The Importance Of Puritans In The Crucible

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

Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is a tragic play set in 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts, where Miller uses the Salem Trials as a metaphor for the 1950s McCarthy hearings. In Salem, people value their good names. The Puritan community acts as a theocracy in which there appears to be no right to privacy, and people must conform to a strict moral code. The theme of reputation, lying, and deceit are shown in Abigail, John Proctor, Elizabeth Proctor, Mary Warren, and other characters. In the play’s dialogue, Miller uses Biblical allusions, situational irony, and dramatic irony to develop these themes.

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.

A society that praises moral righteousness and piety is destroyed by a series of witch trials that are ironically immoral and unfair. The Salem Witch Trials are fueled by personal motives and feuds that emerge because of the restrictions in Puritan society. The society nurtures a culture of fear and distrust that stems from dread of the devil and strict adherence to the Bible. Salem is the perfect environment for fear and vengeance to spread through witchcraft accusations, because people have no other means to gain power or get revenge on enemies. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller portrays how the Puritan society in Salem influences the witch trials and increases their impact, because of the religion-based justice system, women and

Arthur Miller made sure to point out that having a good reputation was very important to the characters in The Crucible. After all, they are Puritans. Puritans always felt the pressure to succeed. They were on a “city upon hill” (Winthrop 1). They believed that everyone looked up to them-- that they were always in the spotlight. If they ever slacked off, it would feel like the end of the world for them. It is shown in the book that if one does not have a good name, then they’ll be rejected by the society. They might as well do anything to make sure they have a good reputation. This led to the Puritans’ hyper concern for reputation that was a driving force behind the witch trials as dramatized in The Crucible. Reverend Parris, Reverend Hale,

Purist Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 suffered from a rapidly increasing phenomenon: witchcraft accusations and trials. The Crucible is a play that recounts the times of this incident. For the most part, it follows a man known as John Proctor. He is a sensible, honest, and hardworking man who made the mistake of succumbing to lust which sets off a chain of events that leads to the witch trials, and to his own demise. Arthur Miller’s The Crucible’s protagonist John Proctor proves to be a flawed human being who struggles to make sense of his past relationship with Abigail, his love for his wife, and his pride.

One of his plays “The Crucible” was based on the true event that happened in Salem, Massachusetts during the spring of 1692. During this time religion was really strict on what you can and cannot do in the eyes of the lord. This group of girls claimed that the devil possessed them; due to this accusation a wave of hysteria was placed. Due to the hysteria being placed hundreds of people got slaughtered in fear that devil would slaughter the rest of them. According to (Miller, 1996) Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” was an act of desperation due to his fears of being name a covert communist during the red hunt during 1950s. While researching the events of the Salem witch trial he found himself relating to John Proctor because “in spite of an imperfect character,

The setting in The Crucible is Salem, and it was populated with Puritans. Puritans saw the world as a simple matter of “Good Vs. Evil” because of their strict policies, which stated that any action taken against God counted as being aligned with the “Devil,” which spelled out evil. The Salem Witch Trials symbolized the intolerance of McCarthyism, the practice of making arguments without substantial evidence, which may also be connected to the 21st century, as unfair court procedures occur frequently.

The novel, The Crucible was written in 1953 by Arthur Miller, which was based on the Salem Witch Trials existing in the late 1600s. In the play, Abigail and several other young women accuse innocent citizens of Salem for the action of witchcraft. During the trials, many individuals were unfairly persecuted; such as John Proctor. This event in history may be associated with the Red Scare, in which individuals were tried for their questionable influences of communism in the United States. When Miller compares the character of John Proctor to himself, the reader is able to relate the similar experiences that both men faced. The Crucible demonstrates the struggle against corruption involving the court, which lead to the death of many innocent individuals in Salem. The Crucible generates an allegory for Arthur Miller’s struggles with McCarthyism because of his similar experience relating to John Proctor’s battle against the Salem Witch Trials, and the relation between the actions of the court in both situations. Arthur Miller uses several writing methods in order to convey The Crucible as an allegory for his struggles with McCarthyism. Miller demonstrates how the Crucible represents an allegory for his conflict with McCarthyism by relating his experiences with the plot of the novel. Miller relates the novel to his struggles by stating, “Should the accused confess, his honesty could only be proved by naming former confederates.” (Are You Now… 34) Miller is explaining how the court

The year is 1692. Throughout the small, Puritan, seaside community of Salem, rumors and accusations fly like gusts of ocean wind. Neighbors turn on neighbors, and even the most holy church-goers are accused of being the devil’s servants. The Crucible details this real-life tragedy of the Salem witch trials, in which nineteen members of the Salem community were hanged for alleged witchcraft. Abigail Williams, a seemingly innocent girl, accuses dozens of Salem’s citizens of witchcraft through the support of her mob of girls and the complicity of the court officials. The title of this play gives significant insight into the experiences of several of these Salem citizens. Although a crucible is often used in chemistry for heating up substances, the title of the play carries a much greater weight. In his famous play The Crucible, Arthur Miller uses the title of “crucible” to signify the severe and unrelenting tests of faith and character that many of the community members endure throughout the Salem witch trials, which he achieves through the use of figurative language and fallacies of relevance and insufficiency.

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.

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 story of the play takes us back to the America of 17th century .In those days, the Church had dominance and several innocent people were tortured and put to death. The hero of the play ,John Proctor is falsely accused of witchcraft and then executed. In addition, several innocent persons are hanged.

Finding someone to blame is human nature. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, almost any character can be blamed in some capacity for the deaths of innocent people. The play follows the story of the Salem witch trials. A group of Puritan girls; including Abigail Williams, Mary Warren, and Mercy Lewis; are found dancing in the woods and accuse Tituba, a slave, of witchcraft. Tituba accuses two others of witchcraft to spare her own life. The girls, led by Abigail, begin to accuse others. Abigail eventually accuses Elizabeth Proctor, the wife of John Proctor, who she had an affair with. At the end of the trials, many innocent Puritans have been killed. While many characters in The Crucible contributed to the witch hunts, the ultimate blame for the deaths of the innocent Puritans falls on Abigail Williams, because she used the trials for revenge, she started blaming others after Tituba, and stopped Mary from ending the trials.