Sexism In The Crucible

Tituba was a Caribbean slave owned by the Parris family. Sarah Good was a homeless woman. Sarah Osborne was a poor elderly woman. Sarah Osborne and Sarah Good pleaded innocent. Tituba admitted, “The Devil came to me and bid me serve him.” She described seeing red cats, yellow birds, black dogs, and a black man who asked her to sign his “book”. She confessed to signing the book. All three women were put in jail. Soon, more children had started to experience similar episodes. People were tried and found guilty of witchcraft.

“Cruelty is contagious in uncivilized communities.” In Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Harriet Jacobs provides a portrayal of her life as a black slave girl in the 1800s. Though Harriet described herself as having yellowish brown skin; she was the child of a black mother and a white father. “I was born a slave; but I never knew it till six years of happy childhood had passed away.” Born with one drop of black blood, regardless of the status of her white father, she inherited the classification of black and was inevitably a slave. Harriet endured years of physical and mental abuse from her master and witnessed firsthand how slaves were treated based on the color of their skin. Years of abuse can only be taken for so long, like many

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.

As the story of Tituba unfolds, it reveals a strong and kind hearted young woman, very different from the Tituba we meet in The Crucible. I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem unveils for the reader, Tituba's life, loves, and losses. Her long and arduous journey through life is inspired by her many female counterparts, yet also hindered by her insatiable weakness for men, who also press upon her the realities of life.

One of the reasons that I chose to read this book was because I had prior knowledge of the Salem Witch Trials from reading The Crucible in high school. Reading The Crucible helped me when I read In the Devil’s Snare because I recognized a lot of the people’s names. In particular, I recognized the name of Titbua. Samuel Pairs’ daughter and niece accused Tituba for bewitching them. Tituba was believed to have had known people who were witches, but she denied being one. It is interesting to note that In the Devil’s Snare refers to Tituba as Reverend Pairs’s Indian Slave, when I read The Crucible and saw the movie; I always believed that Tituba was African. Norton states that “Many scholars have addressed these questions…. Every surviving piece of contemporary evidence identifies her as an Indian. Later tradition transformed her into an African or half African slave.” Since Tituba was an Indian this

In the evenings Tituba entertained little Betty and her cousin Abigail Williams by the kitchen fire. She played fortune-telling games and told them stories of magic and spirits from the Caribbean. Tituba was pointed out by the three girls and accused of teaching them witchcraft and fortune telling, which resulted in their strange behavior. Tituba did not deny the allegations. She confessed to being a witch after Reverend Parris beat her.

American playwright, Arthur Miller, in his play The Crucible, implies that witch hunts still exist in American society. Miller supports this claim by drawing parallels between the Salem Witch Trials and the Senator Joseph Mccarthy Trials. His purpose is to warn his readers of the dangers of mass hysteria. He uses emotional appeals and logic to convince the reader that mass “hunts” are still a danger to Americans today. The central way, however, that Miller achieves his topmost goal of displaying the hazards of Individuality vs. Ideology is through the expressive characterization of Reverend John Hale. John hale is an example of outward conformity because he believes in the devil in the beginning, he sees that the girls are

Tituba was a women considered to be an outcasts of the village since she has very little dignity in being a slave. These false accusations lead Tituba to be condemned to death. This unjust act is only the beginning of a series of false allegations that take control of Salem, as well as the spreading of paranoia and hysteria through the village. This finally results in the deaths of the some of the main characters, such as Rebecca Nurse and John Proctor, for carrying out acts of witchcraft.

All of this relates back to the theme of the, The Crucible to not believe in false accusations, because that’s exactly what happened even though the opposite should’ve happened when Tituba got accused and Abby was the guilty one. Another part of the story to show the theme is when Rebecca Nurse is being accused and even though this is so odd because everyone knows how good of a soul Rebecca is they still believe it just because someone accused her. It is explained here in the text, “You will never believe, I hope, that Rebecca trafficked with the Devil. Hale: Woman it is possible”(32). This part of the story shows the theme, because Rebecca is being falsely accused but everyone is still going along with it. Arthur Miller writes about why he wrote the crucible and says, “There was bad blood between the two women now”(3). Miller is talking about Abigail and Elizabeth in this part about how Elizabeth fired Abigail and now Abby is accusing John of witchcraft. This can explain the theme, because since those two have bad blood between them you can guess that Abby’s accusation is not the truth. This shows to not believe in false accusations, because they could be accusing someone for other reasons than just witchcraft. All in all the theme in The Crucible is to not believe in false accusations or accusations that had no proof, all these examples from the story showed it well because all the

While reading the Crucible there are several recurring themes, a few of which include sexual repression and patriarchy. Specifically, these themes which are seen so often throughout this play seem to be connected to the downfall of this small Puritanical town. Today I will bring to light the biased views and sexual repression that led this small town to its untimely demise. This paper will delve into the puritans daily way of life and beliefs and expose that sexual repression and patriarchy were the real killers in this play based on real events.

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

She emphasizes that the life of a slave woman is incomparable to the life of a slave man, in the sense that a woman’s sufferings are not only physical but also extremely mental and emotional. Whether or not a slave woman is beaten, starved to death, or made to work in unbearable circumstances on the fields, she suffers from and endures horrible mental torments. Unlike slave men, these women have to deal with sexual harassment from white men, most often their slave owners, as well as the loss of their children in some cases. Men often dwell on their sufferings of bodily pain and physical endurance as slaves, where as women not only deal with that but also the mental and emotional aspect of it. Men claim that their manhood and masculinity are stripped from them, but women deal with their loss of dignity and morality. Females deal with the emotional agony as mothers who lose their children or have to watch them get beaten, as well as being sexually victimized by white men who may or may not be the father of their children. For these women, their experiences seem unimaginable and are just as difficult as any physical punishment, if not more so.

Tituba, despite being at the forefront of male oppression, willingly gives up her freedom for a slave she falls in love with, “My mother had been raped by a white man. She had been hanged because of a white man. I had seen his tongue quiver out of his mouth, his penis turgid and violet. My adoptive father had committed suicide because of a white man. Despite all that, I was considering living among white men again, in their midst, under the domination. And all because of an uncontrollable desire for a mortal man. Wasn’t it madness? Madness and betrayal.” but even her ultimately betrays her by accusing her of witchcraft alongside everyone else. “I learned through prison rumor that John Indian was in the front line of the accusers, that he accompanied the girls, those scourges of God, shouted when they shouted, had seizures when they had them, and gave names louder and stronger than they did.” Throughout her life, she develops close bonds with many of the other women she meets and uses her powers on them for healing and protection rather than manipulation. Unlike I, Tituba, however, self-deprecation and subordination plays a role alongside general male tyranny in the sexism against the

The novel, The Crucible was written in 1953 by Arthur Miller, which was based on the Salem Witch Trials existing in the late 1600s. In the play, Abigail and several other young women accuse innocent citizens of Salem for the action of witchcraft. During the trials, many individuals were unfairly persecuted; such as John Proctor. This event in history may be associated with the Red Scare, in which individuals were tried for their questionable influences of communism in the United States. When Miller compares the character of John Proctor to himself, the reader is able to relate the similar experiences that both men faced. The Crucible demonstrates the struggle against corruption involving the court, which lead to the death of many innocent individuals in Salem. The Crucible generates an allegory for Arthur Miller’s struggles with McCarthyism because of his similar experience relating to John Proctor’s battle against the Salem Witch Trials, and the relation between the actions of the court in both situations. Arthur Miller uses several writing methods in order to convey The Crucible as an allegory for his struggles with McCarthyism. Miller demonstrates how the Crucible represents an allegory for his conflict with McCarthyism by relating his experiences with the plot of the novel. Miller relates the novel to his struggles by stating, “Should the accused confess, his honesty could only be proved by naming former confederates.” (Are You Now… 34) Miller is explaining how the court

Dave the potter was an African American slave that went through many hardships during his life just like any other slave. We look at slavery as a whole picture most of the time and don’t give very much thought to the political, economic, and racial factors that influence slavery, even in modern time. Of course, we know that slavery in the 1800’s was extremely racial in that only blacks were enslaved. However, looking at the statistics as we talk about slavery, it has become widely apparent to me that slavery is largely associated with specific races as well as economic status. In today’s world there are also other types of slavery, such as child trafficking, forced labor/debt bondage, criminal exploitation, ect. And each of these types of slavery has their own race majority. Throughout this essay we may find ourselves asking if there will ever be an end to slavery. That answer will not be known but there are steps we can take to minimize the population of slavery in our world.