Many themes are prevalent throughout Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible. Throughout the play, Miller has made it clear that lying and deceit have corrupted even the best person. Characters such as Abigail and John fall victim to this compulsive force at one time. Miller writes and gives examples of how people can fall prey to this force. Throughout Miller’s play The Crucible, through the characters of Abigail and John, he conveys his message that lying is used in order to save oneself regardless of moral consequences. Abigail lies in order to save herself from being executed and passes the blame to many others. After Abigail ‘confesses’ about what she was doing in the woods one night, Betty approaches her and tell her that she “drank blood” …show more content…
Danforth interrogates him, and he lies and says that he practices witchcraft. As he is continuously interrogated, Danforth asks him if he “ever saw her [Rebecca Nurse] with the Devil?” and he denies and replies “no” (Miller 244-246). John Proctor is willing to lie and let others hear what they want to in order for himself to be set free; however, his honesty prevents him from getting others in trouble. He will not let others be jailed to free himself, and Danforth keeps listing names and John Proctor keeps denying that they meet with the devil. It is important to notice that Miller incorporates these details into his play to demonstrate that some people’s moral values can help them stay honest. This can relate to the history of the United States when the people began realizing that slavery was morally wrong. Dr. Martin Luther King wrote in his famous document Letter to Birmingham Jail, “One has not only a legal, but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws” (King). This is describing how people must morally make the correct decisions in their life. Abigail in The Crucible makes morally wrong decisions and is just playing along with
The Crucible is a play written by Arther Miller. This play is based on the witch trials that took place in Salem. This is a tragic story that explores the influences of greed. In this play, greed causes tragedy because greed makes people dishonest, greed let people be ruthless, and greed causes betraying. First, greed makes people dishonest, because Abigail tell the lie, Parris lies to the court, and Danforth lies to himself. In addition, greed let people ruthless because innocent people are imprisoned, family is destroyed, and people lack of remorse. Finally, greed causes betraying because Abigail betrays Marry who is her friend, Marry betrays John, and Abigail betrays Parris.
Abigail is not only a liar she is selfish. She tells lies that hurt others in order to help herself and she is devious. In the court room she announces, "I want to open myself! . . . I want the light of God, I want the sweet love of Jesus! I danced for the Devil, I saw him, I wrote in his book, I go back to Jesus, I kiss His hand. I saw Sarah
Arthur Miller states "Maybe all one can do is hope to end up with the right regrets." The quote of this meaning is that people are falsely accused, but they may be innocent. The Crucible by Arthur Miller, is a play based upon events that occurred in Salem circa 1690s. Through Abigail Williams, Miller was trying to state the injustice in Salem because she targeted the innocent people, leading to their death. Many of the conflicts that occurred in the play were caused by Abigail Williams. Abigail's jealousy of Elizabeth Proctor was triggered by Elizabeth's husband John Proctor. Abigail was a hypocrite because she used the name of the Lord for her own interests. She lied in order to save herself by denying her involvement in witchcraft. The character selected is Abigail Williams because of her three main character flaws which are jealousy, hypocrisy, and mendacity.
Not only is Abby an improper girl, she dirties her name even more by making threats and lowering herself to violence to conceal her wrongdoing. For instance, Abigail shakes Betty, and smashes her across the face. Her anger is clear and may justify her actions somewhat, but what she says afterwards goes too far. Speaking to Betty and Mary Warren, she says “...Let either of you breathe a word...and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you. And you know I can do it…”. She afterwards tells Mary to shut up (Act I,18,19) These terrible threats, along with Abigail’s violent nature to cover her sins, condemn her to a life of treachery which she does not turn from. Mary Warren adds further proof to Abigail’s guilt when she is asked by Proctor to testify in court as to the nature of the poppet she had made. Mary speaks in fear of Abigail and what she might do to both herself and Proctor (Act II,
In society, we are blind to the lies that are taking place around us every day. Small lies, big lies, lies right in front of our face, and we are oblivious to almost all of it. This is shown really well in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. Throughout the play, which takes place during the witch trials that took place in Salem, lies make up a big portion of the plot. Some of these types of lies that are used are described very well in Stephanie Ericsson’s essay The Ways We Lie. These variations of lies amplify the outrage created, through McCarthyism, and the Salem Witch trials that take place in the play The Crucible.
The sins of deceit and lust have plagued the human race since the dawn of time. These feelings and wishes can make people do some of the worst things known man. In Arthur Miller's play The Crucible, these two sins are applied to many characters one of which is Abigail Williams. The play revolves around the Abigail and her friends attempting to cover up their past transgressions against the Salem community while Abigail attempts to get together with John Proctor. Abigail suffers from the sins of lust and deceit most chronically which she uses to fulfill her agenda throughout the play. Due to Abigail's lust for John and her constant utility of untruths lead the people to fear for their lives leading them to hurt innocent people making Abigail the main transgressor of the Salem condition.
A person chooses not to take good care of his/her car, and as a result, the car malfunctions, resulting in the person having an accident. Every single action that a person commits leads to either a positive or a negative consequence. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a book filled with mistakes and the outcomes of those mistakes, and this piece of literature provides readers with an opportunity to analyze some causes and effects. Every character in the crucible created a situation that gave place for a negative consequence to take place. This led him or her to endeavor to protect the virtue of their reputation. Three most significant characters, whose actions are greatly emphasized throughout the story, are Abigail
Even the best of us have at least one weakness; such as being a doormat, or not always being completely honest with people. That is exactly what happened in Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible. Lies and fear are what fueled the fiery events that led to the tragedies of the Salem Witch Trials. These were also the fatal flaws of the three characters – Abigail Williams, Mary Warren, and Tituba – that caused the trials of Salem, unnecessary arrests, and deaths of numerous innocent people.
Lying is a common occurrence throughout the play of The Crucible despite every character being a “believer.” In this play, Miller demonstrates characters being freed by the sin of lying. This theme has shown that the people of Salem lied to protect themselves or others. This also happens in everyday life and is a common issue that can be shown through false confession. The Crucible has shown many ways of how this theme is influenced in the real world. The two main situations from the play that show this theme of lying for self-freedom or the freedom of others involves John Proctor and Abigail Williams.
“Things come apart so easily when they have been held together with lies” (Dorothy Allison, Bastard out of Carolina). In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, the town of Salem is being held together by false truths, and the people of the Salem witch trials are to be prosecuted for it. Lying is to blame for the Salem witch trials because it lead to the deaths of many innocent people.
America’s most successful interrogator, Ali Soufan, claims that “When they are in pain, people will say anything to get the pain to stop. Most of the time, they will lie, make up anything to make you stop hurting them.” This happens in everyday life, if a person feels they are threatened, they will say whatever it takes to avoid the threat, even if it’s not true. The Crucible also shows this, representing the lengths people will go to to save themselves through deceit. In his play, Arthur Miller’s use of Abigail’s threat, Abigail’s confession with Tituba, and Mary Warren’s betrayal demonstrates that people will lie and manipulate to preserve themselves.
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.
Sneakiness and manipulation are tools used to take advantage of others. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible sneakiness and manipulation are used throughout the novel with the characters. In the book Abigail Williams and John Proctor have an affair. Then when everyone in the town finds out that John had an affair with someone other than his wife is in shock because everyone thought that he was a good person.The Crucible symbolizes the transformation of good to evil. One evil manipulative character and her actions represents how the town is torn down. The characters of the crucible are tightly involved with witches and this fact makes the plot dramatic.
“One lie is enough to question all truths” Anonymous. In the Crucible, Arthur Miller expressed lying All throughout the story. Girls dance in the woods and are accused The witchery and they lie and say they dealt with the devil.That way since witchery was big in the 1600s was believed over every other person's truth, they lie and lie to try to get out of Their own lies people get accused and die because the truth is not believed over the lies people.
No matter what you may do to stop yourself from lying, you’ll never get away. Lying is just an characteristic of human nature that is always going to happen. In the play, The Crucible, many of the characters lie and are very dishonest, each of them having a different reasons. The straight forward Puritan idea often makes the characters to bargain their honesty because they feel like the only other thing they can do is lie.