Judgment in society
In western culture, societies are very quick to judge individuals or invent stories in order to place blame on someone. More times than none, society is faced with one person's word against another’s, the unfortunate part is that only one word is true. Thus, society is then forced to decide who’s lying and who is not, based on opinions and assumptions that follow their own values and beliefs. This is exactly what happens to John Proctor and Hester Prynne in The Crucible by Arthur Miller and The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. In both works, the characters are faced with cruel punishments, and isolation due to the harsh judgment made by their society.
In The Crucible, John Proctor is sentenced to be hanged because he was accused of
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However, that backfires and leads to his death “PROCTOR, breathless and in agony: It [Abigail] is a whore! DANFORTH, dumfounded: You charge—? ABIGAIL: Mr. Danforth, he is lying! PROCTOR: Mark her! Now she'll suck a scream to stab me with but—” (Miller, III.374-384). In this case when society was faced with two stories, but they only believed the one that suited their values, it went to the extent of witchcraft being more believable than dancing and fooling around in the forest. In Society vs The Individual In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible written by Jean‐Marie Bonnet, she states “The crucible presents us with a small village falling prey to a collective fear that witchcraft is about, lurking in some of its citizens.” (Bonnet, 32). She refers to how the towns fear of witchcraft leads to the wrongful death of so many citizens. Sadly the town does not necessarily want to punish those citizens, it is more along of the lines of making a statement saying they are not afraid. However, in the process of this, they end up judging those that do not follow their
In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible a town starts massacring townspeople because a group of girls are pretending to be possessed by witches. John Proctor, a character in The Crucible, is a Non-conformist who stubbornly avoids following the crowd and is honest by not being able to lie to the court. John Proctor’s character may revealed through his refusal to sign his name on a false confession, his inability to believe in the witches in the town and his honesty when confessing to the affair with Abigail.
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
People believe that actions happen for many different reasons and tend to blame others before themselves. Some believe that the devil is doing the work in the body of someone else, and some believe that the devil does not, and some even believe in witchcraft. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, nineteen innocent people are hung for accusations of performing witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts. A group of young girls go out into the woods which is forbidden in Salem. They are sent into a frenzy when the town’s reverend, Parris, spots them dancing in the woods. The girls are led by Abigail Williams, a young teenage girl who lives with her uncle, reverend Parris. Abigail is not the most truthful girl, which ends up causing 19 innocent people their lives. Previous to these events, Abigail was a servant in the Proctor household, but was sent off after Elizabeth Proctor found out about the affair between Abigail and her husband, John Proctor. In Abigail’s case the more lies she told, the more lives she ended.
The swiftness of judgment of many people led to unfair trials. Many people from the play were considered guilty until proven innocent, and even then it was hard to prove innocence. You either conformed and said that you did witchcraft, or kept your dignity and went to the gallows. The fears of evil encroaching upon the people of Salem in The Crucible led to coincidences turning into witchcraft, harsh judgment of the accused, swift judgment of the accused, and many lives being ruined.
Picture yourself in a situation where life and death were the only options you were given and in order to save your life, you needed to lie. In The Crucible, this situation occurred to a local farmer named John Proctor. The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, was taken place in Massachusetts, 1692. Rumors of witchcraft arrive in the community of Salem and cause major chaos. The over exaggeration of events and witchcraft was caused by the Puritan’s extreme ideals. Puritan’s were a heavily religious group from the sixteenth and seventeenth century who wanted to add religious ideals to all morals. Many innocent people were accused for being associated with witchcraft and the court and high authorities were corrupt, leading to pure chaos. Proctor
Purist Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 suffered from a rapidly increasing phenomenon: witchcraft accusations and trials. The Crucible is a play that recounts the times of this incident. For the most part, it follows a man known as John Proctor. He is a sensible, honest, and hardworking man who made the mistake of succumbing to lust which sets off a chain of events that leads to the witch trials, and to his own demise. Arthur Miller’s The Crucible’s protagonist John Proctor proves to be a flawed human being who struggles to make sense of his past relationship with Abigail, his love for his wife, and his pride.
''The Crucible,'' is a 1952 play written by Arthur Miller as an allegory of Mcarthyism. The play follows a theocratic society in which the church and the state are one, and reputation plays an important role in Salem where private and public moralities are the same. In act one, the secret affair of John Proctor and Abigail Williams was revealed that led to conflict between John and his wife. Divorce was not permitted in the late 16th century, hence, the Proctors had to maintain their marriage causing discord within the Proctor household. At the start of Act 2, Miller creates a tense atmosphere of animosity portrayed by John and Elizabeth Proctor in their lack of affection, awkwardness, appraisal and guilt leading to affliction.
Life in the 1600’s was arduous for members of Puritan society. Strict social rules, including defined gender-specific roles, mandatory attendance at church, no self-indulging activities, and limited personal freedoms, forced people to repress their feelings and opinions to maintain a good reputation. God was involved in every aspect of life, and punishment fell upon those who were seen as not doing God’s work and deviated from the norm. The Crucible, a play set during the events of the Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts during this time, focuses on the mass hysteria which plagued the people and their reactions. A group of girls went dancing in the woods, and were caught by Reverend Parris. To avoid getting in trouble, the girls, led by Abigail Williams, claimed being the victims of witchcraft. John Proctor, who previously had an affair with Abby while she worked for his family, refused to believe the accusations of witchcraft. After Abby accuses his wife, Elizabeth, John does his best to prove her innocence, yet ultimately ends up being hanged himself. The events are tragic, and many people died as a result. Abigail’s “in the moment” survival is evident in her disregard for virtue in favor of reputation throughout The Crucible, whereas John Proctor ultimately decides integrity is more important than survival through his admission of guilt.
Arthur Miller's verifiable play, The Crucible, depicts the recorded occasions of the Salem witch trials through a swarm of life-changing characters. Trepidation drives these Puritans to uncover their actual feelings while confronting their informers in the predisposition courts before coldblooded judges. While in the long run all the individuals of Salem get subject to this frenzy, two ladies emerge above the rest. Retribution and disgrace live in the heart of the young adulteress, Abigail Williams, while truth and exemplary nature dwell in the soul of Elizabeth Proctor, John Proctor's dedicated wife. Although they both elevate the strain and tension of the play, Abigail William's and Elizabeth Proctor's disparities lead to turmoil because
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.
“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.
The McCarthy hearings (The Red Scare) in the 1950’s with the political issues that were happening during those years could be depicted as the 1692/93 Salem Witch Trials. Accusing people of being communists is the same as accusing people of being witches. Arthur Miller, the author of the play,The Crucible, that was based on the Salem Witch Trials is a good example of a morality play. In 1692, there were accusations against innocent people in the town of Salem. In The Crucible, a group of teens accuse others of witchcraft even though, they are trying to cover up their mistakes that had been caused. After John Proctor had an affair with Abigail Williams this had opened a full can of worms throughout Salem. The Crucible displays characterization and bold symbolism and is represented in good and evil morals during the Salem Witch Trials.
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.
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is about the people of 17th century.Salem, Massachusetts situated in a dangerous and dynamic period. The Puritans of Salem joined the bandwagon of the witch hysteria that was first caused by girls falsely accusing others. The inhabitants of Salem feared for their lives as the people who were accused were subjected to death. However, the accused have a chance to save themselves by admitting to a crime they did not commit. Many took the opportunity for self-preservation because it is a human instinct of survival. However, there others who chose to uphold their ideals, name, and reputation. Self-preservation is the motivates the characters to behave and act when they are situated in a compromising situation about the involvement of witchcraft, but there are also times when it is abandoned.
There are three major external struggles brought forth in Miller’s novel The Crucible: man versus nature, man versus man, and man versus society. In Salem, Massachusetts 1692, the puritan society defines witchcraft as “dealing with the devil” (“Salem Witch Trials” 1) and if a man, woman, or child is found guilty without confession they are sentenced to death. When the chaos of man versus man is initiated, witchcraft begins in the town. Families begin to break apart and the whole town turns against each other. Man versus society occurs when the courts get involved which is caused by the man versus man conflicts. After the protagonist Abigail Williams has an affair with an out-of-town farmer John Proctor, Elizabeth’s husband, she starts the witch rituals in the forest with other girls by pleading to the devil to kill those they despise. Abigail spoke the truth to Reverend Parris who caught the girls