The play, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, takes place in the town of Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. This time in Salem, witchcraft was suspected of almost everyone in the town. Preserving one’s reputation becomes recurring concept throughout the play. The witchcraft accusations are usually made by people that have a biased view against others, which is why everyone tries to make sure their reputation looks well with the rest of the town. This concept is proven through the characters of John Proctor, Reverend Parris and Reverend Hale. These three characters go to great lengths to protect what the town of Salem thinks of them. One of the first characters the audience is introduced to in the play is Reverend Parris. Parris is portrayed as …show more content…
Once Proctor admits to his sin with Abigail the court assumes he is a witch. Due to the courts false accusation he is forced to either sign a paper that would be hung on the Church door, or die. Proctor’s statement of, “Because it’s my name… I have given you my soul; leave me my name!”, shows how even though he is giving up his reputation to the rest of the town, by confessing to being a witch, he still values his name (Miller 133). Once Proctor admits to his affair, there is nothing he can do to save his reputation with the rest of Salem, but self respect is what matters to him most.
Due to the rise of witchcraft in Salem, Reverend Hale is brought to town as an expert in identifying witches. When Miller says, “he spent a good deal of time pondering the invisible world, especially since he had himself encountered a witch in his parish not long before” this shows Hale’s motivation for wanting to seek out witches, because he doesn’t want others to experience witches like he did (Miller 31). Throughout the play he examines the men and women accused and puts them on trials, many of which end in tragic deaths. Later in the play he comes to realize the court in Salem is set up in an unjust way. People are forced to admit they are something they’re not. When Hale said, “It is a lie! They are innocent”, he is choosing to save innocent people from living a lie or dying from the court’s wrongful actions of forcing people to confess to witchcraft whether they have proof or
In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, Reverend Hale’s attitude and beliefs are changed completely as the play progresses. After Reverend Parris is a witness to girls dancing in the woods and also when his daughter becomes very ill, he calls Rev. Hale to Salem. Hale’s job is to find any form of witchcraft and to get rid of it. Over the course of the play, Rev. Hale experiences a transformation in his beliefs from the beginning of the play to the end. Reverend Hale has three different emotions throughout the play. When Hale is introduced in the the beginning of the play, he is passionate and very confident about finding witchcraft and getting rid of it. In the middle of the play, Hale is frustrated and he does not know who to trust nor
In Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible preserving one’s reputation is a major theme. The play takes place in Salem, Massachusetts, revolving around witch trials in 1693. In the play there are two men, John Proctor and Giles Corey, whom of which both try to protect their good name and reputation. Throughout the play they portray the idea of protecting their reputations.
In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, John Proctor, the protagonist, is a farmer in his middle thirties. The author gives little to no detailed physical description of him, but from Proctor’s speech, we can still picture him as a strong and powerful man who is able to keep every situation under the control, the kind of personality which earns him deep respect and even fear from the people in town. On the other hand, Abigail Williams, the antagonist, plays an inferior role as an orphan who has no social status in a place like Salem. Over the course of the play, John Proctor is absolutely awakened and transformed by Abigail Williams. In the end, he overcomes the crucible by releasing himself from his guilt of
The play The Crucible by Arthur Miller is set in Salem during the infamous witch trials. Near the end of the play, the protagonist, John Proctor, is in detained on suspicion of witchcraft. During his imprisonment, John Proctor is given an ultimatum—confess to witchcraft, or be hanged. While he originally intends to confess the sin he has not committed, he becomes resolute against it because he cannot, in good conscience, lie, and therefore sacrifice his character. Furthermore, he cannot betray anyone he loves or help perpetuate the ideologies of fear and blame that persist in Salem. Even though it will cost him his life, Proctor refuses to make a written confession because he will not let the Salem official to use his testimony for their
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.
Although Reverend Hale shows acts of fortitude, John Proctors acts of fortitude further promote peace within Salem. Reverend Hale is able to promote peace in Salem through his acts of fortitude. Hale demonstrates fortitude by being courageous enough to put his moral beliefs before his religious beliefs to help protect others. This is seen when Hale returns to Salem and says “I come to do the Devil's work. I come to counsel Christians they should believe themselves." Hale has come back to Salem to convince Proctor, and Rebecca Nurse to lie and admit to witchcraft. He wants them to confess, because it will save their lives. That's a big shift for Hale, because it shows that he no longer trusts the courts. He believes the courts are stealing God's most precious gift by sentencing innocent people to die. Hale is able to promote peace by compromising his religious belief that lying will send you to hell to help save innocent people’s
The Salem witch trials were a time period in which there was mass chaos and very little reason. In, “The Crucible,” by Arthur Miller, there were an elect group of people that overcame this hysteria of the trials. Among the people of reason arose, Reverend Hale, who displayed both sides of the hysteria. Reverend Hale is a dynamic character as he transforms from a character following the strict law and causing the deaths of many, to a character that understands the ridiculousness of the trials.
The witch trials in this play were based on actual events that happened in Salem in 1692. Arthur Miller’s 1953 The Crucible is a dramatization of the Salem Witch Trials. His reasoning for writing it was because everyone was hysteric about the Soviet Union and communism trying to make its way over to the United States. It was like a modern day witch hunt. In the play, Abigail Williams and a group of girls get caught in the woods. They were dancing and doing other things that puritan’s looked down upon. The girls were caught by Reverend Parris, and soon after his daughter became ‘ill’. The girls then started saying that witches came to them and told them to do bad things. They sent innocent people to hang. After studying Arthur Miller’s
Pride can become something that will lead a man to shame and destruction. In The Crucible this happened to one of the main characters, John Proctor, which also is the one of the Tragic Hero in the book. The Crucible is about when some town people in Salem was accused of being witches after four girls were found dancing in the woods. After 200 people were accused of being witches in 1963, 20 people were either hung or crushed by many stones. In the Crucible John Proctor, the tragic hero had a weakness as pride eventually forcing him to face a serious decision and suffering more than he should.
In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, it takes place in Salem, Massachusetts during colonial America. Throughout the story a group of girls makes accusations a mass of people of practicing witchcraft, one of the worst crimes to commit during that period, and people are being sentenced to hang for denying witchery. In the Crucible there are many lessons that Arthur Miller wants to teach you. To me a lot of the lessons that were taught in this story are important but I feel like one of them is the most important. Arthur Miller demonstrates that one of the lessons implied in the story is people’s character and how it affects those people and others. Examples of character are Giles Corey, John Proctor, Abigail Williams.
Reverend John Hale from Beverly, Massachusetts was summoned to Salem, a town full of supposed witches, manipulative children, a corrupt government, and depraved leaders, yet he takes on an impossible task of saving the wicked from themselves. Playwright Arthur Miller's 1950’s play, The Crucible, displays static character John Hale as a determined, willing, young man who stays true to his morals and remains righteous and compassionate throughout the work. Beginning to end, John Hale exhibits consistent traits as an eager and zealous individual, although at times ingenuous; additionally, Hale displays honesty and morality through the four Acts that complete his compassionate and trusting personality.
The Crucible is set in the seventeenth- century Salem, Massachusetts during the Salem witch trial. It starts of with Reverend Parris, a man very concerned about his reputation, accusing his orphaned niece Abigail Williams of taking part in witchcraft after his daughter is unconscious after dancing in the woods. A technique used by Parris is characterization, which utilizes the thoughts, actions and dialogues in the construction of characters. Arthur Miller uses characterization to build the character of Reverend Samuel Parris as arrogant , selfish, and deceptive.
Many people cherish their reputation, what other people think and believe about someone is crucial in today’s society. Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is centered around the theme of reputation. One’s name is tremendously important in Salem, where someone’s social standing reflects their ability to follow religious rules and obligations. In Salem, reputation far surpasses the truth. Majority of the characters in The Crucible would rather die than risk damaging their “good” name. When witchcraft accusations start spreading through the town, one’s fate is determined by their reputation. John Proctor and Abigail Williams are both perfect examples of this, both risking everything in attempt to protect their tarnishing reputations.
He questions many of the people’s faith in order to pinpoint a possible cause. Unlike Salem’s pastor, Hale wants to destroy the demon for the sake of the people and not reputation. Hale becomes justified when the wife of a farmer named, John Proctor, is accused of witchcraft. Hale does not sway from his religious beliefs and ponders on John Proctor’s unwillingness to attend Church every Sunday. However, Hale tries to support Proctor and does not see that his wife could perform witchcraft, “I cannot say he is an honest man; I know him little. But in all justice, sir, a claim so weighty cannot be argued by a farmer…” (III.99). Hale is acting upon his morals and trying to persuade the court to look toward reason. Hale’s guilt is starting to overwhelm and seeing so many people condemned without reason hurts him, “I have this morning signed away the soul of Rebecca Nurse, Your Honor…” (III.99-100). Hale is expressing his true feelings and is torn by the guilt of persecuting an innocent old woman. Hale acts like a judge who cares about physical evidence. Hale is reasonable and persuades the court to do the
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is about the people of 17th century.Salem, Massachusetts situated in a dangerous and dynamic period. The Puritans of Salem joined the bandwagon of the witch hysteria that was first caused by girls falsely accusing others. The inhabitants of Salem feared for their lives as the people who were accused were subjected to death. However, the accused have a chance to save themselves by admitting to a crime they did not commit. Many took the opportunity for self-preservation because it is a human instinct of survival. However, there others who chose to uphold their ideals, name, and reputation. Self-preservation is the motivates the characters to behave and act when they are situated in a compromising situation about the involvement of witchcraft, but there are also times when it is abandoned.