The Internal Conflicts in The Crucible by Arthur Miller Essay

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.

The sudden change in Mary’s opinion of both the girls and John Proctor, exhibits her apparent inability to stand firm against the manipulative powers of Abigail. While this trait could seem negative, passed off as fickle, Mary was able to keep her true identity a mystery to Salem.

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.

Throughout the novel, Mary reveals her own weaknesses when she is put in vigorous situations. During the trials, Mary was faced against the girls, because she told the truth in the forest. Mary did not need to tell the truth; she could have lied to hold power, but she defended John Proctor. Arthur Miller best explains this situation with, “I-I heard the other girls screaming, and you, Your honor, you seemed to believe them, andI-It were only sport in the beginning, sir, but then the whole world cried spirits, spirits, and I-I promise you, Mr. Danforth, I only thought I saw them but I did not”(Miller 1096). Mary states she only followed the lie to gain power and importance from the court. Since Mary told the truth, she now has to grapple with the girls and court. This reveals how Mary cannot handle a lot of hate when it is all handed to her. In the novel, she betrays John Proctor by disobeying his word. Arthur Miller concludes this when Mary says, “She’ll kill me for sayin’ that! Abby’ll charge lechery on you, Mr. Proctor”(Miller 1080). Mary could have obeyed Proctor’s word with no argument, but she realises Abby will hurt her. Mary Warren has strengths and weaknesses, but this builds her character.

In The Crucible, many are tested with regards to their faith and put on trial for witchcraft. In this play, nineteen are hanged and one is pressed to death for the crime of being a witch, for that being John Proctor. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller uses McCarthyism to show how important mass hysteria is, mass hysteria involving Abigail, and the breaking of Mary Warren's will leads to mass hysteria.

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.

Mary resorted to self- preservation because of the ear instilled by Abigail. Mary wanted to confess to faking and tell the truth. Mary was a loyal worker for the Proctors and when Elizabeth Proctor was accused of being a witch Mary’s conscience weighed upon her heavily.When one of the girls that was caught dancing, Betty, fell ill Mary felt guilty, “MARY WARREN: Abby, we’ve got to tell. Witchery's a hangin' error, a hangin' like they done in Boston two year ago! We must tell the truth, Abby! You'll only be whipped for dancin', and the other things!” (Act 1, p.144-147). Mary Warren felt the blood of the hangings on her hands and wanted to come forward and tell the truth. Abigail would not let that happen because she was too concerned about the repercussions and her reputation getting ruined. Mary was stuck between John Proctor begging her to confess and Abigail threatening her life if she did. Marry ended up taking Abigail’s side in order to save herself in the end by incriminating John Proctor, “MARY WARREN, hysterically, pointing at proctor, fearful of him: My name, he wants my name. “I’ll murder you,” he says, “if my wife hangs! We must go and overthrow the court,” he says!””(Act 3, p. 110). At this point Mary was so confused by the violence in the situation she cracked under the pressure. Then, Mary Warren turned and accused John Proctor of threatening murder, twisting the truth in order to save herself. By saving

Every story has at least one character that would have a change in his/her point of view or a change in personality at some point throughout the plot. These characters are referred to as dynamic characters. The Crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller, is based on a true event that happened in the year of 1692. People accused others of being witches in spite of jealousy or anger. Chaos rose and took over Massachusetts. Many people played an important part in the Salem Witch Trials. They had to side between accusations, and were either with the court or not. People were questioned by others and by themselves, which changed the lives of many. Mary Warren, John Proctor, and Reverend are three of the many characters that changed in the play because of conflicts they faced.

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.

Mary Warren portrays a shy servant who isn’t as courageous as Abigail. Because of her shyness, she withheld viable information about Abigail’s performance which later caused damage to everyone associated with her and Abigail. In Act One, Mary says, “Abby, we’ve got to tell. Witchery’s a hanging error...We must tell the truth… You’ll only be whipped for dancin’..” She knew unconsciously that confessing to the sins will end on a happier note than hiding the truth, causing more trouble to pile on top of itself. Mary ultimately enables Abigail to continue with her cunning ways and create more trouble for everyone.

Despite the fact that the theme of insiders and outsiders is a commonality worldwide, most people do not think about it enough and how affects so many different communities. In order to obtain balance, there should be both insiders and outsiders. The insiders are there to support the greater public opinion while the outsiders are there to question the rules and laws which helps maintain diversity. Lastly, standards and overall trends greatly regulate what is normal and what is not. In Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, although the Puritan town of Salem is supposed to be a united community under God, the strict societal norms and harsh expectations creates a major division between insiders and outsiders which ultimately forces many accepted members to become shut out as the culture progressively develops further from normality.

Imagine living in a society where you are guilty till proven innocent, instead of innocent til proven guilty. Due to the bias preference of the word of “God” in the story The Crucible By Arthur Miller, it is greatly implied that many of the casualties such as John and Elizabeth Proctor to name a couple was due to the restricted theology of church and state. In the Puritan New England town of Salem, Massachusetts, a group of girls goes dancing in the forest with a black slave named Tituba. While dancing, they are caught by the local minister, Reverend Parris. These girls are who create most of the controversy, as they lie to get through most circumstances. A specific individual is Abigail Williams, playing the victim for example as she blames Tituba in page 43 saying “She makes me drink blood!” leading to Tituba to being pulled to the side in page 44 and yelled at “you will confess yourself or I will take you out and whip you to death” making her give in, in order for him to spare her life. leading to further unjustifiable atrocities.

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.

In every literary work, there are themes. A theme is a broad idea, moral or message of a book or story. One individual may construe the themes of a book or story differently than another, but that is the pure beauty of themes. One great literary work is The Crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller. Succinctly, the play is about the Salem witch trials that took place in Massachusetts in 1692. Throughout the story, the townspeople indict their neighbors of being a witch and practicing witchcraft. On the surface, this historical drama has a few universal and enduring themes. Themes are universal because regardless of where in the world, the ideas still relates to everyone and is understood. Themes are enduring because the ideas are found