Essay on The Importance of Pride In The Crucible by Arthur Miller

“It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.” This quote, by Saint Augustine, looks deeper into the idea of pride and the change it can have on something as innocent as an angel into a devil if not contained and used in a positive way. The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, displays this similar theme of pride and the absence of humility in a community and the effect it has. The pride that multiple characters of The Crucible put before everything else drives them to knowingly do the wrong thing and for some, their own personal destruction.

In order to try and correct this, he attempts to expose Abigail during the testimony with Mary Warren, but when this fails he comes out with the truth of his sin. However, it is too late and he is convicted of participating in witchcraft as well. At the end of the play, Procter is asked to confess in order to be pardoned, and he does so, but he refuses to sign the confession and says, "I have three children--how may I teach them to walk like men in the world, and I sold my friends?"(Act IV). By signing the confession, John is signing his legacy away, so his children 's names will also be ruined. Again, John is choosing to die instead of devastating someone else 's life. John Proctor becomes a man who can dishonor his name in order to save another 's life, but not his own. This also proves his role as a tragic hero, because of his death at the end of the play.

Proctor 's decision to tell the court about his affair ironically demonstrates his goodness. He also spoke up for the innocent girls that had their names branded. He willingly sacrifices his good name in order to protect his wife and others who are wrongly accused. Only through his public acknowledgment of the affair does Proctor regain his wife 's trust. At the end of the play, Proctor refuses to slander himself by allowing the court to make him make a false confession. The court told him to lie, and that if he lies that he would not be sent to the gallows. He did the right decision by telling the truth about his affair with Abigail. He honestly told the truth about the affair, and that he was not part of the witchcraft. His response further exemplifies Proctor 's integrity. But John was not guilty. He had nothing to do with witchcraft, he admitted to his own mistakes. Proctor knows that if he confesses that he will be damned himself, yet again, if he agrees to confess, he will also be free from the torment from the demon inside him and set others free too. This realization, along with Elizabeth 's forgiveness, enables Proctor to forgive himself and finally regain his good name and self-respect. As the court

First of all, reputation is a huge issue for John Proctor, both internally and externally. From the very beginning, John is extremely concerned about word escaping about his adulterous acts with Abigail. If anyone were to find out, his good reputation as a respectable farmer in Salem would have been cast away by nasty looks. A lack of willingness to give up his good name also stopped John from admitting anything he knew about Abigail to possibly save lives. He cared more about having a clean name than completely halting the trials to begin with. In the end of the play, John Proctor is put to death

A crucible refers to a harsh test, and in The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, each person is challenged in a severe test of his or her character or morals. Many more people fail than pass, but three notable characters stand out. Reverend John Hale, Elizabeth Proctor, and John Proctor all significantly change over the course of the play.

How many people have you met in your life that is stronger because of a difficult experience they went through? Most people are because we take these difficult experiences and grow from them and become better people. This is the exact case is expressed in the play, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller. The story begins in Salem, Massachusetts 1692 right in the middle of a period of witchcraft hysteria. During this time many people were accused of being witches and wrongly convicted by judges Danforth and Hathorne. The characters in the story are struggling because of a girl named Abigail who gets caught practicing witchcraft and then starts naming and accusing others so that she doesn’t get in trouble; one of these people being a well-respected farmer, John Proctor’s, wife Elizabeth. The title, The Crucible, refers to a test, trial, ordeal, formation by fire, and vessel baked to resist heat, and the entire story is an allegory meaning it has a hidden meaning. John Proctor symbolizes a crucible by embodying the definition of one, as he went through a test and was formed by fire.

In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, justice and injustice is portrayed through the characters of John Proctor, Elizabeth Proctor and Abigail Williams. It is also shown through the minor characters of Mary Warren and Mercy Lewis, followers of Abigail Williams, and through Danforth and various townspeople.

pull it down and so denounce God and place a whore in God’s place is

The Crucible was based in 1692 in and around the town of Salem, Massachusetts, USA. The Salem witch-hunt was view as one of the strangest and most horrendous chapters in the human history. People that were prosecuted were all innocent and their deaths were all due to false accusation of people’s ridiculous belief in superstition and their paranoia. The Puritans in those times were very strict in personal habits and morality; swearing, drunkenness and gambling would be punished. The people of Salem believed in the devil and thought that witchcraft should be hunted out.

Pride can be defined positively and negatively, it can mean a sense of one's own proper dignity or value or self-respect, or an excessively high opinion of oneself or conceit, respectively. In the play which portrays both sides of pride we are transported to the late sixteen hundreds and introduced to the town of Salem in the province of Massachusetts Bay during the time of witch trials, and it’s excessively superstitious habitants. Some of the fictitious but notable habitants of the town are John Proctor, his wife Elizabeth Proctor and Reverend Hale, all of whom show various facets of pride, its benefits and its consequences.

Many of the characters in Arthur Miller's The Crucible have specific human flaws that cause the tragedy of the Salem Witch Trials. The Salem villagers exhibit failings, including greed, vengeance, and fear, which eventually lead to the downfall of their town. Many villagers, especially Abigail Williams, take advantage of the opportunity to seek vengeance on others through the trials. Greed for power and land often holds precedence when the hysteria takes over. Fear of being arrested or put to death is the key motivation in turning others in as witches. From these three human flaws, the town of Salem falls into chaos with many innocent people paying the price.

He shares a deep love with his wife and is committed to her. Even though Proctor had an affair with Abigail and denied it for the longest time he wanted to protect his wife from the truth. He truly regrets what he did and wouldn't go back to Abigail. Abigail still wanted to pursue the affair, but John Proctor told her “Abby, I never give you hope to wait for me.” (1043). Proctor still loved his wife and wanted the best for her. In the trial Elizabeth was trying to protect Proctor in the beginning. He didn't want Elizabeth to go down for his wrongs in life so he told her “Elizabeth, tell the truth!”

John Proctor was a “farmer in his middle thirties… strong, even-tempered, and not easily led” (20). Proctor’s reputation was good and he was a well respected man around Salem. The play shows that Proctor’s past involved him having an affair with Abigail. Now in the present, Proctor is conflicted with the fear of being labeled as an adulterer for his past. Proctor’s fear weakens his morality in the court when he has to explain the situation to Judge Danforth. Proctor tells Danforth that he “has known her” (110) and that Abigail wishes to “dance with me (Proctor) on my wife's grave” (110). Although the fear of being labeled as an adulterer and being charged of lechery, Proctor believes that telling the truth is the right thing to do. Proctor realizes that the Salem witch trials have gone to far and are merely just attempts from Abigail to get Proctor all to herself. Proctor’s fear initially holds him back from telling the court the reason why Abigail is accusing everyone and acting strange. Later on the unveiling of his affair with Abigail results in the trials being questioned but it also fuels the deadly fate of

In the Crucible, persecution leads to pride. Mary warren tells the town that john is a witch and they try to convenes him to say that he is a witch. John refuse to give up his good name and rips up his confession. John goes to the court house to show the town that all of the girls are lying to them that there are no witches among them. John tells the court that he has committed adultery with Abigail and that she is doing it to get back at him and they bring in John’s wife to tell the court that what john said is true. She tries to let john keep his pride by saying no.

For many years there was a struggle in the Puritans community on trying to find where the devil was hiding, and who were the witches in the town that brought the devil to the community. The courts were being persuaded by teenagers who were just looking for revenge. The courts believed them because they were innocent children who were believed to have faced the devil head on. Throughout the play of the, The Crucible the story unfolds into tragic deaths and situations that test each individual character. With each individual intertwined together they showed strong characteristics for the truth, but they never stood up to say the events were wrong therefore the trials continued. The best known characteristics that were shown were pride,