For many years there was a struggle in the Puritans community on trying to find where the devil was hiding, and who were the witches in the town that brought the devil to the community. The courts were being persuaded by teenagers who were just looking for revenge. The courts believed them because they were innocent children who were believed to have faced the devil head on. Throughout the play of the, The Crucible the story unfolds into tragic deaths and situations that test each individual character. With each individual intertwined together they showed strong characteristics for the truth, but they never stood up to say the events were wrong therefore the trials continued. The best known characteristics that were shown were pride, …show more content…
Hale - indicating Giles - and Martha Corey, there cannot be a woman closer yet to God than Martha” (Miller 71). At the time in the play when this line is said Martha Corey was being kept in jail. She was put there because she was seen reading book and those books were believed to be witchcraft books. Francis tells Danforth that this is a mistake that his wife was a believer and held up the church, and that this isn’t possible. With a honest women like Martha Corey and Elizabeth the people in the community should have seen this whole trial was a lie. Two of the women that are looked up to in the community arrested for an accusation, it's unbelievable the rest of the town didn’t see the lies until later when it was too late. This contributes to the witch trials by some character such as these being targets. The people knew they were honest women and yet they were still questioned. Some of the characters were to prideful to admit these actions were wrong. Secondly the jealousy inside this play was one of the strongest roles to make the story what it was. Jealousy symbolizes how the trials started and also why so many people were killed for false accusations. Characters such as Abigail had a huge jealous streak when it game to John chosing Elizabeth: Abigail: Oh, I marvel how such a strong man may let such a sickly wife be- Proctor:
A.Abigal with bitter anger: “oh i marvel how such a strong man may let such a sickly wife be” Proctor “ You’ll speak nothin of Elizabeth!
Pride can be both beneficial and detrimental. Pride is the feeling of intense satisfaction because of one’s achievements. In the play, The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Miller shows different types of pride throughout the play. Miller shows examples of good pride, bad pride, and mixed pride through various characters in the play. He wants us to learn the difference between the good pride and the bad pride so we can focus on the good.
However, he still has faith that the court will reveal the innocence of the accused. "If Rebecca Nurse be tainted, then nothing's left to stop the whole green world from burning. Let you rest upon the justice of the court; the court will send her home, I know it." (p. 71) By the time upstanding citizens like Martha Corey and Rebecca Nurse are condemned, Hale had begun to listen to his conscience about the validity of the court. As Hale hears Mary Warren and John Proctor's evidence against Abby, he finally allows himself to pay attention to his morals and realize the court's corruption. Although Hale quits the court, his remorse at the seventy-two death warrants that he signed leads him to try to undo the chaos he had started by trying to get the remaining accused to confess their sins and thereby save their physical lives, as opposed to what he had been trying to do when he first arrived and save their spiritual lives. Hale's entire personality changes from the beginning of the play to the end, as shown by his change from "Here is all the invisible world, caught, defined, and calculated. In these books the Devil stands stripped of all his brute disguises. Have no fear now-we shall find him out if he has come
The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, was a historical play written about the Salem witch trials that took place in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1692-93. The Salem witch trials created mass hysteria throughout the entire village of Salem, which was also mainly inhabited by Puritans. Puritans had a set ideal of firm beliefs that managed how they lived. Essentially, they were living as an elect, which meant they (referring to the Puritans) had a place in heaven for the righteous acts they have done in the physical world. Meaning, any sinful acts could potentially hinder the chances of entering heaven as an elect. The Crucible, questioned everything the Puritans abided by. It questioned the basic morals of a pure lifestyle, adultery and
The Crucible by Arthur Miller is an interpretation of the Salem witch trials of 1692 in Puritan Massachusetts in which religion, justice, individuality and dignity play a vital role. These factors define the characteristics of many of the most significant characters in the play. Some of them being John Proctor, Rebecca Nurse, Reverend Hale, Danforth and many others. The Salem witch trials were a result of the lack of expression of individuality and the fact that no individual could expect justice from the majority culture as a result of the deterioration of human dignity in the Puritan society of Salem.
The word crucible describes an event that involves a test or trial of someone or something. In the story The Crucible by Arthur Miller, various characters endure a severe test of honestly, bravery, and goodness. Throughout the story, a series of events lead to tragedies, which involve these characters to make important decisions. If chosen incorrectly, it may lead to the death of another innocent person, or possibly even themselves. These events however, will bring out the true colors of everyone in Salem, whether they truly good or evil.
In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible the witch trials in Salem were a devastating time. The entire community was in disorder and chaos because of personal vengeance. This included accusations of innocent town’s people being called witches, so they hanged and were jailed. Throughout the play certain characters help the rise of witchcraft as well as the disapproval of all the innocent people who were being convicted for no reason. Reverend Hale is a dynamic character whom comes to rid of the evil spirits in Salem, yet he later tries to end the trials. Hale realizes the accusations are false, attempts to postpone the hangings, and persuade the victims to lie conveys that he is a dynamic character and changes throughout the play.
The dialogue between Hale and Danforth develops from agreements to anger as the play progresses. Throughout the first few scenes of the play, both Hale and Danforth are set on finding the witches and casting them out, and the only way to do this is through the people. By the last act, however, Hale has recognized that relying on the people has led to the people just airing their frustrations, resulting in many undeserved deaths. In Act
In Miller’s “The Crucible” the pride of the people of Salem leads to a massacre of innocent lives. Pride is delight or elation arising from some act, possession, or relationship. One of the main characters, John Proctor, has pride in his beliefs of purifying the Church of England. His wife, Elizabeth, has pride in her ability to use the trials as an ultimate revenge against Abigail Williams. John Hale is the “expert” on witches his pride springs from his extensive knowledge, but later in the play he recants and loses all his respect. Hale is the chemical that cause the conflict to come into full swing between Elizabeth and John Proctor.
Pride can be defined positively and negatively, it can mean a sense of one's own proper dignity or value or self-respect, or an excessively high opinion of oneself or conceit, respectively. In the play which portrays both sides of pride we are transported to the late sixteen hundreds and introduced to the town of Salem in the province of Massachusetts Bay during the time of witch trials, and it’s excessively superstitious habitants. Some of the fictitious but notable habitants of the town are John Proctor, his wife Elizabeth Proctor and Reverend Hale, all of whom show various facets of pride, its benefits and its consequences.
There are many interesting and complex characters in The Crucible by Arthur Miller. These unique characters create drama and thrill when they oppose one another. Frequently, the opposition occurs due to two characters having differing personalities or opinions. In the play, Elizabeth Proctor and Abigail Williams are two characters that clash over events and contrasting opinions. Despite their differences, the two women are similar.
In the Crucible, persecution leads to pride. Mary warren tells the town that john is a witch and they try to convenes him to say that he is a witch. John refuse to give up his good name and rips up his confession. John goes to the court house to show the town that all of the girls are lying to them that there are no witches among them. John tells the court that he has committed adultery with Abigail and that she is doing it to get back at him and they bring in John’s wife to tell the court that what john said is true. She tries to let john keep his pride by saying no.
Familiar faces of the innocent and the guilty. Falsely accused and falsely trusted. The Puritan faith of 1692 faced questioning due to the evil essence brought upon by the acts of sin. Amongst a Theocratic society, in which the church and state are whole, religion and its contributing factors played a strict role during the existence of the Puritan faith. True Puritans were expected to live by a rigid moral code, scripted through the Bible, to form a covenant with God and predestination to heaven. Throughout the ages of Salem, Massachusetts, the attempt to create a utopian society became a huge focal point. One such group that had that was the Puritans. Dating back a few hundred years ago, Puritans craved utopia for Salem, but discovered a struggle when spiritual confliction arose. Later on, a great portion of the community faced punishment by accusation for consorting with the Devil. Their disbelief in individuality formed them as one entity, concluding the reason for the amount of Puritans punished. The strong belief in the Devil affected the actions of the people in the Puritan society. A series of tragedies in the dramatic-play The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, presents how the demonic art of Witchcraft challenged the values of faith and justice through the eyes of Abigail, John Proctor, and Reverend John Hale.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller is an interpretation of the Salem witch trials of 1692 in Puritan Massachusetts in which religion, self- preservation and self-dignity play a vital role. The three factors I listed played a huge role in John Proctor, Rebecca Nurse, Reverend Hale, Danforth and many other lives. Many other characters such as, Abigail Williams and her friends can be characterized by being greedy, bitter, and selfish. In the play, Miller reveals how people can go against their own morals, therefore they can protect themselves. In Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible, he reveals to readers how fear escalated in Salem because of people's desire for personal gain.
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, is a tragic play with a significant message that is carried out through the actions and behaviors of a variety of characters ranging from heroic martyrs to malicious calumniators. On the side of the victimized heroes there are over two dozen innocent people who were put to death. Some of these wrongfully killed characters are principals in the play, such as John and Elizabeth Proctor. Conversely, on the malevolent, pernicious side of the story there is a group of people determined to destroy or take the lives of others. Anew, some of those malignant characters are principals in the play. The quintessence of these abhorrent characters is Abigail Williams. The most despicable character in The Crucible, is Abigail, who is Miller’s embodiment of greed and selfishness; Abigail’s behaviors throughout the play such as being unremorseful and defiant make her the most detrimental character Miller conjured.