The Crucible Research Paper

The play The Crucible, was written by Arthur Miller in 1953. It is a story he wrote after his own experience being accused of communism. This affected a lot of well-known people in the United States during this time, and was considered a witch hunt similar to the Salem witch hunts. Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible about a man, John Proctor, who has an affair with Abigail Williams. She catches feelings for him and tries to cast a spell on John Proctor’s wife to kill her; this gets out of hand when Abigail’s uncle catches her and some other girls dancing during the spell in the woods. Suddenly, the whole town is living in fear of who is practicing witchcraft, who could be a witch, and innocent people are killed if they don’t confess to being witches. Overall, mass fear and panic, and false accusations are seen over and over throughout the play.

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.

He is trying to get people to confess although he knows that they are innocent but he does not see any other way to save their lives and he needs to be rid of the guilt of starting this mess.

1. Although The Crucible revolves around the Salem Witch Trials, it allows readers to examine many themes. Choose a theme from The Crucible and discuss how it is developed throughout the play. How does this theme reveal the play’s deeper meaning?

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.

Arthur Miller writes about the tragic results of human failings in his play, The Crucible. He presents characters from the past and infuses them with renewed vitality and color. Miller demonstrates the horrifying results of succumbing to personal motives and flaws as he writes the painful story of the Salem witch trials. Not only do the trials stem from human failings but also from neglect of moral and religious considerations of that time. Characters begin to overlook Puritan values of thrift and hope for salvation. Focusing on the flawed characters, they begin to exhibit land lust, envy of the miserable and self-preservation.

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

The Relevance of The Crucible Today In the history of civilization, previous generations have set rules and implemented new concepts and/or ideas for the welfare of humanity. The founding fathers of the United States of America came up with the modern U.S. Constitution as a guideline of how the people and the government should act in order to coexist. Fear is something that causes people to do crazy things. Whenever people fear something, he/she literally begins to think irrationally.

Reputation shines as a theme in the play. Through reputation comes discrimination and in the crucible almost all the witches are judged on reputation and this is important in today's world especially with things such as racism. Another critical theme in The Crucible is the role that hysteria can play in tearing apart a community. Hysteria messes with logic and enables people to believe that their neighbors, whom they have always considered upstanding people, are committing unbelievable crimes. Intolerance is key in the crucible. Because Salem is a theocratic society, moral and state laws are the same and therefore there is no room for error and intolerance becomes current. Danforth shows this when in Act III he says "a person is either with this court or he must be counted against it." Empowerment is central in modern day society and appears in The Crucible many times. The play shows how power corrupts and how certain characters use there power in association with fear, to get there way.

I believe the truth matters more than a man’s good name. If a man lives for a great name, how can they lie their way through life and say they died with a good name. In an extreme circumstances, people may use a “white lie” to save themselves and their name in a situation. People in our society live off a good name. You need a good name to be able to get through in life.

In Salem, Massachusetts today, three more people were hanged at dawn. John Proctor, Martha Corey, and Rebecca Nurse lost their lives after not confessing about their apparent engagement in witchcraft. Accused by the word of the girls who were once their house helpers, and who have now become officials of the court, they each stood before hundreds of people of the town who witnessed the three. Each one standing in front of a rope as they recited the prayer in unison, and were hanged one after the other.

This paper discusses the human traits that Puritans portray in the Salem witch trials which are manipulation, desires, and motives. It analyzes six resources on research conducted on motives, manipulation and on The Crucible. The articles all have the same views on motivations and manipulation. Character Motivations in The Crucible (n.d) talk about three main characters and their background as well as the role that they played in the events leading to the witch trials. They explain how Abigail Williams desires to gain social status, gain power, and to be with John Proctor motivated her to manipulate others to achieve her desires. In Human Motivation in the Crucible (n.d) it talks about Abigail Williams as well but it also continues to discuss the role that Thomas Putnam played in the events leading to the Salem witch trials and it gives a bit of information on Giles Corey. In this paper it describes how desires lead to the motivation of manipulation during the time of the Salem witch trials.

“It was Breaking news July 10th 2012. An elementary school teacher, a mother of two, forces her 5-year-old boy and 4-month-old baby girl to gulp down windshield fluid mixed with their juice. Then Mommy seals the windows and turns up the gas on the stove. Why? Revenge. She claims her husband cheats”.Cheating has often took people over the edge with their spouses causing for Revenge.The Crucible was directed by Nicholas Hytner,it is a dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the Salem Witch Trials that took place in the Province of Massachusetts Bay during 1692 and 1693. The crucible show how to take extreme measures when it comes to revenge.This is a story of witchcraft,hysteria

Do any of the five possible exceptions to truth telling discussed in this chapter justify Elmer's strategy?

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.