The Crucible: Intolerance

The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is a rich and enticing play set in the late 1600’s describing the epic horrors and emotions through the events of the Salem witch trials. The Crucible, focuses primarily on the inconsistencies of the Salem witch trials and the extreme behavior that can result from dark desires and hidden agendas. The play begins with the discovery of several young girls and an African American slave, Tituba, in the woods just outside of Salem, dancing and pretending to conjure spirits. The Puritans of Salem stood for complete religious intolerance and stressed the need to follow the ways of the bible literally without exception. The actions of the women in

Erikson explains that to most English people of the 16th century, Puritans became an annoying sect of rebels. Overbearing and unrelenting, many detested the exaggeration of conventional values that the Puritans displayed. Feeling restricted by the formalities of the Church, Puritans quickly became deviant in the eyes of society. By moving to Massachusetts Bay, Puritans hoped to create their own ideas of what is “right” and “wrong”, much like any community attempting to set boundaries. However, problems arose when laws were to be mandated in a Biblical sense. God could not sit at a pulpit in a courtroom, so then how would a strictly religious group maintain itself? As Erikson states, “one of the surest ways to confirm an identity, for communities as well as individuals, is to find some way of measuring what one is not”. From this, they developed a keen sense of Devil distinction – that is, ways in which the Devil presented himself through the behaviors of individuals.

Religion had a powerful impact on Puritans lives. Many Puritan people had faith in a supreme being, God, and the teachings of his Divine Son, Jesus Christ. They’d assume that if you weren’t a good Christian they would suffer in hell, but if you were one would be saved by god. An example would be in the sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” the speaker strongly describes about how being a bad Christian has its consequences and the good things that come of being a good Christian. “Many that were very lately in the same miserable condition that you are in are now in a happy state, with their hearts filled with love to him who has loved them, and washed them from their sins in his own blood, and rejoicing in hope of the glory of God.”(152)This explains how they had a strong feeling towards god’s ways. By being concerned about their religious life and being good Christians.

Thesis Statement: Arthur Miller conveys of the theme of jealousy by how it can ruin lives by abigail was jealous of elizabeth proctor Also John Putnam is moved by jealousy by he is jealous of others people's property.

Puritans were extremely religious and sought to restore Christianity (Henrietta, James 83). The act of committing any sin including summoning the devil was frowned upon because it was seen as an act of turning away from God. The persecution of witches was viewed as a purge of sin for some. Witchcraft was a serious offense because it was believed that witches made pacts with the devil to charm or kill another. “…power of darkness …murdering witch.”

In today’s modern society, not many people around the world practice their religion as much as people used to in the older days. There may be certain exceptions, but generally religion in most places around the world is not as strict on its people as it used to be. Looking back on the Puritans in this book shows how religion was used to shape people and society itself.

The Crucible is a complex and intriguing novel with events, characters and themes comparable to almost every period of human history. It is common for humans to fear change and what is unknown, in the play The Crucible this is witchcraft and the devil, in more recent times it can be seen in post World War Two and Cold War United States, through McCarthyism. The themes in the crucible are as important to people in the 21st century as in Salem in 1692. These include justice, reputation, hysteria, intolerance and empowerment. All of these are common themes throughout human history. The characters in The Crucible are also important to people of the 21st century as they can teach us a little bit about people around us and their reactions when

In The Crucible, Arthur Miller uses themes to display thoughts throughout the book. The theme that seems to be the center point of the story is religion. Religion is on the character’s minds with every action they do. When something goes wrong in the town, religion is sought out as a cause. When the witch trials begin, the devil is supposed to be the source of the troubles. Arthur Miller vividly uses religion to show the readers how important religion is to the people of Salem.

Humans want to be like other humans. Likeness breeds security, and with this, people will go to great lengths to conform to their peers. This concept dictates a large part of everyone’s daily lives in the society built around them, as demonstrated very clearly by Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible; a story of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. In this case, because people conformed to what people around them were saying and doing--accusing people of witchcraft and executing them--twenty two lives were lost. After considering how the events of The Crucible portray conformity and the place in society conformity occupies, it becomes quite clear that conformity, while it has it virtues, can result in many societal issues that can be easily

How the Puritans Influenced the New England Colonies In the time period of the early 1600’s the colonies of New England developed very rapidly. New England’s colonies were greatly and effectively influenced by Puritans ideas and values, which helped form the colonies in many ways. The Puritans derived in the Church of England and were Protestants. They desired an exhaustive discipline and weren’t happy with the Church’s offerings.

I defend the statement “Puritanism is a repressive and intolerant moral and religious code,” because the entirety of Puritan belief was based on the devolution of women and women’s rights, being more biased towards male power. Puritans believe in a dominant sex, and majorly favor male supremacy over women, and focus their entire economy on religion. This quote by Milton shows how intolerant and repressive they were to females back in the 1800’s… “God's universal law gave to man despotic power, Over his female in due awe (Milton).” They repressed women and their individualness so much that women had come to believe that this role was meant for them, to be born into a life much like slavery and forced to follow the rules made by the ignorant

In the book Give Me Liberty: An American History by Eric Foner he notes that: “Puritanism, however, was not simply a set of ideas but a state of mind, a zealousness in pursuing the true faith that alienated many who held differing religious views”

Proctor. For the first and only time in the play we see Abigail as her

The Crucible book written by Arthur Miller  based on a real life story that happened in 1692 to 1693 In Salem Massachusetts was based on lies and injustice, genre is play, The author's purpose is to inform the audience about what happened during the witch trials .  The Salem Village was full Puritans and they was very strict based on church rules. People that missed church regularly will be justified as a witch or malignant and will be put to shame on a stockade. People that break the rules of the strict religious town will hang or live if such person decides to confess, If they confess the accused person will still be imprisoned and not killed. Also if you was accused of practicing witchcraft you will be accused by the people and go

The puritans believed in the doctrine of a “calling” to do God’s work on Earth. One could only be a part of the church clergy if they had experienced a conversion and followed the doctrine of the “calling”. However, Puritans were not tolerant to others that did not share the same religion or beliefs as them.