The Crucible is a story of love and lust, of paranoia and hatred, and of terror and faith. This play, written by Arthur Miller has many themes woven into the story, and they all reveal his own personal morals. The portrayal of John Proctor's redemption from his deceitful marriage is the strongest of these themes: you will find redemption if you seek to speak the truth. The changes John Proctor undergoes throughout the book highlight the value of truth, especially in relationships. His lies to his wife cause a wall of frost to grow between them, and though he may try to chip at the wall, the only thing that could melt it is the truth, no matter how heated an argument it may create.
In the beginning of the story, John proves to be unfaithful, as he had an affair with the young Abigail (Miller, 22). Although he loved his wife, his love was forfeit when he met Abigail, and began lusting after her. The play may begin months after this horrendous act, but Abigail is still in Proctor's thoughts, and he goes miles out of his way to catch a glimpse of the young girl through her window. (Miller, 23) Though John may say he is working to fix his marriage, this deceit is proof of the opposite. If given the chance, John most likely would have started another affair with Abigail.
The lies continue, when he arrives home to find a hot pot of rabbit stew waiting for him. He proceeds to take a bite, and finds it bland and lacking in seasoning. Instead of being truthful to his wife about her
The Crucible is a historical play by Arthur Miller, and is set in the town of Salem during the late 1690s. The main characters are John Proctor, the protagonist, and Abigail Williams, the antagonist. The conflict occurs when Abigail falsely accuses others of witchcraft. This leads to hysteria in the town, with people turning in innocent people for witchcraft. Many people including John and Elizabeth Proctor are arrested and put on trial, despite their innocence. John Proctor is sentenced to death after refusing to denounce his friends as witches, forgiven by Elizabeth for his affair with Abigail, and restores his reputation of being a good man. The Crucible delves into the extent people will go betray others in order to benefit themselves
John Proctor has a dark secret, He possesses a major flaw he has had an affair with Abigail Williams, and eventually he realizes what he has done to Elizabeth, He has committed adultery against his wife. Due to the fact that Proctor has committed adultery against Elizabeth, he becomes a tragic hero, and Abigail Williams shows that when she says “I know how you clutched my back behind your house and sweated like a stallion whenever I come near” (Act I, lines 423-425). John broke his marriage vows, but even though he regrets he has become a tragic hero. It’s too late to regret he has sinned, he has ruined his marriage with Elizabeth and now she is not pleased with him. Due to the fact that he has cheated on Elizabeth, his outlook in life is negative, when He tells her “I have not moved from there to there without I think to please you” (Act II, lines 159-161). The affair also caused Elizabeth to distrust John, who for seven months was trying to get into her good graces and is tired of her suspicion. Because of John's inability to control his desire and resist temptation, his life is being turned upside down by the jealousy and need for revenge of Abigail, marking the beginning of his downfall and path to becoming a tragic hero. As a result, the need for revenge of Abigail marks the beginning of John downfall.
The Crucible takes place in Salem, Massachusetts during the time of the Salem witch trials. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller uses revenge as the main theme throughout the playwright. Revenge is the action of inflicting hurt or harm on someone for an injury or wrong done to someone else. Revenge is shown throughout the characters actions in the play. Witch craft is used to represent revenge. If someone didn't like another, they could accuse that person of witch craft and inflict harm on him or her. Many characters in the play are motivated by their desire to seek revenge. During the course of the play, revenge motivates the characters and has a huge significance in the play.
One of the main characters, John Proctor, faces many adversities throughout the play. He has to overcome his emotional and moral problems, which changes and develops his character into someone different from before. At the beginning of the play, Proctor appears an average person, respected in his community for his honesty. Miller describes him as “a kind man- powerful of body, even- tempered and not easily led…” (Miller 19). Later on in the play, a shift in his character shows when he learns of the many accusations of witchcraft, one including his wife Elizabeth. The unfortunate events he was experiencing brought out his characteristic of leadership and he becomes an influential leader in the effort to save his wife. Towards the end of the novel, John faces an important moral choice, he can tell the truth about his wife and die honorably or he cannot tell the truth and live the rest of his life as a lie. He shows his respectful and honest character by telling the truth and dying. The adversity that John experiences proves very powerful, but his morally right mindset stands out even more than before. The Crucible is yet another literary work that demonstrates Horace’s assumption about adversity and its
Tena Desae once said, “The biggest challenge is not to be affected by praise because a lot of it is not from the heart. Being true to yourself about your strengths, and weaknesses, when everyone out there has a strong opinion and wants to give advice, is another challenge.” In the play, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, many characters are affected by their own strengths and weaknesses. In this time period, many Salem townspeople were not opened to form new ideas and opinions, yet this caused several beliefs and effects on the town. The characters reveal different sides of themselves to protect or seek revenge on one another. For example, Mary Warren expresses many traits of strength and weakness that contribute to the trials throughout the
The Crucible is a lengthy theatrical that delves into the time of the Salem witch trials. The author, Arthur Miller, depicts a dark time in which no one is safe from the questionable accusations of a few girls caught in a lie and trying to save their own skins. Miller introduces the protagonist, John Proctor, as a “sinner,” while some critics view him as a Christlike figure. John Proctor is a good man because he supports his family, practices his religion, and never fell for the witchcraft insanity that the rest of Salem fell for.
“I have given you my soul; leave me my name!”, John Proctor said in Arthur Miller’s book, The Crucible. Proctor was one of the main characters in this play and throughout this play he experienced some horrific tragedies. It all leads down to the themes of The Crucible. There was guilt, sacrifice, and hysteria all throughout the play, that all of the characters went through.
Humans act and react for a variety of reasons based on the context and their motivations. There is some part of human nature that prompts people to think, feel, and act in certain ways. This facet of the human condition transcends both time and place; it crosses all cultures. Moreover, human motivations transfer to the fictional world. For example, the characters found in Arthur Miller’s classic American play The Crucible provide a poignant and timeless commentary on human behavior. Act III in particular highlights the best and worst of human nature. This best and worst is equally seen in every day life, even at middle school. The character motivations in The Crucible effectively mirror those found in middle school.
Even though the couple has experienced struggles throughout their relationship, Elizabeth’s love for her husband prevails over her anger of him cheating. Abigail’s intentions oppose Elizabeth’s, because the connection between John and Abby is only based off of lust. Because Abigail loves the idea of John loving her, she will do everything she can to rekindle their short-lived relationship: “I look for John Proctor that took me from my sleep and put knowledge in my heart! … You loved me, John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet! John, pity me, pity me!” (Miller 30). Because Abby knows that John Proctor once came to her, she continuously wishes for their affair to continue. The naïve teenager does not know how to cope with being unwanted by her lover, and succumbs to jealousy and rage. Along with her anger and envy, Abby is vulnerable and desperate for John Proctor to love her and want to be with her again. She says to him, “I am waitin’ for you every night” (Miller 28). Abby begins to feel enraged that John Proctor rejects her, and takes her anger out on Elizabeth. This leads to Abigail praying for the death of Elizabeth Proctor and seeking revenge on her for being loved by John. We learn that Abby’s jealousy consumes her, and inevitably causes her to resort to sabotaging the couple’s relationship with her lies.
The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is a play in which one character, John Proctor, turns out to be progressively disconnected. The play is set amid the witch trials of Salem, 1692, and Proctor's significant other is blamed for being a witch by a gathering of young ladies drove by Abigail Williams, with whom Proctor engaged in extramarital relations, making him embrace a journey to spare his better half's life, yet in doing as such yields his own. The characterization of Proctor, and the key scenes in which his disconnection is obvious, build up the group of onlookers' state of mind towards him from one of hesitation to profound respect and acknowledgment as a sad saint. The group of onlookers see John Proctor as a pariah in the group, in light of his absence of regard for specialist and
The play The Crucible by Arthur Miller follows the story of a broken man as he watches his town descend into chaos. The Puritan town of Salem, that this man once called home, has transformed into the breeding ground for the witch hunt that’s been overtaking his society. The Puritans are a stubborn and religious people, they view anything outside of their rules as the devil’s work. In the year 1692 Salem Massachusetts is ravaged with paranoia and false accusations. Amid this chaos lives John Proctor. Proctor has a reputation of being a good and honorable man; however, in this case, looks are deceiving. After an affair with his servant Abigail, guilt for what he has done overtakes and pushes him to do everything he can to redeem himself. As he is dealing with his shame, his neighbors are being falsely accused and hanged for witchcraft. His frustration at this, paired with regret for what he has done, drives him as he undergoes an intense character development. Since John Proctor is motivated by a want to redeem himself, his decision not to confess to witchcraft allows him to free himself of his guilt and go to his death like an honest man.
The point of “The Crucible by Arthur Miller in 1952” is to point out how humans go through the thought and struggles that happen when they get scared, or when something happens and someone shows up and they take the blame. They force it onto someone to help relieve their fear of what's going on, in this case witches they force people into admitting to being witches otherwise they hang. The crucible is stating to the audience that humans react terribly when one person brings a claim that makes sense to people who are scared of things going on so they overreact to what happened.
Why The Crucible? You might be thinking, why would the book, The Crucible, be called that, and what does that even mean? In short, a Crucible could be referred to as a melting pot. The dictionary definition of crucible is a ceramic or metal container in which metals or other substances may be melted or subjected to very high temperatures.
There are witches in our school. Does that sound crazy? Like an accusation from 1692 during the times of the witch trials? No, not quite. The belief in witches is still very much alive right now. According to a recent Gallup poll, 21% of Americans believe in witches; 37% in haunted houses and 41% in ESP. Therefore, our belief in the supernatural may be as real now as it was for the people in The Crucible. The Crucible is a play written by Arthur Miller in 1952 about the Salem witch trials that occurred in 1692. At that time, everyone in Salem was paranoid that people, including their friends and family were witches. Over 200 people were accused of being witches and 20 were actually hung. In The Crucible young girls actually tried to participate
There’s a handful of plays that you just can’t go through life without watching. The soul-shattering immortal plays that lose no impact or resonance as time goes on. For Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, the emotional connection to present day is arguably stronger than at the time of production; transforming it from a historical tragedy to a contemporary morality play.