesses the truth in order to save others even if it could spoil his own good reputation.
the cider, and he asks, 'as gently as he can,' almost as he would if
The Crucible is a play that takes place in Salem, Massachusetts during the year 1692 and in short contains Abigail the Reverend’s niece accusing several women of practicing witchcraft. This leads to a witch-hunt. John Proctor and his wife Elisabeth realize that Abigail, with whom John once had an affair with, started all this in order to get Elizabeth hung in order for her to be able to get back together with John. Trying to save his wife’s life John testifies in court about the affair. Elizabeth trying to save her husband, and not knowing he admitted to it, denies it causing John to be accused of witchcraft. John was offered the chance to sign a confession and save his life but refuses to do so as he is concerned over the innocent citizens
The infamous play, The Crucible written by Arthur Miller takes place in the town of Salem, Massachusetts when a group of girls accuses innocent people in the puritan society of witchcraft. Abigail Williams, a young girl and her friends are caught doing a forbidden action considered to the puritan community, and try to draw the community’s attention away from their wrongdoing. As the puritan civilization starts to believe these juvenile girls about the devil being present in certain individuals, other authentic personals try to fight for their society as a whole. Throughout the book, characters show that the community is more important than the individual by sacrificing their perseverance, passion, and integrity when their morals are challenged.
Arthur Miller’s 1953 play, The Crucible, is based on the infamous witch trials that took place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. While elements of Miller’s play are fictionalized, many of the play’s characters are based on actual historical figures from the events in Salem. In The Crucible, Abigail Williams, a teenager in Salem, attempts to win back her adulterous lover, John Proctor, by trying to cast spells in the middle of a forest on Proctor’s wife, Elizabeth. Abigail and her co-conspirators are seen, and accusations of witchcraft begin swirling around town. Meanwhile, Elizabeth Proctor urges her husband to publicly come clean about his affair with Abigail, but he refuses to do so; that is, until Elizabeth herself is hauled away on accusations of witchcraft. John Proctor consequently admits his adultery in front of a public court in an effort to smear the reputation of Abigail and save his wife. When Elizabeth is brought before the court to confirm John’s adultery, she tells a lie and denies the adultery, but is nonetheless believed by the court. This leads to accusations against John Proctor for lying. As a result of the hubbub, John Proctor is also accused of witchcraft, and as the play concludes, he is led to the gallows.