Ulterior Motives Every human has an innate hunger to achieve a certain goal in life. And every action is deliberately taken in order to achieve that goal. This is perfectly illustrated in Arthur Miller’s allegorical play, The Crucible, in which multiple characters take various courses of action for their personal gain. These motives perpetuated the mass hysteria in the small Puritan community of Salem resulting in the inspiration for the play: the infamous Salem Witch Trials. However, the embodiment of this concept is not one that is unique to The Crucible. Similarly in modern society, people in difficult situations tend to act in a manner that satisfies their ulterior motives. However, this often results in the public obtaining biased and deceptive information, skewing the status quo in favor of the person as well as harming other people. Through the analysis of Reverend Parris, a local church leader, and the parents in the Daycare Scare article, one can see how people in difficult circumstances will act to satisfy their ulterior motives while negatively affecting others. In The Crucible, Reverend Parris finds his daughter, Betty, and niece, Abigail, dancing strangely in the forest in night with a large group of girls. Some believe the dances they were doing in the forest were to conjure spirits and to worship the Devil. Due to his affiliation with the girls, Parris feels that his reputation with the church will be tarnished. While interrogating Abigail, he reveals this
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.
Throughout Act I of The Crucible, Reverend Parris’s selfishness and Abigail’s manipulation becomes apparent. Giles Corey and Parris get into an argument about Parris’s income before Reverend Hale arrives. In this argument, it is revealed that Parris demanded the deed for his house. Traditionally, the minister does not own his house, but Parris wanted the wealth associated with owning land. Reverend Parris also demonstrates his self-serving mentality when questioning Abigail. Parris explains, “Now then, in the midst of such disruption, my own household is discovered to be the very center of some obscene practice. Abominations are done in the forest-”. Instead of worrying about Betty’s health, he cares about his reputation and employment.
At times, fear motivates people to behave unscrupulously. Personal fears instigate some characters in Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible to cry witch. Reverend Parris fears losing his job, Abigail fears prosecution and losing John Proctor, and Tituba fears physical retribution. Fear induces people to defend their personal whims and use their power to harm others.
While reading the crucible and analyzing other documents, Scapegoating became a relevant occurrence in communities. Societies will turn to scapegoating a group of people to place blame for a problem or event; there is evidence shown regarding scapegoating in “ The Crucible” / Salem witch trials, “The Holocaust”, and in politics. These three examples all relate to scapegoating because they all discriminate and place blame of something the community cannot control on a specific group of people.
In “The Crucible” Arthur Miller made the plot develops through the conflicts by using high tension and climaxes. He ends each of the four acts with a climax. In addition, he allowed the protagonist to develop throughout the acts. “The Crucible” has many internal and external conflicts. The major external conflict is John Proctor trying to save his wife from being hanged by the town officials for supposedly being a witch. The major internal conflict is John trying to decide between saving himself and family from being hanged, or accept the death penalty for false accusations against him. The main conflict sharply differentiated good and evil as John Proctor, the protagonist of the play is faced with the
In the play, The Crucible,by Arthur Miller.Many characters have desires that drive them to pursue certain things.This affects the plot in many ways.In this puritan society,people strongly cared what other people think of them and how their reputation stands in the village.They always strive to make sure their actions reflect wisely on their names.A major motivation John Proctor,Abagail,and Parris share is pride in their names,which eventually leads to their ultimate downfall.
People tend to believe what they want to believe. Whether the information is presented by celebrities, politicians, or through paid advertisements on social media, it can be misinterpreted as true, even when it was proven false. Misinformation causes people to make reckless decisions based on what they have seen or heard. False information has led to unfortunate events, such as the Salem Witch Trials and prejudice-based violence. False information connects events in both Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and current society, shaping the opinions of the public and allowing authorities to stay in power despite false evidence against them.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a historical play set in 1962 in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts. As you may know, you've all placed your trust in the words and actions of someone close to you. And what do they do? They betray you! It's rarely justified, and can happen to the best of us. Based on authentic records of witchcraft trials in the seventeenth-century this play explains how a small group of girls manage to create a massive panic in their town by spreading accusations of witchcraft. These rumors in turn are the causes that many citizens are hung for. This essay will show how the lies and betrayal of a few individuals eventually leads to the downfall of Salem and its society.
Humans act and react for a variety of reasons based on the context and their motivations. There is some part of human nature that prompts people to think, feel, and act in certain ways. This facet of the human condition transcends both time and place; it crosses all cultures. Moreover, human motivations transfer to the fictional world. For example, the characters found in Arthur Miller’s classic American play The Crucible provide a poignant and timeless commentary on human behavior. Act III in particular highlights the best and worst of human nature. This best and worst is equally seen in every day life, even at middle school. The character motivations in The Crucible effectively mirror those found in middle school.
When we are younger we used to get our brother or sister and pick on another sibling. When mom or dad comes to yell at the person who started it we tend to pin it on someone else or you are the person who gets left with all the punishment. At one point in our lives we were blamed for something we didn't do or we were the person that pushed it onto someone else. Arthur Miller expresses a lot of scapegoating or being the scapegoat in The Crucible.
“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.
There are many conflicts that arise due to decisions characters make. The characters in The Crucible by Arthur Miller all have one thing in common corrupting the entire town and is all at fault for most of the actions decisions, and conflict displayed in the book. This corruption can be described in one word: Greed. Driving the town to go after one another greed in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is the true antagonist of the book, for it provokes most of the conflict in the book. This can all be proven with definitions and impacts of greed tot all of the characters, examples and how it relates back to the plot of the book.
One concept is capable of more destruction than almost anything else. It can change a person’s life, or end it. The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is a play that is set in Salem, Massachusetts in the early 1690’s. The play revolves around the infamous Salem Witch Hunts and their proceedings both within the court and outside of the court. Within this plotline, a theme of greed functions in the play, influencing the actions of certain characters, including Reverend Parris, Thomas Putnam, and Abigail.
The Crucible is a play written in 1953 by Arthur Miller. It is based off of the 1662 Salem witch trials written as a parallel between this time period and the Red Scare, the time period in which he was living. There are many topics explored throughout the play, but the most important is hypocrisy, which can be seen in several characters.
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.