Foil Characters In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a one of a kind, outstanding play that remains relevant from the 1950’s through today. The Crucible depicts life in the 1600s during the Salem witch trials. Arthur Miller crafts an intricately layered story with many points of view from a variety of characters. Although the story takes place in 1692 the lessons and values taught have importance in our society today. One of the lessons highlighted in The Crucible is how ignorance can affect communities and even have catastrophic results that may last many years or completely change the dynamic of an era.

Despite his being an insignificant and non-status-holding member of society, John Proctor is a much-respected man in Salem. However, in determining his fate, he continues to make several critical and irreversible mistakes that harm his reputation. For fear of being exiled in a town where reputation plays such a large role in their daily lives, Proctor initially tries to hide his crime of adultery, but his affair with Abigail triggers a major series of events in Salem, where simple, unproven accusations escalate to a far larger issue: “Abby—you mean to cry out still others?” “If I live, if I am not murdered, I surely will, until the last hypocrite is dead” (Miller 150). In the end, Proctor decides that for the sake of his desperate circumstances, it would be better to admit to his affair, but by the time he decides to reveal his crime, it is too late to reverse all past actions. He is convicted of witchcraft and doomed to be hanged, later, when given a chance to live, he caves in and confesses to seeing the Devil, only to go back even on this last lie, because he does not have the heart to be freed and saved by a lie.

The character is John Proctor, John is a local farmer who lives just outside of the village. In the begin John confronts Abigail about the situation between all the witchcraft talk in Salem. Abigail had mentions about how John was having an affair on his wife Elizabeth Proctor with Abigail. As a man John is he declines everything Abigail had said. On page 32 Proctor and Abigail are having a conversion and this is when brings up when her and John had touched and h had replied by saying” Aye, we did not.” Later on in the play in Act 4 Elizabeth is being asked questions about John in the court. They had asked her that if John had ever been dishonest or lost interest in her whatsoever. Therefore Elizabeth had answered the question and she hdad said “My husband-is a goodly man, sir.” on page 87 in act 3. Furthermore, when the conversation was over John had told Elizabeth when they were taking her away that he had confessed and it is okay to talk about his sins and how he had turn on Elizabeth. Which really shows how John really had enough time to change and point out his bad actions. Some might argue about how he did not really changed that much, as well as he had to confess to protect Elizabeth. But John did not ever fixs her actions before hand so he really did change or switch throughout the

Within Arthur Miller’s award-winning play, The Crucible, there is a constant trend that flows through time. As the tale persists, Salem, Massachusetts gets wound up in the witch hunt of 1692, creating an infectious hysteria on all the villagers. City-wide fear overtakes individual thought and reasoning as well as it can today in America’s “trivial” matters.

The year is 1692. Throughout the small, Puritan, seaside community of Salem, rumors and accusations fly like gusts of ocean wind. Neighbors turn on neighbors, and even the most holy church-goers are accused of being the devil’s servants. The Crucible details this real-life tragedy of the Salem witch trials, in which nineteen members of the Salem community were hanged for alleged witchcraft. Abigail Williams, a seemingly innocent girl, accuses dozens of Salem’s citizens of witchcraft through the support of her mob of girls and the complicity of the court officials. The title of this play gives significant insight into the experiences of several of these Salem citizens. Although a crucible is often used in chemistry for heating up substances, the title of the play carries a much greater weight. In his famous play The Crucible, Arthur Miller uses the title of “crucible” to signify the severe and unrelenting tests of faith and character that many of the community members endure throughout the Salem witch trials, which he achieves through the use of figurative language and fallacies of relevance and insufficiency.

Have you ever felt like you were among frauds and liars in a group supposedly full of devotees? The people living in late 1600s Salem were known as God-fearing, yet often projected their personal vendettas onto one another through the witchcraft trials. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller utilizes characterization, dramatic and verbal irony, and symbolism to the the convey the conflict of piety and corruption, therefore exposing the hypocrisy of a theocratic community.

In Arthur Miller's play The Crucible, Arthur intrigues audience time and time again with the historical context, social implications, and the Salem, Massachusetts Witchcraft Trials of 1962. Most members in Salem feel the need to prove their authority in ways such as accusing those who have done nothing or hanging them without proving their innocence first. The thing is authority is not made up by an authority figure, but by society. Miller’s The Crucible, demonstrates how people misuse their authority for cruel purposes through a fascinating plot, well-crafted characters, and well-set theme. During the hysteria of witchcraft trials in Salem, there were multiple figures of authority or per say the community who abused their power, Reverend Hale, Abigail Williams, Reverend Parris and Judge Danforth.

The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller expresses themes such as superstition, malice, and injustice. The book compares the unfair times in the 1950s to the Salem Witch Trials. Women were falsely accused of witchcraft and sentenced to death. The people in Salem believed the devil roamed somewhere within the town. Rivalries between neighbors were taken advantage of. People were accused by others who wanted their land or other belongings. Once one was accused, they either had to admit to witchcraft or be executed. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller addresses the themes of superstition, malice, and injustice in a way that indicates society’s tendency to believe everything they hear.

John proctor was a successful farmer who lived outside of town, Married to his wife Elizabeth Proctor. John Proctor was called over to the home of reverend parris to help determine if Abigail ,who is the niece of reverend parris, Is In fact a witch. John proctor then realizes that the rumors are true of the witchcraft talk that his has heard around town. John proctor knows the truth about Abigail but does not tell. Why? John Proctor committed MAL behavior with Abigail, He had an affair with a 17 year old girl while married to his wife Elizabeth. He knows that if he tells the truth about Abigail being a witch that the truth will come out about him and his affair, so he tells lies to keep

Arthur Miller conveys an intrusive community where characters strive for a clean name in The Crucible, which is still evident in modern day through the action of politicians and celebrities maintaining their images using different communication techniques. The Salem witchcraft crisis reflects the personal reputation of the characters, similar to how Americans make decisions based on their appearance on social media. The Crucible is useful to modern Americans because they can learn from the past through mistakes and common themes that are presented in the play.

Abigail Williams and Elizabeth Proctor’s love/lust for John Proctor causes injustice in Salem. Throughout the duration of the play, John Proctor and Abigail

He despises the idea of Elizabeth being hung, so he confesses his sin to the court. John’s confession creates a sense of craziness in the court because the citizens of Salem only know him as an honorable man. John declares Abigail is also nothing but a whore. He confesses his sin and calls Abigail a whore because he wants to preserve his wife’s honorable reputation as well. By confessing his sin, John hopes the court will dismiss Elizabeth’s conviction of witchcraft. Secondly, Abigail Williams takes extreme measures to preserve her reputation. The town of Salem believes Abigail is a respectable lady. Abigail’s actions of the past lead the city to believe she is a sincere person. When Reverend Parris questions Abigail’s credibility, she becomes frantic: “My name is good in the village! I will not have it said my name is soiled! Goody Proctor is a gossiping liar” (Miller 1240). By calling Goody Proctor a liar, the author shows how Abigail will go to any extreme to get rid of Mrs. Proctor. Abigail wishes not to be convicted of witchcraft, so she turns the blame over to Elizabeth. Abigail blames Elizabeth because she desires to be in a relationship with John Proctor. In order to keep a clean reputation, Abigail

John Proctor was a “farmer in his middle thirties… strong, even-tempered, and not easily led” (20). Proctor’s reputation was good and he was a well respected man around Salem. The play shows that Proctor’s past involved him having an affair with Abigail. Now in the present, Proctor is conflicted with the fear of being labeled as an adulterer for his past. Proctor’s fear weakens his morality in the court when he has to explain the situation to Judge Danforth. Proctor tells Danforth that he “has known her” (110) and that Abigail wishes to “dance with me (Proctor) on my wife's grave” (110). Although the fear of being labeled as an adulterer and being charged of lechery, Proctor believes that telling the truth is the right thing to do. Proctor realizes that the Salem witch trials have gone to far and are merely just attempts from Abigail to get Proctor all to herself. Proctor’s fear initially holds him back from telling the court the reason why Abigail is accusing everyone and acting strange. Later on the unveiling of his affair with Abigail results in the trials being questioned but it also fuels the deadly fate of

One of the many works written and driven by Puritan influence, The Crucible by Arthur Miller has continued to influence life and thinkings. Its story tracing the 1692 Salem Witch Trials has been widely read, received and understood, along with influencing the reader and their ideals. The play has manifested into more than words on a page and has become of the greatest influences, even sixty years after its publication. Though its story has not changed and is merely a retelling of the original itself, its themes have greatly impacted its universal and enduring state.

One of the strongest themes in Arthur Miller’s play “The Crucible” is the compelling and conspicuous concept of the individual vs. authority and society as a whole. This subject is inevitable in the town of Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 because of the impending idea of theocracy, in which God or a divinity is acknowledged as the utmost municipal ruler and the laws of that certain deity are carried out by ordained clerical authorities. A villager in Salem would not dare to overstep his or her boundaries by claiming to partake in another faith or doctrine than the Puritan creed, unless he or she had no apprehension to accusations of witchcraft. In this jealous Puritan village, uniformity is sustained by the suppression of individuality.