Shah Akbur Ms. Jones AP Language 1 December 2009 The Crucible True Purpose One of the factors that can be accredited to starting the hysteria over witchery in the Crucible is the weakness of several of the characters in the story. The fear and lack of mental stability of these characters are a pivotal reason as to why these trials took place. It was Parris’s fear of his reputation being tarnished by his daughter’ssickness that led him to bring John Hale which eventually spirals down to the whole witch hunting hysteria. It was Tituba’s fear of being hanged that led her to accuse all those people of being involved with the devil. It was John Proctors reluctance to get involved that led to the downfall of him as well as the …show more content…
Another instance of hypocrisy committed by a character during the play is when Abigail opened herself to Jesus. “..I want the light of god, I want the sweet love of Jesus,” in these lines Abigail is claiming that she is rid of the devils power over her and she would like to come back to the good graces of god (Miller, 189). In reality Abigail’s outcry was in no way a declaration of herself to god but rather a deceitful objection to make the appearance of innocence in front of the unknowing spectators. The tragic hero of the story John Proctor also exemplifies hypocrisy. When asked to recite his commandment Proctor whether intentionally or forgetfully fails to mention “thou shall not commit adultery.” Proctor claimed to be man of god even though his prior sins with Abigail violated this very commandment. Hypocrisy is one of the more common flaws of people. At one point or another we will all experience a hypocrite, someone who decrees certain values without following those values themselves. In conclusion the Crucible is an elucidation on specific flaws of humans that are exemplified by personas in the story. Arthur Miller creates these characters with certain attributes and put them in unique situations to help explain the natural aberrations of humans. The crucible magnifies these weaknesses so it is more obvious to the reader. We are able to identify these imperfections and incorporate them into the real world. The Crucible is less of a melodrama
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.
In the play The Crucible many of the characters learn things about themselves as well as others. Discuss the insight gained by the characters of Elizabeth Proctor, Reverend Hale, and John Proctor.
he mood and situtation that he was in. At the end (Act ]I[) John Proctor was
In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, John Proctor, the protagonist, is a farmer in his middle thirties. The author gives little to no detailed physical description of him, but from Proctor’s speech, we can still picture him as a strong and powerful man who is able to keep every situation under the control, the kind of personality which earns him deep respect and even fear from the people in town. On the other hand, Abigail Williams, the antagonist, plays an inferior role as an orphan who has no social status in a place like Salem. Over the course of the play, John Proctor is absolutely awakened and transformed by Abigail Williams. In the end, he overcomes the crucible by releasing himself from his guilt of
The Crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller, is a chronological narrative including a large cast of characters with a constantly moving setting.* The Crucible is a dramatization of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 and an allegory of the McCarthyism period. Throughout the play, Miller explores the destruction of freedom by the ignorant and tyrannical society in which his characters live.* By exhibiting how easily a member of the community can become an outcast, Arthur Miller displays social criticism in the Puritan society as well as in today's society in The Crucible.
The witch trials in this play were based on actual events that happened in Salem in 1692. Arthur Miller’s 1953 The Crucible is a dramatization of the Salem Witch Trials. His reasoning for writing it was because everyone was hysteric about the Soviet Union and communism trying to make its way over to the United States. It was like a modern day witch hunt. In the play, Abigail Williams and a group of girls get caught in the woods. They were dancing and doing other things that puritan’s looked down upon. The girls were caught by Reverend Parris, and soon after his daughter became ‘ill’. The girls then started saying that witches came to them and told them to do bad things. They sent innocent people to hang. After studying Arthur Miller’s
Pride can become something that will lead a man to shame and destruction. In The Crucible this happened to one of the main characters, John Proctor, which also is the one of the Tragic Hero in the book. The Crucible is about when some town people in Salem was accused of being witches after four girls were found dancing in the woods. After 200 people were accused of being witches in 1963, 20 people were either hung or crushed by many stones. In the Crucible John Proctor, the tragic hero had a weakness as pride eventually forcing him to face a serious decision and suffering more than he should.
In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, it takes place in Salem, Massachusetts during colonial America. Throughout the story a group of girls makes accusations a mass of people of practicing witchcraft, one of the worst crimes to commit during that period, and people are being sentenced to hang for denying witchery. In the Crucible there are many lessons that Arthur Miller wants to teach you. To me a lot of the lessons that were taught in this story are important but I feel like one of them is the most important. Arthur Miller demonstrates that one of the lessons implied in the story is people’s character and how it affects those people and others. Examples of character are Giles Corey, John Proctor, Abigail Williams.
The Crucible was written as a response to the Red Scare. The reason he wrote this story was he saw similarities between himself and the Red Scare and the Witchcraft trials. So he wrote about them. A similarity was such as Arthur Miller Cheated on his wife just like John Proctor did in Act I of The Crucible. So this is my conclusion, The Crucible is a social commentary over communism in the
The Crucible is set in the seventeenth- century Salem, Massachusetts during the Salem witch trial. It starts of with Reverend Parris, a man very concerned about his reputation, accusing his orphaned niece Abigail Williams of taking part in witchcraft after his daughter is unconscious after dancing in the woods. A technique used by Parris is characterization, which utilizes the thoughts, actions and dialogues in the construction of characters. Arthur Miller uses characterization to build the character of Reverend Samuel Parris as arrogant , selfish, and deceptive.
In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller was based on the Salem, witch trials when the people of the town where accusing each other of witchcraft and those held for questioning would stand trial had a choice to be valor. In Miller’s portrayal of the ghastly, sickening inquiry of witchcraft many people in the 1690’s were people of the township were maintaining guard for their beliefs; while others of the community of Salem were cowards who took the easy out of the accusations they were on trial. The townspeople of Salem are going through a day people are courageous even in a way others could not be or were never suppose to be. Those characters display their courage in the town at the time of need, John Proctor is a selfless man when only stating
Bad things happen from people making decisions based on lies and fear, but evil things
Have you ever experienced something that challenged you or stressed you? were you afraid? Did you lie to save yourself? Well, these characters experienced a great challenge that affected their lives. Arthur Miller in The Crucible uses courage, weakness, and truth to explain to the reader what each character went through; what challenged them; how it affected them and the way they thought or reacted to things. These characters went through A lot and it affected them and the people around them.
Equally as relevant as the symbols of truth portrayed in this play are the symbols of falsehood. The puritanical views of the community and the fear of being exposed as a sinner are driving reasons to turn to a life of hypocrisy and lying to cover up sins so not to be judged by their peers. Reverend Parris is the embodiment of a hypocritical puritan of this time. He uses his title and status as the town religious figure to hide his sins and those of his family. Abigail embodies many of the main issues in the play especially those of demonstrating fallacies. She used accusations that to cover up her own actions that start the entire witch hunt. These characters are the main symbols of falsehood which provide much of the conflict in the play.
Arthur Miller, is considered as one of the greatest American playwrights of the 20th century, One of his famous work is the novel “The Crucible”. The Crucible presents salem witch trials, and was published on January 22, 1953, another famous books of his was “Death Of A Salesman” which was published on February 10, 1949, before the crucible was released. The books are targeting anyone with the purpose of reading something new. While reading the crucible, the author sets the tone as astonishing and jealousy, which some of the characters contain within themself. In the ninth paragraph of Arthur Miller essay in “ Are You Now Or Were You Ever?” discusses the creation of The Crucible, its purpose was to recreate “life again”.