Inquisitions In Octavia Butler's The Parable Of The Talents

The “Age of Anxiety” is a brief description of what life was like in the years 1450-1750, an age of overflowing anxieties that lead to a violent release through widespread witch hunts. As a result of the anxiety in Europe, the persecution and torture of men and women accused of witchcraft occurred over this 300-year span. It all started with building anxieties in Europe over events such as the 1525 Peasants War and the 1618 Thirty Years War over religion, which caused unease and worry. This anxiety also appeared in the form of religious change between protestant and catholic along with the emergence of the inquisition which created the fear and paranoia of the devil who preyed on the weak and wanton, who were often seen to be the women in society.

On its face, organized religion is the pillar holding up the foundations of society. Throughout history, the concept that ones religion was superior to another led to the rise and fall of many empires and dynasties, and was the catalyst that incited numerous wars from the time of Ancient Rome throughout the Middle Ages and up to today. The religion someone associated with was a substantive part of their identity, and imposed on them how they should live, their laws, and social rank. It hasn't been until recently, however, that men and women have risen to dramatize the weakness organized religion imposes on a society. Two such men are Nathaniel Hawthorne and Arthur Miller. Hawthorne's book The Scarlet Letter is rich with descriptions about the early Puritan way of life, their strict and severe punishments, and the effects of such punishments on an ordinary women. In addition, his book provides an insightful view on a hypocritical man of faith held in high regard. This theme of corrupted faith is also apparent in Arthur Miller's play The Crucible, which revolves around the mass hysteria of a deeply religious town led astray by minsters and ordinary people seeking personal benefit. Both authors view organized religion with trepidation, not in the sense that it is fundamentally flawed, but when it is used as a manipulative force by corrupted men only striving to save face, or weakened by the influence of their townsfolk.

It is in times of adversity that individuals call upon their faith and question whether God has ‘heard [their] prayers’, whilst also hunting for the will to survive. It is in this notion, that Arthur Miller presents the ‘cold[ness]’ of the human spirit in his play The Crucible, arguing that the theocratic society of Salem in innately corrupt as he captures the intolerance nature of the Puritan theology. Likewise, Geraldine Brooks ‘novel of the plague’, Year of Wonders examines how in times of despair the ability of individuals to rise up and claim leadership, in attempt to ‘quarantine’ the village of Eyam and save neighbouring communities as exemplified by ‘preacher’ Michael Mompellion. Brooks and Miller also demonstrate the attitudes of the women in their plight to gain power and status in their respective villages. Year of Wonders and The Crucible further examine the need of redemption in an attempt to supress one’s conscience and ultimately their reputation in the village through the heroine nature of the protagonist Anna Frith and John Proctor. However, the portrayal of this concepts allows Brooks and Miller to present an altering perspective on the sacrifice required to attain true humanity in the face of despair.

The tendency for the Salem community to believe “that a person is either with this court or he must be counted against it, there be no road between” (87) clearly mirrors the persecution of “communist sympathisers” in the McCarthy era, and Miller draws this parallel to emphasise the importance of acknowledging moral ambiguity. In addition, Miller also raises the issue of “social compliance”, a phenomenon that often occurs when there is fear brewing within a community. As demonstrated with the Puritans’ willingness to persecute villagers even without any evidence, “is the accuser always holy now?” (73), as well as the lack of characters who dared to question the legitimacy of the witch trials, Miller successfully highlights the catastrophic effects of conforming to a society driven by fear. Hence, the play is able to raise ideas that are relevant not only to the Salem witch trials and the McCarthy era, but also to many historical events that involved the persecution of a group of people without adequate

Obedience has always been a trait present in every aspect of society. Parents have practiced enforcing discipline in their homes where obedience is automatically learned from age one. Instructors have found it difficult to teach a lesson unless their students submit to their authority. Even after the adolescent years, law enforcement officers and governmental officials have expected citizens to uphold the law and abide by the standards set in society. Few will understand, however, that although these requirements for obedience provide positive results for development, there are also dangers to enforcing this important trait. Obedience to authority can be either profitable or perilous depending on who the the individual in command is. In the film, The Crucible, obedience leads to the deaths of many innocent individuals. It was because of the “afflicted” girls’ decision to obey Abigail that Salem was “talking witchcraft” and accusing so many individuals known for their devotion to God of speaking with the devil (The Crucible). It was also because of the town’s undivided obedience to their religion that those who ultimately decided who lived and died believed they were making the correct decisions. If obedience had been omitted from the chaos of the Salem Witch Trials, the mass hysteria of the issue could have been avoided. Although the theme of heteronomous obedience, or submission to authority, repeats throughout The Crucible, the characters’ internal conflicts with their

The King even massacred the Waldensians (a type of Protestants), and at least six hundred Protestants were

In the play, the characters are intolerant of people who do not conform. If someone is not very religious or has different notions they are incriminated of working with the Devil and doing witchcraft. Today someone could publicly say they don’t presume in God without fear of being hanged.()

Before his conversion, Christians were an extreme minority, holding meetings secretly and being the odd one out in the Roman Empire

Religio-historical objects are things of crafted pieces of writing that reveal the realities of religious subjects through the perspective visions of their author (C.J Bleeker). Compared to an artist who has a muse, writers also have a “muse” something that influences their writing. Whether it is a personal experience, religious belief, or common morals writers derive the context within their writing from many different aspects of life. One thing most authors derive their ideas from is their religion or just any religion that interest them. Authors like Nathaniel Hawthorne and Flannery O’Connor, writings often include many allegories and symbols to religious faiths.

Salvador Dali, Spanish surrealist artist, once said, “Have no fear of perfection - you’ll never reach it.” And yet, despite this, there is a widespread pursuit of and desire for perfection, often driven by both societal and religious standards. This unattainable pursuit is a key factor in Arthur Miller’s 1953 play, The Crucible, in which Salem’s Puritan faith drives its citizens to hysteria. Because of perfectionism’s harmful effect on individuals and society, it is important to understand the following research question: To what extent does the Puritan pursuit of perfection contribute to the Salem Witch Trials within The Crucible?

The Inquisition started because the Catholic Church was worried that the devil was stealing people’s souls. To fight the devil the church founded a new court. The Inquisition, were those priests whose job it was to find and punish anyone who was against the church or working with the devil. They called people who worked against the church a heretic and any action against the church was heresy. The inquisition could place people under arrest and torture them until they confessed to heresy; even if u weren’t and heresy but they suspected that you were they still torture you. But, if you confess right away before torture, will be punished, but you can redeem yourself. If you didn’t confess you were torture until you did.

‘The Crucible’ not only addresses the issue of conformity, it attacks the poor balance of power that surrounds us everyday. Miller demonstrates how much power a sole in-dividual can have when the decisions made by that person effect a whole community. During the Witchcraft Trials in Salem, religion was, much more than now the answer to the unknown and the unexplained. As a result, the Church and the people in its service were people of prominence and power. They were the only people who could successfully interpret the Church’s doctrine, often to their own benefit, without being accused of a wrong doing and what could be more powerful than this in a theocratic society like Salem? This corrupt hierarchy meant that nobody could question a priest or minister because doing so would be

Octavia Butler’s Dawn explores a world of the unknown after humans nearly destroy their kind along with Earth, causing an extraterrestrial species to intervene. The protagonist, Lilith, finds herself in a predicament as she is captured and locked in solidarity for a long. The extraterrestrial species that intervenes, Oankali, strip her of her clothes, mysteriously cut her and then tell her it is her role to mother a group of humans and prepare them for a return to Earth. In the novel Lilith is conflicted, she knows she has no control of her body and that humans have been “enslaved” by the Oankali but begins to trust and connect with them, especially Nikanj. Through the relationship of Lilith and Nikanj side by side with Humans and the Oankali, Octavia Butler explores the monstrous aspects of people and acts within the cultures.

During times of intolerance, dangerous m0bs may occur and cause persecution of innocent people. We saw this unfortunate event occur during the 1950’s when the red scare and McCarthyism took place, as well as in the dramatic play, The Crucible. The idea that when intolerance occurs it may cause mobs or persecution of the innocent, was evident in the recent attacks on muslims by buddhist mobs in Sri Lanka. In The Crucible intolerance occurs first when outcasts of the village are accused of participating in witchcraft.

In the short stories the Pit and the Pendulum and the Cask of Amontillado Edgar Allan Poe uses the literary devices of tone and foreshadowing to discuss man's vengeance. Edgar Allan Poe, an excellent gothic styled writer, has written many stories about death because the people he cherished died from drowning in their lungs due to tuberculosis. Poe’s usage of man’s vengeance leads to many deaths of many characters, whether they are friend or foe some act of revenge usually happens in his stories. In the short story “The Pit and the Pendulum”, the narrator whose name is never given, is sentenced to death for his crime. The Spanish Inquisition was a judicial institution seemingly established to combat heresy in Spain.