Similarities Between The Crucible And The Scarlet Letter

Abigail Williams was a manipulative, vindictive, and somewhat crazy young girl. She lost her parents when she was a child and then lived with her uncle Reverend Parris and his family. At one point, she worked for John and Elizabeth Proctor but was later thrown out for having an affair with John. John was the only person that Abigail had real feelings for. She truly loved her and believed he loved her too even after he said he would never touch her again. Her deep love for John is what started the whole thing. She was in the woods trying to do a spell to kill his wife!

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.

Abigail was, of course, the ring leader of the witch craft accusations in Salem. These false accusations were not without cause, however; Abigail made these accusations to try and protect her own reputation. Initially, Abigail is mainly conflicted about her name currently being darkened through the town. She angrily accuses Elizabeth Proctor of spreading lies about her in defense. However, Abigail is seen as a whore, and John Proctor causes the ultimate disrespect to her when he says, “You are pulling down Heaven and raising up a whore.” (Act II) Abigail’s yearn to retain a good name caused the deaths and punishment of many

Abigail is to blame for the mass hysteria in Salem because she wants to be with John Proctor. John and Abigail both had an affair when she started working for him. John tries to get over his sin and forget about her, but she is very persistent in him remembering their love and to

The edgy tale of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is comparable in many ways to Arthur Miller’s haunting play The Crucible. Both are set in Puritan New England in the 17th century and revolve around the harsh law enforcement of the time. However, The Scarlet Letter tells the story of a woman as she deals with her heavy Puritan punishment, whereas The Crucible follows hysteria as it spreads throughout an entire town. Hester Prynne, the main character of The Scarlet Letter, was found guilty for adultery and sentenced to wear a red letter A on her chest to inform people of her sin. Similarly, The Crucible’s main character John Proctor admits to having committed lechery and is sent to jail for this and for being a

Abigail was being accused repeatedly of lying and making up all of the accusations which were of false nature. The many people who were hung because of her testimony was what would now hang over her head. When she was brought before Mary Warren her false tears and outcries of pain were all an act, but in her mind she was the only one who was correct in her dealings. Abigail was for unfathomable reasons a port of knowledge through which the judges and lawyers convicted and sent to death those who were accused. The awful girl was but of one mind. She wanted revenge and to be back to her “love”, John Proctor. Abigail tried and tried repeatedly to get her hands on John, she tried to get his wife hanged, and when she couldn’t have him she decided that no one else could. Abigail soon began to accuse John Proctor of the precise thing she was known for, witchcraft. Abigail had been in the woods when the young Mary Warren went mute from the shock of seeing Abigail drink chickens blood and curse Goody Proctor, all of these happenings had to do with Abigail Williams, and now she would have to suffer through her own crucible, to figure out how she was going to get out. And though Abigail did narrowly escape the major shackles of her crimes, the guilt and foreboding of being a treacherous liar found her rumored to be a young prostitute in Boston. Forever to be alone and used. That was Abigail’s crucible and punishment for all the problems and

Abigail was a servant in Proctor´s house. Elizabeth was not a very loving woman. Proctor fell for Abigail created an affair with her. “After he had confessed it to Elizabeth, she dismissed her from her service because she did not want to tell the people in Salem that the reason was the affair between John and Abigail.” (Dulain). Abigail, Tituba and the girls went to the forest in the morning. They danced and murmured words, Abigail drank blood to curse John Proctor’s wife Elizabeth, and she would do anything to have John Proctor. Reverend Paris fond blood, Abigail and the girl’s dancing, and mercy naked. Abigail knew drinking blood is a form of witchcraft, so she tries to cover up on what they actually did in the forest. She threatens the girls to not say a word or she will harm them. "Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you." (Miller)

Both Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome provide an insight into the moral ideas that have shaped New England. One major theme of The Scarlet Letter that helps to portray this is the theme of Puritanism. The religious nature of the morality shaped the society’s reaction to Hester’s affair. A major theme of Ethan Frome that helps to portray this is the theme of duty and morality vs. desire. Ethan feels he has a moral duty to remain with his wife, Zeena, even though he truly desires to run away with Mattie. The ideas of morality presented in The Scarlet Letter and Ethan Frome are similar in that they both portray adultery as greatly immoral; however, they differ in the reason behind these ideas of morality.

Adultery. Abigail Williams is the young niece of Salem's Minister, Reverend Parris, she also was once John Proctor's housemaid until his wife, Elizabeth, put her out because of the affair. Abigial was just a young girl, she felt as if her feelings for John Proctor were ‘true love’, this drove her to do some of the most unspeakable things. She was seeking vengeance on Elizabeth since she put her out on the street, “blackened her name throughout the town” and she had the man she loved. Abigail's best way of getting things done was through manipulation, which she was best at. She voluntarily used witchcraft to ‘curse’ Elizabeth and yet turned witchcraft accusations against everyone of Salem. “I will come to you in the black of the night and will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you”(19), is one threat Abigail used to keep the girls mouth shut. She was a power hungry girl who did anything to keep the power for her own selfish gains. When she realized she was losing her power she claims “I have been near to murdered every day because I done my duty pointing out the Devil’s people- and this is my reward? To be mistrusted, denied, question like a -”(100) this was her way out of the truth. This shows Abigail's true

“The Scarlet Letter” written by Nathaniel Hawthorne and “The Crucible” written by Arthur Miller are two pieces of literature written around the same era. They were written in the early days of the Massachusetts colony. Both of the pieces of literature have many similarities including the theme, setting, conflicts, and some major plot elements. But the two pieces of literature are also very different. They both use have a common theme but are completely different stories. Each of the plays tell a different portrayal of the effects of sin on the protagonist, how they deal with the situation, and also how they will be effected by their choices made throughout the play.

. .”). The declaration of him having what would be monumental information caused his national popularity and recognition to soar faster than ever seen by any other politician before and helped to begin the period in the US known as McCarthyism. Mirroring this is the plan of Abigail to more or less overthrow and jail the wife of the man she committed an affair with, John Proctor. Elizabeth Proctor, the wife in question, expresses this concern to John by saying “Spoke or silent, a promise is surely made. And she [Abigail] may dote on it -- I am sure she does -- and thinks to kill me, then to take my place.”(Miller 58). She is quite obviously not alleging crimes against people she actually saw committing witchery in the woods but rather has ulterior motives. In this case, she believes that eliminating her competition is the best way to get to John. Abigail has a clear and concise precision in which she charges crimes against members of the community of Salem who she dislikes. Additionally, placing the blame on other members of Salem helps to remove Abigail from being accused of working with the devil. These accusations help to separate her from the situation allowing her to appear as the victim. The two people who were the main impetus behind the crazes in both cases possess much deeper motives than it may appear at first.

The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible are two stories both set in the early days of the Massachusetts colony. Both of these stories have many similarities between them, including setting, situations, and conflict. The two stories were also very different. The effects of sin on the characters, how they deal with their sin, and the consequences of their actions are different in each story. The Crucible and The Scarlet Letter are different works and although they deal with similar conflicts the consequences and end results are very different.

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.

Most people agree that Nathaniel Hawthorne changed his last name from “Hathorne” to “Hawthorne”. This is one of the many signs that suggest that Hawthorne was ashamed of his Puritan past and tried to do anything to remove that “black mark” on his past. Furthermore, it can be seen through the themes and symbols in his play that Arthur Miller was no fan of Puritanism as well. Both Miller and Hawthorne take negative stances against Puritanism. This can be seen in their works The Crucible and The Scarlet Letter. The Scarlet Letter deals with the Puritan intolerance of those who committed a sin. In Hester Prynne’s situation, her adultery with Reverend Dimmesdale seemed to have sparked a particular hatred for her within her community. The Crucible deals with the Puritan fight against witchcraft. Many people in the town are accused of being witches and are forced to confess in order to save their lives. The intolerance that the Puritans show to witchcraft symbolize Miller’s complete dislike of Puritanism and their strictness. Both Miller and Hawthorne’s negative views on Puritanism are strongly seen in their respective works of literature. Also, both authors seem to think that the outsider is treated quite brutally. Miller’s take on the Puritan way of forgiveness of sins is somewhat painless compared to Hawthorne’s version of forgiveness. Hawthorne’s novel highlights hypocrisy and its detrimental impact. Miller similarly writes about hypocrisy and how it can destroy society as a