Elizabeth Proctor Argumentative Essay

In 1692, when the Salem Witch Trials thrived, everyone feared a common enemy, witches. Abigail Williams, the niece of the powerful Reverend Parris, begins accusing women of being witches after she herself is accused of conversing with the devil. “...I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!”(45) The people of Salem originally had nothing to fear until Abigail William’s wild accusations. These claims led to the majority fearing that anyone was capable was witchcraft. This turned friends and even family members against each other. John Proctor, a seemingly innocent man, had been accused of participating in dark magic. Reverend John Hale is conversing with his wife to convince her to persuade her husband to confess to his sins.

During the era of accused witchcraft in Salem during the 1690’s, the Puritan society revolved heavily on the words and the will of God, bestowed upon it by the reverends and other church officials. Within The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, Reverend Parris is arguably the most liable individual for the grave turn of events in Salem. Parris, the newly appointed reverend of the town, allowed his pride, ego, and greed to cloud his judgement and decision making throughout the duration of the witchcraft accusals. The weak reverend’s inability to speak up for those he knew were falsely accused, in lieu of losing his coveted position, was the true catalyst for the grave events that took place. In Act I, Parris understands that the witchcraft has originated not

He is keen on protecting himself and his family’s name, which involves preserving the trials and its integrity. He cannot have the trials proven to be fraud because the illegitimate support he has for his lying daughter and niece will end his career thus making the community lose their trust and respect for him. The people of Salem are realizing that the assumptions of witchcraft in the village could be false and therefore they no longer believe what Parris and the girls have to say. As a result, Parris desperately craves for Proctor’s confession when he feverishly says, “It is a great service, sir. It is a weighty name; it will strike the village that Proctor confess. I beg you, let him sign it” (Miller 141). Parris is left feeling threatened and scared after finding a note and dagger on his front door from angry villagers who are upset about the noble people in their community being executed. As an act of self-preservation he pleads for a respected person such as John Proctor to confess, so that he can validate the trial to which he strongly favoured, protect his reliability within the society and prove that witches are present in Salem. Parris’ constant acts of self-preservation has backfired and initially if he were honest about the girls dancing in the forest, he could have avoided the complicated court trials that left many innocent people to die

When in reality, there were no witches, it was all false notations of Abigail's’ lie that lead into something greater than it should have been.“It were only sport in the beginning, sir, but then the whole world cried spirits, spirits” (Mary Warren, Act 3, p. 100)

Despite his being an insignificant and non-status-holding member of society, John Proctor is a much-respected man in Salem. However, in determining his fate, he continues to make several critical and irreversible mistakes that harm his reputation. For fear of being exiled in a town where reputation plays such a large role in their daily lives, Proctor initially tries to hide his crime of adultery, but his affair with Abigail triggers a major series of events in Salem, where simple, unproven accusations escalate to a far larger issue: “Abby—you mean to cry out still others?” “If I live, if I am not murdered, I surely will, until the last hypocrite is dead” (Miller 150). In the end, Proctor decides that for the sake of his desperate circumstances, it would be better to admit to his affair, but by the time he decides to reveal his crime, it is too late to reverse all past actions. He is convicted of witchcraft and doomed to be hanged, later, when given a chance to live, he caves in and confesses to seeing the Devil, only to go back even on this last lie, because he does not have the heart to be freed and saved by a lie.

In the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the characters John Proctor and Reverend Parris are some of the major characters during the course of the play. John Proctor is a farmer in Salem that lives in the outskirts of town, and is religious like the rest of Salem but rarely makes it to the church due to living far away have having large amounts of work. He is seen as strong and confident by most town members, however “Proctor… has come to regard himself as a kind of fraud” (Miller 20-21). Reverend Parris is Salem’s religious leader. While he does regularly speak to the entire town, he has very little confidence and “believed he was being persecuted wherever he went, despite his best efforts to win people and God over to his side” (Miller 3). By comparing and contrasting both Parris and Proctor’s actions and beliefs throughout the play, underlying truths regarding self-realization and the consequences of our actions can be discovered.

Reverend Parris is the one to blame for the witch trials in Salem because of his egotistical attitude. Parris states as he is talking to Proctor inside his house, “It is not for you to say what is good for you to hear” (Miller 30). At this part of the book, Parris ego shows us that he is the one to blame. Parris believes that he is right in thinking that he knows what is good for the community. In answering one of Danforth’s questions, Parris claims, “I can only say, sir, that I never found any of them naked” (105). Parris responds in such a manner so that his reputation of being a good father and a good minister are

It was a bright cold day in Salem, where the sun seeped through overcast skies above and the mist danced around in the street. The wind hissed and howled, and swept through the narrow streets. In the centre of the town, stood the proud house of Reverend Parris. But that day, Reverend Parris was not a proud man as the accusations of witchcraft drifted through the town, overwhelming him completely.

“I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang.” John Proctor is the protagonist of the Crusible, though for the first two acts, he does little to effect the flow of the story as the reader is introduced to their setting. One is thrown into Salem village as the sparks of accuzations begin to fly setting ablaze paranoya in the name of witchcraft. Abigail Williams, our antagonist uses a lie to cover up her mistakes and decides to get something out of it when she discovers that people are ignorant enough to believe her. She takes the chance to throw allegations of witchery onto John’s innocent wife, Elizabeth. The thrust behind this action comes from the fact that a year earlier she had found her way into John Proctor’s arms and with his wife out of the picture, they could dance together on her grave… though Abigail had been in his arms, she had never been in his heart. Abigail would loose complete control of her seemingly simple scheme as she would loose her only purpose she had left in life- John. John Proctors downfall occurs before our story ever begins.We watch his once stregnths become his weaknesses. The standards he held for himself were shattered and he fumbled in picking up the pieces. His downfall did not end his story, but began it as he would have to rebuild his honor and self respect when it mattered the most.

In a town called Salem, Massachusetts a group of girls go dancing in the woods performing witchcraft and get caught by Reverend Parris. The girls told lies and started rumors to try and cover up themselves so they wouldn’t get in trouble. The rumor of John Proctor being a witch, the

1. “Parris: Thomas, Thomas, I pray you, leap not to witchcraft. They will howl me out of Salem for such corruption in my house,” ( Act One, Miller 14). Reverend Parris fear others are conspiring against him and is anxious that the community will overthrow him. Parris strives for monetary compensation like the deed to the church meeting house and authority over the community, so when the witchcraft accusations come up, he tries to deny it as much as he can.

In 1680 Salem, Massachusetts Abigail Williams was born, her uncle is Reverend Samuel Parris and her cousin Elizabeth “Betty” Parris. Around 1697 at the age of 17 Abigail has made herself known as a mistress and someone who has supposedly been working with the “Devil” and interacting with witchcraft. Abigail was accused of being in an affair with john Proctor, because of their affair John’s wife Elizabeth Proctor hates Abigail with a passion. Abigail’s motives were evil and disturbing, she was accused by her uncle that she may have been dealing with witchcraft while she was with her friends. When rumors were going around Salem that women and men are working with the Devil, Abigail knew that she must do anything to make sure no one found out about her dark secret. Not only was Abigail working with the “Devil” she worked with her friends Mercy Lewis, Mary Warren, Tituba, and Betty. While Abigail and Betty not wanting their family and the town to find out about them they accused innocent men and women who were witches. As Abigail’s and John Proctors relationship ending badly, Abigail’s motive was to get rid of Elizabeth Proctor for good. Elizabeth knew

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In Act II, John Proctor is furious from being told by Reverend Hale that his wife, Elizabeth, was accused of witchcraft and he would like to ask them some questions. Then, later in the Act others add on to his growing anger by informing him that his wife is to be arrested for witchcraft. To quote him, John Proctor states, “We are what we always were in Salem, but now the little crazy children are jangling the keys of the kingdom, and common vengeance writes the law!”. Through this quote, Proctor is responding to the illogical claims that surround him and the continuous support and arguments for the courts despite their corruption. Proctor is explaining that Salem is the same that it has always been, the people feel the same way that they have

[The common room of the proctors home on a dark night. The curtain rises. On the right of the stage appears the kitchen. On the left, a door opening leading to the fields outside. In the middle a burning fireplace, two pieces of wood inside burning, next to it five wood logs. Abigail prepares dinner for the Proctors. Elizabeth enters from the stairs leading to the bedroom with a sense of frigidness that can be seen in her body language, however, keeping her posture elegant and simple. She is not quite pleased, she reaches to the cupboard, takes a pinch of salt, and drops it into the pot.]