The Trials In The Crucible

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.

''The Crucible,'' is a 1952 play written by Arthur Miller as an allegory of Mcarthyism. The play follows a theocratic society in which the church and the state are one, and reputation plays an important role in Salem where private and public moralities are the same. In act one, the secret affair of John Proctor and Abigail Williams was revealed that led to conflict between John and his wife. Divorce was not permitted in the late 16th century, hence, the Proctors had to maintain their marriage causing discord within the Proctor household. At the start of Act 2, Miller creates a tense atmosphere of animosity portrayed by John and Elizabeth Proctor in their lack of affection, awkwardness, appraisal and guilt leading to affliction.

The Crucible is a lengthy theatrical that delves into the time of the Salem witch trials. The author, Arthur Miller, depicts a dark time in which no one is safe from the questionable accusations of a few girls caught in a lie and trying to save their own skins. Miller introduces the protagonist, John Proctor, as a “sinner,” while some critics view him as a Christlike figure. John Proctor is a good man because he supports his family, practices his religion, and never fell for the witchcraft insanity that the rest of Salem fell for.

Page 1 of 3Hai Nguyen John Proctor and the McCarthyism “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller illustrates the reflection of the anti-communist hysteria in the United States known as McCarthyism. Miller uses the character John Proctor as a force in demonstrating the way lives were destroyed by McCarthyism. Throughout the story, while Proctor is respected in the community, he has conflict secretly with many people as well as himself. John Proctor is a perfect character because the readers are able to view him as a victim in the society where McCarthyism took place. He is also an adulterer, husband of Elizabeth, and knows what is happening in and outside of the Salem society. Proctor was having a conflict with his wife, Elizabeth Proctor. Elizabeth did not trust John because he had an affair with Abigail Williams. Elizabeth was supposed to trust John, but she refused to because he said he was alone with Abigail for a moment. John cannot say or argue against Elizabeth because of his guilt:” Because it speaks deceit, and I am honest! But I will plead no more! I see how your spirit twists around the single error of my life, and I will never tear it free!” Elizabeth tried to make John feel guilt, so John wanted to make sure she understood her cold nature may have prompted his cheating. He also has conflict with Abigail Williams which is his mistress. John Proctor was so angry because Abigail accused his wife to witchcraft. She sent Mary Warren with a puppet that has needle inside its

Arthur Miller has created John Proctor the protagonist of The Crucible to be a 30 year old farmer in Salem, Massachusetts, powerful of body, even-tempered and not easily led. John speaks his mind when he recognizes injustice. He is highly respected, even feared, by some in Salem. His name is synonymous with honour and integrity. He takes pleasure in exposing hypocrisy and is respected for it. However John is a sinner, a sinner not only against the moral fashion of the time but against his own vision of decent conduct, he has come to regard himself as a kind of fraud. After admitting to lechery, John is accused of witchcraft, on this charge he is condemned.

Life in the 1600’s was arduous for members of Puritan society. Strict social rules, including defined gender-specific roles, mandatory attendance at church, no self-indulging activities, and limited personal freedoms, forced people to repress their feelings and opinions to maintain a good reputation. God was involved in every aspect of life, and punishment fell upon those who were seen as not doing God’s work and deviated from the norm. The Crucible, a play set during the events of the Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts during this time, focuses on the mass hysteria which plagued the people and their reactions. A group of girls went dancing in the woods, and were caught by Reverend Parris. To avoid getting in trouble, the girls, led by Abigail Williams, claimed being the victims of witchcraft. John Proctor, who previously had an affair with Abby while she worked for his family, refused to believe the accusations of witchcraft. After Abby accuses his wife, Elizabeth, John does his best to prove her innocence, yet ultimately ends up being hanged himself. The events are tragic, and many people died as a result. Abigail’s “in the moment” survival is evident in her disregard for virtue in favor of reputation throughout The Crucible, whereas John Proctor ultimately decides integrity is more important than survival through his admission of guilt.

We should not judge people by their peak of excellence; but by the distance they have traveled from the point where they started”(Henry Ward Beecher). In 1692 Salem, Massachusetts Madness is consuming Salem, and everyone is accused of being with the devil. John Proctor’s affair with Abigail jump starts the witch hunts. In the Crucible Arthur Miller embodies Proctor as a tragic hero with many flaws but his fatal flaw was his pride which caused his demise. Throughout the play we witness Proctor’s transformation as a person from a sinful remorseless adulterer, repentant, and to an honorable man.

Arthur Miller's verifiable play, The Crucible, depicts the recorded occasions of the Salem witch trials through a swarm of life-changing characters. Trepidation drives these Puritans to uncover their actual feelings while confronting their informers in the predisposition courts before coldblooded judges. While in the long run all the individuals of Salem get subject to this frenzy, two ladies emerge above the rest. Retribution and disgrace live in the heart of the young adulteress, Abigail Williams, while truth and exemplary nature dwell in the soul of Elizabeth Proctor, John Proctor's dedicated wife. Although they both elevate the strain and tension of the play, Abigail William's and Elizabeth Proctor's disparities lead to turmoil because

In the play of the crucible by Arthur Miller was about the witch trial in salem, massachute. A teenage girl named Abigail fell in love with a married guy named John Proctor. Abigail is doing everything to win John Proctor heart and be john proctor wife. Everything went wrong and she started to lie by accusing innocent people for being witches. Innocent people are getting hang up because of Abigail and her friends lies. The author's purpose of this play is to inform the audience about what happened during salem witch trials.

The theme one could say in the play is, believing and spreading false accusations can be life threatening. In The Crucible, this happened quite often as people who had no relation to Abigail’s spell in the woods were accused of witchcraft. If they refused to confess to practicing witchcraft, they would be killed. If they confessed to practicing witchcraft, (even if it wasn’t true), they would be jailed and have their lives saved, but their reputations ruined forever. I think the author, Arthur Miller, is trying to teach readers and viewers a lesson that even innocent people can be accused of crimes they did not commit and to not believe everything we hear when people are panicking and are in fear. Abigail Williams is a prime example of spreading false accusations, even early on in the play when she falsely blames Tituba for everything Abigail says,“She made me do it! She made Betty do it! She makes me drink blood!”(23). In Salem, everyone was panicked and spreading rumors out of fear, and falsely accusing people of witchcraft, even unexpected people, like John Proctor’s maid, Mary Warren when she turned on him to save herself and said to him in court, “Don’t touch me - don’t touch me … you’re the Devil’s man!” (52). This betrayal and false accusation is what eventually causes Proctor to give up his fight.

"The change in the hero's fortunes be not from misery to happiness, but on the contrary, from happiness to misery, and the cause of it must not lie in any depravity but in some great error on his part." This is a well known quote by Aristotle about tragic heros. Although Proctor was a very honest, brave and well respected man in Salem he was not flawless. John had a secret, which was soon to be discovered as the Witch Trials took place. Miller’s idea to create the secret relationship between John Proctor and Abigail Williams plays a big role in making Proctor the tragic hero in The Crucible.

John proctor was a successful farmer who lived outside of town, Married to his wife Elizabeth Proctor. John Proctor was called over to the home of reverend parris to help determine if Abigail ,who is the niece of reverend parris, Is In fact a witch. John proctor then realizes that the rumors are true of the witchcraft talk that his has heard around town. John proctor knows the truth about Abigail but does not tell. Why? John Proctor committed MAL behavior with Abigail, He had an affair with a 17 year old girl while married to his wife Elizabeth. He knows that if he tells the truth about Abigail being a witch that the truth will come out about him and his affair, so he tells lies to keep

Lying leads to terrible tragedies. Lying for so long will make it unpleasant to move on and the more difficult it will become. Just like how The Crucible ends. The Crucible is set in Salem, Massachusetts, at the beginning of the 1692 Salem Witchcraft Trials. The story is centralized around John Proctor, a white, landowning Puritan who betrayed his wife, Elizabeth by having sex with Abigail Williams. Back in the day, everything was black and white, meaning if something isn’t about God then it must’ve been about the Devil, they were religious people and they would not accept the fact that he had sex with someone else outside of marriage. He denied that nothing ever happened between him and Abigail. While Proctor is not taking responsibility for his actions, he causes a big commotion: people getting arrested and hanged, Abigail and a group of other girls are being accused of being part of Witchcraft. In the fourth act, Proctor is stuck in a situation where he either says the truth about who is part of witchcraft or he gets hanged. Proctor does not confess because he does not want people to use his name in vain and he knows that if he confesses it will leave a bad example for his sons, he decided to die an honest man than to live a fraud. At the end, Proctor ripped the confession knowing that he will be hung. Throughout the play, Arthur Miller creates two themes: the past will always haunt you and as people run away from their problems, their problems will continue to follow

One character in particular, represents Miller’s view of individuality and is seen as a hero figure because he chooses to defend his individuality. This play shows one man, John Proctor, in his struggle to keep his pride and name from being destroyed with lies, deceit and accusations of consorting with the devil. Proctor tries to expose Abigail and the girl’s deceit but he is punished for it because children were thought of as the voice of god and they were innocent. When the trial was brought in front of the court officials, Deputy Governor Danforth feared that he will lose power therefore weakens the testimony from the girls which broke the power of theocracy in Massachusetts.

Within “The Crucible,” the issues of Elizabeth and Proctor’s relationship are factors in the instigation of the plot of the story. Due to Proctor’s affair with Abigail, a wedge is driven between Proctor and his wife and will prove to be the initiator of the Salem Witch Trials, as it is in “The Crucible.” An effect of this affair is shown in the second scene when Elizabeth is first introduced. Proctor comes home from his day of work and the tension between the two is seen