Examples Of Direct Characterization In The Crucible

In the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Miller creates several characters that do not have many direct characterizations. This play shows the thoughts of some of the people in Salem during the time of the witch hunts. These people also had accused their neighbors simple for more land, animals, and money. Some of the characters offer a lot of indirect characterization such as Giles Corey. In the beginning of the play Giles Corey is suspicious of witches like most of Salem, but over the course of the play he believes it was pure superstition.

In the Crucible written by Arthur Miller, he essentially talks about “courage, weakness, and truth.” Arthur Miller gives multiple scenarios when different characters have their time to shine and take the reader's attention. They’re multiple examples to prove this statement. For example would be when Thomas Putman stated, “he felt that his own name and the honor of his family had been smirched by the village, and he meant to right matters however he could.” In this specific quote he is very courageous to say something like this and take the law into his own hands.

We can see that shifts are made as the narrator inserts times to describe characters and tell us what we should think about them such as when Miller tell us that Judge Hathorne is a bitter man. In addition, each inserted stage direction indicates exactly what a character is thinking or feeling. The narrator is able to jump into any character’s mind at any given moment in a justified way. Miller allowed the narrator to weave in and out of many characters’ internal workings, letting the audience see what drives them. This helps establish the tragic events throughout “The Crucible” and allows the audience to have a better understanding of the factors that led to the accusations and the impact of those actions. Arthur Miller shows the audience the good and evil within people and brings out the mad hysterical qualities in a mob. He displays that even deeply religious people make mistakes in their lives. He does this through his characters, who through their own imperfections and beliefs bring the witch-hunts to a complete

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.

In the play The Crucible written by Arthur Miller, many different characters are introduced. These characters were introduced with their own background and personalities, which made them both similar and different to others. Although some characters showed obvious similarities between their characteristics, some showed great differences. Reverend Samuel Parris and Reverend John Hale are two of the major characters in the play and they showed both similarities and differences throughout the play. They were similar to each other in some ways such as they were Puritans and showed differences in their personality. Even though both men showed several commonalities, they also had some differences.

A hero archetype is someone admired or idealized for courage and noble qualities. In The Crucible, Reverend John Hale shows just this as he travels to Salem in hopes to cleanse the town of the Devil and at the time he seems to do just that by getting the girls whom were accused of witchcraft to "confess". Later it is discovered that the confessions and the accusations made by those confessed had been false. At this point it is too late to save the innocent people currently on death row but Hale still does everything he can. Like many other eras and people that have been influenced their time, John had a strong will and intentions to do the right thing make him a hero, even though his heroic acts did not pan out as expected.

Arthur Miller was fascinated by the Salem witch trials and saw them as a mysterious incident from the past. Salem witch trials are known for being an allegory correlating with the Red Scare, that was created by Joseph P. McCarthy (Miller x). Arthur Miller later than wrote the book, The Crucible, in 1952 and it was published in 1953. In addition, he makes the ages more relatable to modern times for people to understand. Miller portrays The Crucible as an archetype, it is very known in the literature and is still used throughout school education today. Miller goes into deep detail on Proctor, “a farmer in his mid-thirties, smart, even-tempered and not easily led” (19), as being a protagonist in the play. To point out, Miller conspicuously based the play on Proctor expressing this statement in the

How Does Miller convey his Message through The Crucible? In this essay, I will explore the message communicated through 'The Crucible' to its audience, and the way in which its author, Arthur Miller, attempts to convey it, especially through one of the play's main characters, John Proctor. The main issues raised by the play are the role of the individual within society, the value of one's name and perceptions of justice and truth.

In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, many rhetorical elements illuminate the meaning behind the text. Examples of rhetorical elements in The Crucible are tone, author’s purpose, and the overall mood. During the closing scene and its final lines the tone might be described as suspenseful and melancholy, while Miller’s purpose relays the events in Salem to the accusations of Communists in 1950’s America. However, in the end of the play, the audience should feel pensive about the death of Proctor and what Proctor’s motives truly are.

“The arrogant are wise in their own eyes, but the wise will recognize their lies” (Anonymous). This quote accurately describes how the events in the Salem Witch Trials unfolded. The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, places the reader into the city of Salem, Massachusetts. Arthur Miller tells a fictional story based on real events of how people who were wise in their own eyes used others to better themselves in a community based on honesty. Three characters from the story stand apart in their arrogance. Abigail Williams, John Proctor, and Reverend Parris were conceited and cared only about their personal gains. These characters used their power to blame, but not to be blamed or accused of alleged witchcraft which resulted in the deaths of several townspeople. Arthur Miller used these characters to illustrate how simple lies and rumors can spread and become an unstoppable force. With these simple but powerful accusations, well respected citizens soon became the targets of these characters manipulation.

Tituba: Villain Archetype Tituba, a character from The Crucible, can be identified as the villain archetype. A villain is someone whose evil actions or intentions are important to the plot. I chose to write about Tituba in particular as a villain because I did not expect her to do some of the evil things she did. She had secretly made a pact with the devil, putting her master’s daughters and really the whole town in danger. She caused an uproar that had innocent people and children lynched as well.

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.

One dynamic character in the Crucible would be Reverend Parris because in the beginning of the play Reverend Parris was very conscientious of his reputation. For example when Reverend Parris was trying to retrieve information from Abigail Parris stated "The weight of the truth upon you, for now, my ministry's at stake." (pp. 170) This demonstrates that Reverend Parris wanted Abigail to tell the truth and in order to save his ministry instead of resulting to witchcraft. Towards the middle, Reverend Parris begins to use the trials to his advantage accusing Proctor and informing that judge that "Excellency, since I come to Salem this man is blackening my name" (pp. 240).

Miller uses this personification to show that no matter how hard Proctor tries to please his wife, nothing will truly repair the bond that they had. Their relationship will never be the same. Elizabeth will always feel "an everlasting funeral round [her] heart" because she knows that since Proctor's trust has been broken she will always have a certain sadness or mournfulness in her heart. Hale says this metaphor to tell proctor that any small flaw can lead to the court assuming they have been using witchcraft.

The Crucible by Arthur Miller is an interpretation of the Salem witch trials of 1692 in Puritan Massachusetts in which religion, self- preservation and self-dignity play a vital role. The three factors I listed played a huge role in John Proctor, Rebecca Nurse, Reverend Hale, Danforth and many other lives. Many other characters such as, Abigail Williams and her friends can be characterized by being greedy, bitter, and selfish. In the play, Miller reveals how people can go against their own morals, therefore they can protect themselves. In Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible, he reveals to readers how fear escalated in Salem because of people's desire for personal gain.