Similarities Between Gattaca And The Crucible

In ‘The Crucible’ by Arthur Miller, there are numerous elements of dramatic tension in Acts 1, 2 and 3. First of all, we must establish that the town and play revolves around the ideology of theocracy and its effects on the people of the village; Miller explores the feeling of paranoia, fear and tension throughout the play by setting that people’s grievances can lead to sinister motives. Miller conveys the idea of a society at war with itself in the violent language used by the villagers towards one another.

The literary works, The Scarlet Letter, a romantic work of an American writer, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and the Crucible, a play written by an American playwright, Arthur Miller both show two different narratives of the Salem Witch Trials. The Scarlet Letter is mainly on adultery, meanwhile, The Crucible is about witchcraft. Amongst these two literary works, there are several similarities and contrasts: setting, sin, reasons behind committing the misdemeanor, guilt, and loyalty of the Puritan people to their appointed officials. Although there are several similarities and comparisons, the greatest controversy is how the authors portray the female characters. Women get treated differently than men; it is the idea of women being inferior creatures and lesser human beings.

In George Orwell’s dystopian society of “1984” exhibit’s a totalitarianism government that extracts away the peoples freedom, eradicates the privacy, and individuality of the people, and in Arthur Miller’s novel “The Crucible” is play about a witch-hunt set in a theocratic society, in which the church and the state are one. Because of the theocratic way of the society, moral laws and state laws are one and the same. These novels share many similar themes related to social and political issues. The three major themes of both books are the psychological administration of external verification to a person’s perception or memory of the truth, the result of deadly consequences attached to the betrayal of trust, and the manipulating arrangement

In any community, the people rely on the power of law and justice to protect them. When the guardians of the law and order misuse their power it brings tragedy upon the town. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible the inappropriate actions of the character of Judge Danforth, the voice of authority of the community leads to the tragedy of social disruption of the town accompanied by breakdown in communal solidarity.

Although not written by Miller, the introductory information for The Crucible establishes his credibility. An editor of Prentice Hall Literature informs the audience of Miller’s knowledge of the subject, “Arthur Miller has chronicled the dilemmas of common people pitted against powerful and unyielding social forces” (Kinsella 1230). The editor verifies Miller’s expertise and past work on other pieces focused on social issues such as All My Sons and Death of a Salesman. Additionally, the background information reveals that Miller based the play off a real historical event. Therefore, the play serves as a convincing example of real life social pressures and the resulting consequences that helps to prove Miller’s argument. While experiencing the play, a personal connection can be formed between John Proctor and audience members who have also experienced persecution. The ability to connect with the character allows the audience to empathize with the argument and consequently be more likely to be convinced by it.

Both Alan Moore in the novel ‘V for Vendetta’ and Arthur Miller in the play ‘The Crucible’ utilise stylistic and language features to explore the central themes of power, rebellion, and justice that consequently develop the idea of mass hysteria as a social construct. The portrayed power in both texts regards the exploitation an erroneous degradation of civilians rendered defenceless by the overwhelming hysteria of their counterparts. However, the context and depiction of power within both texts varies, as Moore presents power as a fascist government whilst Miller presents power as the exploitation of fear derived from religious ideologies. While both portray rebellion through the characterisation of the protagonists, Miller presents rebellion subtly through the protagonist’s mannerisms and cognition whereas Moore, a self-proclaimed anarchist (Moore, 2009), characterises the protagonist as a rebel intent

The fear of eternal damnation turns people against one another when in life-threatening trials. God’s wrath is being contained upon them as these test occur. In “Sinners in the hands of an Angry God” and “The Crucible”, Edwards and Miller use metaphors, imagery, symbolism, and allegory to display how they unveil their message with fear and persuasion.

The two texts, On the Waterfront directed by Elia Kazan, and The Crucible written by Arthur Miller, both exhibit a protagonist that is plagued by their sins and desperately seeks redemption. Through Terry Malloy’s life on the Hoboken waterfront of 1950’s America, and John Proctor’s in the Puritan society of 1962 Salem, it is clear that the act of expiating our wrongs is demanding and difficult but finally satisfying. Both texts show similarities but also differences in how the characters have sinned and betrayed their conscience and loved ones. The taxing journey of redemption is full of obstacles in which each texts’ protagonist deals with in their own unique but alike manner. Despite these unavoidable hardships, both Proctor and Malloy ultimately receive their desired redemption and gratifying outcomes. Thus, both texts show how life’s uncertainties, confusions and wrongdoings should be dealt with humanity and a clear conscience instead of fulfilling individual needs.

The uncontrollable desire for self improvement often clouds a person’s judgement to differentiate between right and wrong. In The Devil and Tom Walker by Washington Irving, Tom’s morals vanish once he sees the increase in money by making a bargain with the devil. Abigail Williams in The Crucible written by Arthur Miller, has a similar mentality but instead of admiration for money, she has a desire for a married man named John Proctor. Throughout these novels, both characters go to great lengths to acquire what they want which is motivated by greed but most likely results in guilt followed by karma. The feelings of guilt and karma are created by a person’s deceitful and malicious actions. An individual has the capability to unintentionally

As the various characters in The Crucible by Arthur Miller interact, the dominant theme of the consequences of women’s nonconformity begins to slide out from behind the curtains of the play. Such a theme reveals the gripping fear that inundated the Puritans during the seventeenth century. This fear led to the famous witch-hunts that primarily terrorized women who deviated from the Puritan vision of absolute obedience and orthodoxy. Arthur Miller presents his interpretation of the suffering by subtly introducing women who strayed from convention and paid the consequences. Throughout The Crucible, Arthur Miller delineates the historically austere Puritans’ perception and punition of women who differ from expectations, all while unraveling, through the characterization of Tituba, the harsh truth of how women were vided as lesser than men and feared if deviating.

Nathaniel Hawthorne and Arthur Miller both used their writings to comment on the state of the world at their current times. Miller’s Play The Crucible and Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter both share several similar concepts, despite the fact that they were written just over one hundred years apart. The Scarlet Letter is about a Puritan woman by the name of Hester Prynne, who has an illegitimate child (called Pearl) with the religious leader of the town, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. The Crucible is a play featuring the Puritan town of Salem, which is suffering through a hysterical, supernatural paranoia started by a vengeful adulteress named Abigail Williams. The similarities between these two texts have been compared and explored by many before, and three such explorations are investigated over the course of this paper.

Both The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible revolve around the puritan culture of 17th century America. Written against the backdrop of the self-perplexed puritan culture, emotions of pain and pleasure are similarly highlighted amongst themes of religion, reputation and injustice in both The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible.

Arthur Miller's play "The Crucible" and Andrew Niccol's film "Gattaca" both present the idea that suffering can lead to growth through their main characters John Proctor (Crucible) and Vincent Freeman (Gattaca) and their very unique experiences . The authors then explore who their characters share the burden of their ordeals with and how they assist in turning their suffering into growth.

Similar to Tocqueville before him, John Stuart Mill was critical about the American democracy and its resulting social pressures on the individual. The consequences of the tyranny of conformity sat at the forefront of his mind. Frank Prochaska in his review of Mill described the term as ‘a society in which scarcely any person had the courage to dissent.’ Arthur Miller draws on this idea in The Crucible by exploring the individual’s place in society as something firmly rooted and inescapable, as well as the individual’s place as capable of changing society through having the courage to deny society what it asks.

All political actions, despite malleability to individual interpretations, are at their core, motivated by the desire or need for ultimate control of a conformist society. Representations of the dichotomy of good and evil are expressed in the texts. Both the ‘Crucible’ by Miller and ‘Candide’ by Voltaire explore the ways in which values are manipulated, and imposed upon the people, to fuel political motives and achieve public conformity/ultimate control. In a dramatisation of man’s corruption, Miller represents political motivations as a surrendering of moral and legal justice to fulfil personal agendas. He criticises the political powers of the McCarthy Era when the widespread fear of the communism witch-hunt arose.