Female Characters Of Women 's ' The Crucible '

The Crucible follows the journey of a witch hunt and the various characters’ experiences during this intense period of fear. A group of young girls, led by Abigail Williams, takes the center stage in the village to antagonize the entire community with their pointed fingers. They are supposedly bewitched and accuse different women to be witches. Abigail is the main antagonist of the story and creates the most impact and damage to Salem. She is an extremely selfish and self-centered character, who possess the ability to manipulate anyone who gets in her way.

The play, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller recounts the events from 1692 to 1693 in Salem, Massachusetts, otherwise known as the Salem Witch Trials. Though set in colonial Massachusetts, the somewhat fictional piece serves as an allegory for the post-WWII Red Scare, or more specifically the McCarthy Hearing in the 1950's. Both incidents of mass hysteria had taken place almost three centuries apart, however, share the tragic theme of innocent individuals being accused and convicted of crimes without evidence. As well as, how the prior can be caused by economic instability and provoked public fear. The same theme of human nature is portrayed as Abigail, a young woman desperately in love with the older John Proctor, uses the growing suspicion of witches in Salem to attempt to get rid of Proctor's wife, Elizabeth. Several other girls of Salem follow Abigail as she begins to test the limits of who she can successfully accuse of bewitching her, this goes on until she feels confident enough to accuse Elizabeth Proctor. In quest of her goal Abigail, as well as her followers, become blinded by their new power in society, to the point of abuse. This abuse includes the witch hysteria that erupted in Salem due to their finger-pointing of 'witches' and overdramatic acting of being bewitched in court. Later John Proctor, Mary Warren, Giles Corey, and Francis Nurse try to disprove the accuracy of Abigail's and the other girls' claims. Unfortunately, Mary Warren ends up turning on Proctor,

The main quality admired and expected of women in The Crucible is submissiveness. It is clear from the play that Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692, was largely a patriarchal society. Power in the hands of women was looked down on and even feared. Any leverage that women had was gained solely through manipulation. If the men suspected a woman of interacting with the Devil, she was expected to submit to their authority and confess her crime. If she rebelled and refused to confess, she was sentenced to death, no questions asked. However, the same was also true for men, though they were much more seldom found guilty of witchcraft.

During the 1650s in Salem, Massachusetts, there were many beliefs about women perpetuated by society. They were considered to be impulsive, selfish and subservient. Women were pressured into conforming to these social standards. This is shown numerous times in Arthur Miller’s play, the Crucible. However, despite these social pressures, there were a number of instances where women we shown to have more power than men. The action of female characters were influenced by the beliefs, stereotypes and expectations promoted in their society.

The Salem Witch Trials: a time where the innocent were guilty and the guilty got away with murder. This horrendous event can be further explained through Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible. Miller has won many awards in his time for writing many dramas that are very popular amongst the people and The Crucible just so happens to be one of them. It tells a story about a harsh time that many people faced when they were losing loved ones who were found guilty since they didn’t confess to a crime that they never committed. While reading the play, a person will find a theme of power. One specific character, Mary Warren, helps show this theme because as soon as she gains power, her character changes drastically. Throughout The Crucible, Mary Warren is portrayed as a very dynamic character since she begins as being very wimpy, then she gains confidence and becomes brave, and then she goes right back to being timid and controlled by Abigail.

Imagine never being able to speak in public or talk to a man other than your husband. This is how the women of Salem had to act and live during the 1600s, they were deprived of any social power in the public eye. However, during the year 1692 the Salem witch trials occurred allowing powerless women to finally develop a social standing. In the play, “The Crucible”, written by Arthur Miller, the witch trials empowered powerless women by allowing the female gender to develop a voice, bestowing social power within themselves, instilling fear in others.

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

Women are portrayed in three distinctive ways in The Crucible, by Arthur Miller. Some are appeared as great, moral, upright people, while others are the opposite. Miller is not a feminist, his intentions are not to make women appear to be spotless, however, he is also not a misogynist, he does not condemn all women for the sins of their sex. He demonstrates a balance between various individuals, with a specific end goal to make the story more believable. There are three distinct women in the play with three different personas.

“ There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.” - Elie Wiesel. This quote communes the struggles of the citizens of Salem, Massachusetts who were unjustly condemned of witchcraft during 1692 . They were vulnerable while they were convicted but a few people managed to speak out against this injustice -John Proctor, Martha Corey, Giles Corey and Rebecca Nurse - eventually giving up their lives for this cause. The Crucible, a play by Arthur Miller, tells of a forbidden affair between married man John Proctor and his servant Abigail Williams. Their liaison is eventually discovered by John’s wife, Elizabeth, leading John to call off the affair. In an endeavor to get vengeance, Abigail and other local girls attempt to place a curse on Elizabeth in an occult rite in the forest one night. When their ritual was discovered, allegations of witchcraft spread around town. When Elizabeth is convicted of being a witch, it ultimately leads John to cease the paranoia and hysteria plaguing Salem. Abigail Williams applied scare tactics in order to manipulate fear in the citizens of Salem.

The devastating Salem witch trials occurred between February 1692 and May 1693. By the end of the trials many people were accused, nineteen were executed and several more died in prison. The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, captures the hysteria that developed during the Salem witch trials. Crucible character, Abigail Williams, represents the repressed desires that many of the Puritans possess. Abigail’s readiness to abandon Puritan social restrictions sets her apart from the other characters, and eventually leads to her downfall. Abigail Williams uses manipulation and cruelty to create an atmosphere of terror and intimidation in her town. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, Abigail Williams leads the hysteria in Salem by taking extreme measures to succeed in attaining John Proctor's love.

Arthur Miller's “The Crucible” is one of the most controversial, and famous plays he has ever written due to its representation of the clear similarities between witch hunts of the past to the ones that where ongoing during the red scare of the 1950's. The play is specifically set during the Salem witch trials/hunts that occurred in 1692. While portions of the play are fiction, the play itself is historically accurate, especially when it comes to identifying who the villain is. It is unequivocally clear that the villain in this sad story is the young girl, Abigail Williams. While the case can be made that there where obviously other villains that had a more direct role in the injustices that occurred during the witch trials, at the end of the day no matter how you look at it Abigail was the main/real villain because she was the initial instigator of the witch hunts, practiced deceit and deception, influenced her vengeful will upon others, and lied; without hesitation nor remorse. These dishonorable qualities that Abigail possess combined with her own motives to gain vengeance(kill) against Elizabeth Proctor and assume her place as John Proctor's(her love interest) wife is enough evidence to make an educated claim that Abigail Williams in fact the main antagonist, and ultimately the villain.

There are various ways you can portray women throughout, The Crucible. Women are raised with high expectations, morals, and majority are raised in a Christian household. Although there’s the other types of women that are the complete opposite. In The Crucible, women are viewed in many different ways based on their actions and behavior. In Margaret Atwood’s poem, “Half-Hanged Mary,” she views women the same way. The author in The Crucible, Arthur Miller, uses very important women to characterize the certain roles of women. The author of the poem, “Half-Hanged Mary,” also uses a woman to portray the roles of how women were treated in the poem, as well as the story, The Crucible. Both of these authors, Margaret and Arthur, compare the similar roles of women based on their well being and moral upbringings.

The roles in which women play in the drama are very significant due to the fact that they are able to shape the story and give an idea of the nature of one of the strangest events which we call the witch trials. In the play, women are depicted as weak creatures who are expected to submit to men, and whose only access to power is through dishonest means which we see a lot through certain characters. No women in the Crucible possesses extreme power and with the lying and dishonest females having the most power through despicable acts, only means for the truthful, pure-hearted, and family orientated women to be the least powerful. More specifically, women from the drama who fit into these archetypes are Mary Warren,

In “The Crucible,” Arthur Miller uses the characters Abigail and the three girls as feminists to gain power. “American laws wanted to move women closer to equality through an Equal Rights Amendment that would ban governments discrimination based on sexes”. “Feminism is the advocacy of women's rights on the basis of equality of the sexes.” He portrayed this by women having the power in a positive and negative way. In the town of Salem, women were given less amount of power, with their ability to have judgments upon other women and men as being witches and wizards. There was no need of evidence to prove if a person was a witch or not. This power was given to Abigail and the girls implying larger comments on the negative effect of women holding power. Although there were good things and bad things about women having power, Elizabeth Proctor lost power over her husband because John Proctor is the head of the house, but “she is submissive to him.” Elizabeth is not secured within her relationship with John Proctor because he had an affair with Abigail Williams. Elizabeth is upset and deeply hurt, and constantly reminding John Proctor that she is still hurt because he cheated on her. Society’s view a husband having more power than the woman. Elizabeth began to have the position of a stereotypical wife. She doesn’t lose power, but suppresses her power and holds her power privately. Society view women to be weak, not intelligent, so they deserve to have less power, and