Human Weaknesses In The Crucible

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.

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 Crucible by Arthur Miller is an elaborate play that tells the story of the village of Salem and how the community slowly falls apart because of a strategic witch hunt ploy. The fear of witchcraft turns the once peaceful village upside down and accusations destroy the lives and reputations of so many people. Different characters’ actions have different impacts on the community, but one character stands out the most. Abigail Williams from The Crucible is a clear representation of how impactful the power of manipulation and deception is in a vulnerable society to create mass hysteria.

“Thou shall not suffer a witch to live,” (Exodus 22:18) was an Old Testament passage that many puritans had put emphasis on and based the witches death penalties upon. Arthur Miller bases his play on the hypocrisy involved in the Salem witch trials and also expounds the fact that humans, up until now, respond emotionally out of fear. The foils of reverend Hale to John Proctor, along with Elizabeth Proctor to Abigail Williams, link to the major themes in The Crucible such as hypocrisy, guilt, and vengeance.

In the Crucible written by Arthur Miller, he essentially talks about “courage, weakness, and truth.” Arthur Miller gives multiple scenarios when different characters have their time to shine and take the reader's attention. They’re multiple examples to prove this statement. For example would be when Thomas Putman stated, “he felt that his own name and the honor of his family had been smirched by the village, and he meant to right matters however he could.” In this specific quote he is very courageous to say something like this and take the law into his own hands.

Abby, an average, rebellious teenager, lives her day-to-day life as one might expect. She ignores authority when she is around her friends, keeps secrets, and gets out of trouble by using the outcasts of the school as scapegoats. She seems to have an air of authority and coolness that everyone wants, but little do they know that she is just trying her best to fit in. Some people might say that Abby’s whole life is influenced by the fear of fitting in. In the play The Crucible, there are also many characters who are motivated by fear. This play is about the Salem witch trial and how the conditions escalated to the point that 17 people died. Although some people say fear doesn’t have a big influence on people’s actions, fear is the greatest motivator of human behavior.

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.

There has been a statement about The Crucible being “essentially about courage, weakness and truth.” I agree that this statement is true due to the events and characters in The Crucible. The reason others believe The Crucible is described as courage, weakness and truth is also because of the characters and events that went on. Some characters have showed their weakness in certain situations when they are afraid to face the truth. The courage in the play is when the characters still fighting for either themselves or others, even when they think they have a small chance of them succeed to win their fight. Now, the truth in the story has to do with most of the characters saying the truth about the devil and the witchcraft that is going on in their town because the town and everyone who lives in it are big god believers and to them being connected to the devil or witchcraft is dangerous and a sin to them.

“ 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.

How would you feel waking up in a town everyday and thinking, “ I wonder who got accused of witchcraft today.” I don’t think that’s going to happen anytime soon but that’s what life was like back during the Salem witch trials. Lots of innocent people are accused and hanged for supposedly being witches. Some accusations were just plain simple. For example if I didn’t like someone else I could accuse them of stealing my land. During the witch trials accusations like that could mislead people in a different way. If the townspeople hear something like that, they will almost accuse that person right away. During these trials, Arthur Miller in The Crucible uses the thematic concepts of strength, courage, and weakness to invoke empathy within the reader. I will summarize which characters in The Crucible show strength, courage, and weakness throughout the book.

There are many flaws that people have, do you have any flaws? In the novel, The Crucible, Abigail shows many character flaws. Abigail’s flaws are jealousy, lust, and remorsefulness.

In The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller involves a character named John Proctor, an even-tempered farmer, who cared about how others saw him as. Procter was a married man to Elizabeth Proctor and a father of three as well. Throughout the book, Procter is shown as a man obsessed with his status to protect his name. The following quote says “... there is evidence to suggest that he had a sharp and biting way with hypocrites. He was the kind of man--powerful of body, even-tempered, and not easily led….”, this shows he was the type of a person to unleash his temper with people often, although it was good because he was well known for revealing hypocrisy. This gave him honor in his town and respect by his

When faced with a difficult task some people respond better than others. Some people may give no effort because something is too challenging or involves too much work. Others may take action and work hard to succeed. Some people have the fear of failure. In “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller, some characters succeed through tough tasks and others accept defeat. Abigail Williams is a 17 year old girl who wants to have a good reputation in the town, but she also takes many interesting actions to boost her reputation. John Proctor is a wealthy farmer who is married to Elizabeth Proctor. John gets into a heated conflict with his wife after she finds out about the affair he had with Abigail Williams. In “The

In a town plagued by judgment and fraud, Elizabeth Proctor is an outlier. With impeccable morals and ethics, Elizabeth Proctor attempts to stay adamant with her traits despite the hysteria that provided a challenge. Throughout the story of “The Crucible,” Elizabeth proctor is constantly put under severe tests that impact both her character and others that are close to her. Much like many other characters from the story, Elizabeth discovers the faults in herself and how they furthered the hysteria of witchcraft in Salem and surrounding communities. Elizabeth undergoes several ordeals that directly influence her as a person, and she grows and develops along with the story of “The Crucible.” All of theses tests display a great deal of

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.