Character Analysis of Reverend Parris

Reverend Parris’s main motivation is to preserve his reputation at any cost, whether by unbelievable behavior or through falsehood. For example, when Reverend Parris discovers the girls dancing in the forest, he hastily warns Abigail that his reputation is in jeopardy by conveying, “Now look you, child, your punishment will come in its time. But if you trafficked with spirits in the forest I must know it now, for surely my enemies will, and they will ruin me with it” (10). Since Abigail is family, Parris has no tolerance when it comes to his reputation so he willingly enforces discipline to maintain his status. Also, as a minister, his role is

Reverend Samuel Parris is motivated to sustain his reputation because he took years to build up his name. Some of the folks already see him as unfit as the reverend. Having the assumption that there are sinful practices taking place under his roof, he, at first, denies the involvement of witchcraft with the odd behavior Betty displays. However, when a majority of the townspeople believe in the involvement of witchery. He does not want his name and reputation to be tarnished due to witchcraft, so he plays along and supports Betty’s and Abigail’s accusations. He uses Tituba as a scapegoat to divert the suspicion towards him. Parris threatens to whip Tituba if she does not confess that she has dealings with the Devil, and pushes her to her breaking point. Parris is motivated to uphold his reputation and tries to divert the possible blame and suspicion towards him to

In Act II Parris states, “...I pray you feel the weight of truth upon you for now my ministry’s at stake…” to Abigail (Act II). In this scene Parris is trying to compel Abigail to tell him the truth about what he saw, something that she does not do. Parris, on account of his insecurities, never tells of his encounter as he fears this will taint his good name. Instead of telling the people of Salem the truth, he keeps it in, making him somewhat liable for the deaths of innocent men and women. Eventually, when it is known that he withheld information he loses respect from the

Imagine being accused of something you never did just because someone had something against you. That is exactly what the characters in “The Crucible” were going through. The author, Arthur Miller, used the play as an allegory. He wanted to compare the Salem witch trials to the McCarthyism. McCarthyism, created by Joseph P. McCarthy, was popular during the cold war and it falsely accused people of being a communist with no evidence to support the accusation. It became popular because of the spread of communism in China and Europe. In the United States, anyone could accuse someone of being a communist and could ruin their lives. That is exactly what Miller was trying to portray in “The Crucible.” If someone accused another person of witchcraft their whole lives could be turned upside down. They could even possibly be hanged. Throughout the story there are an abundance of arguments. Most of the arguments come from Act III in the courthouse. The arguments are all different, but they all end up being the same in the sense that people are being falsely accused. The arguments that are like that include Giles accusing Putnam, Proctor accusing Abigail, and Parris accusing Proctor.

By 1693, over two hundred people were accused of witchcraft in Massachusetts. Arthur Miller’s historical fiction play, The Crucible, documents this dark period of American history and exposes the hysteria that poisons Salem. Although the entire town participates in creating this gratuitous hysteria, several characters significantly further it. Abigail Williams encourages mass hysteria by accusing innocent people, much of which is caused by her unwillingness to tolerate those who disobey her. Similarly, Reverend Parris is intolerant of those who are accused of not conforming with the church, allowing no opportunity for the accused to successfully deny engaging in witchcraft. Likewise, Judge Danforth’s intolerance of having a tarnished reputation

The book“The Crucible”by Arthur Miller, describes the ultimate twist of the Salem Witch Trials, and origins, which happened between the colonial years of 1692-1693 in Massachusetts. The novel is filled with characters which are bad and good, they all have certain “issues”. The person who started the crazy in Salem is Abigail, she is Reverend Parris’s niece. The logical fallacies in the book played a big role in making bad decisions, this is the reason why the obnoxious accusations of witchcraft and prosecutions lasted so long. The most dangerous logical fallacy that happened  in the Crucible is the Bandwagon occurrence because people have no choice but to pick a side and makes people believe in that certain truth or story even though it may be wrong.

In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, he strongly outlines Puritanism and its effects on the village of Salem. The intensity of the Puritanism religion lead to an overwhelming sense of suspicion and paranoia coupled with personal issues in the tightknit community. It can easily be concluded that the witch trials started and quickly escalated due to the issues that branch off of Puritanism.. The most paramount of the effects from Puritanism include hysterical fear, personal grudges, and the struggle of upholding reputations.

Many of the characters in Arthur Miller's The Crucible have specific human flaws that cause the tragedy of the Salem Witch Trials. The Salem villagers exhibit failings, including greed, vengeance, and fear, which eventually lead to the downfall of their town. Many villagers, especially Abigail Williams, take advantage of the opportunity to seek vengeance on others through the trials. Greed for power and land often holds precedence when the hysteria takes over. Fear of being arrested or put to death is the key motivation in turning others in as witches. From these three human flaws, the town of Salem falls into chaos with many innocent people paying the price.

One major them in The Crucible is reputation. In Salem, there is not a lot of differentiation between public and private matters which makes the witchcraft trials and the Proctor’s marriage more public than anyone would like. While the trials are technically public information it gets more public as the community finds out. People are almost obsessed with keeping a picture-perfect reputation and fear of being guilty by association. For example, when Abigail first started speaking about the adultery committed between her and John he refused to testify as a precaution to keep his name from being tarnished.

Salem is not what it appears to the naked eye; dishonest children accuse and condemn the innocent to swing on the gallows. The Crucible, a tragedy by Arthur Miller symbolizes the Communist trials. 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 is chaotic, with no clear leadership or justice.

In The Crucible, there was a lot of senseless behavior. The purpose of The Crucible is to educate the reader on the insanity that can form in a group of people who think they are judging fairly upon a group of people. Judge Hawthorne believes what he is told by certain people is the truth even if little evidence is to be shown. The young girls with Abigail convince Hawthorne of others being witches so that Abigail can get what she wants, John Proctor, also so that Abigail does not blackmail the girls. The Crucible by Authur Miller investigates the effects of hysteria, superstitions and repression on the Salem Community in the late 1600’s.

In The Crucible, the townspeople are afraid of witches and will punish anyone that is potentially one, even if they are innocent. “I have seen too many frightful proofs in court—the Devil is alive in Salem, and we dare not quail to follow wherever the accusing finger points!”(Hale). The people of Salem will take every chance they get to eliminate a potential witch, and all they

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.

During the time The Crucible was set, the community of Salem was awry. It did not have the solid characteristics of what a healthy town should look like. Instead there was no trust between people, everyone was watching out for only themselves, and most of the townspeople were turning their backs on the disastrous deeds of the court. The people of Salem feel like they have no one to turn to, so fear crept into their minds and hearts. They developed hysteria which caused the town to slowly disintegrate. This panic allows other people in their community to take advantage of them and manipulate them for their own purposes. In his play, The Crucible, Arthur Miller shows how vengeance and greed destroy the community through the characters of Abigail Williams, Mr. and Mrs. Putnam, and Reverend Parris.

The Crucible depicts the protagonist as having to come to terms with the community to understand themselves and their position within it. Miller uses the motif of social pressures and religious laws to set up the basis for the play, with the Salem citizens entrenched in a society that relies on strict social norms to maintain order in the community. An almost exact definition of tyranny of conformity. Individuality, here, is the ability to retreat into families and homes. In 1692, however, Salem is shaken at its foundations by greed for land from neighbours and insecurity in property. Furthermore, the Reverend Parris, head of the theocracy, is materialistic and is focused on his own needs over the communities. The struggle for the communities survival is what brings about the witch