The Truth Will Set You Free

In the story “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller, the main character John Proctor is considered a good person since he is honest, Bravery, and caring Being honest is one of the trait that made John Proctor a good person. Being honest makes things clear whenever there is a problem. For example when John Proctor has realized his huge mistake having an affair with Abigail, he was honest and admitted to his wife Elizabeth. Although he has broken his marriage vow, he asked for forgiveness.

An unknown speaker once said, “A real man will be honest no matter how painful the truth is. A coward hides behind his lies and deceit.” This quote relates to characters in The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, such as John Proctor, Rebecca Nurse, and Giles Corey. Each person took action and stood up for what was right. Faced with tough decisions, many characters throughout the play are severely tested by others in their surroundings because of the ways they lie, the ways they make false accusations, and the ways that they ultimately die for a cause.

Integrity and honesty are virtues that are highly valued within the society we live in today. Society honors those that do the right thing and those that show integrity. Most of the population perform acts of righteousness in the hopes that they would be rewarded for their actions. However, there are some who still perform good deeds and maintain their integrity, knowing they would not be rewarded for their actions. In the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller, John Proctor is the most admirable character because he always does what is right, damaged his reputation to end the witch trials to save others, and stayed true to himself in the name of human dignity and justice even if it meant his death.

People’s true character is revealed through their actions. Their morals and ethics can be told from how they choose to act in a situation. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible; the character of John Proctor is an honorable man despite having committed wrongful acts. He was able to redeem himself through acts that is considered courageous, such as when he refuses to contribute to the lie of witchcraft in Salem, when he fights for the people who were convicted of witchcraft and when he regrets being a dishonest man.

In the play, The Crucible, MIller allows the reader to learn something about the world by showing us that the sins that we have committed will keep weighing us down, until we confess them. John Proctor commits adultery with Abigail Williams, and keeps this affair a secret from Elizabeth. Proctor starts to feel guilty, and mad at himself. He attempts to pretend that the affair never happened. “But I will cut off my hand before I reach for you again. Wipe it out of mind, we never touched, Abby…..Proctor, angered--at himself as well: You’ll speak nothin’ of Elizabeth!” (24) This piece of textual evidence proves that Proctor is unable to forgive himself for what he has done to Elizabeth, and what he has done to himself to lose his goodness.

John Proctor shows himself to be a very powerful and charismatic person right. From the time he first appears in Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, he is presented as an intelligent, sharp-tongued man with a strong independent mind. These traits would seem to make him a good person to question the motives of those who cry witchcraft. However, his guilt over his affair with Abigail makes his position problematic because he is guilty of the very hypocrisy that he despises in others. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller portrays John Proctor as a decent man because he fights for his own dignity and the freedom for others.

As Vladimir Lenin once stated, “A lie told often enough becomes truth.” This quote indicates that if you constantly repeat a lie, eventually people will come to believe it. I definitely agree with Lenin. A lie won’t stay a secret forever. Lenin’s quote remains true and evident in Arthur Miller’s, The Crucible. There are many characters Miller uses to prove this quote true through the literary elements Characterization, Theme, and Setting. Some characters include Abigail, John Proctor, and Thomas Putnam.

In the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a story that displays a tragic hero and many women who deceived about interacting with witchery. Proctor's life completely turned upside down when Abigail started all these lies and put the people he loved and cared to their death or jail.  John Proctor's fatal flaw was his great amount of pride, that continued a series of unfortunate events. Unfortunately, Proctor died for a crime he did not commit.

Many people cherish their reputation, what other people think and believe about someone is crucial in today’s society. Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is centered around the theme of reputation. One’s name is tremendously important in Salem, where someone’s social standing reflects their ability to follow religious rules and obligations. In Salem, reputation far surpasses the truth. Majority of the characters in The Crucible would rather die than risk damaging their “good” name. When witchcraft accusations start spreading through the town, one’s fate is determined by their reputation. John Proctor and Abigail Williams are both perfect examples of this, both risking everything in attempt to protect their tarnishing reputations.

It is always best to think before you act otherwise the situation could go from bad to worse. As in The Crucible, having trust on one another can be a risky choice because we don't know who to rely upon or who will eventually be deceiving and not be fully honest about the truth and simply abuse the trust being given. The play is about how viewing one’s mistakes can lead to various consequences. Proctor refused to accept his mistake on having a sexual affair with Abigail and because of that, he was sent to the gallows to be hanged. In Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible, he demonstrates the themes that by remaining silent people get hurt, mistakes cannot be forgotten once they have been done, and speaking up can remove power from a person.

John Proctor lived and died as an honorable man in Salem. He was not a perfect man and admittedly some of his decisions were not right. However he won the battle against his conscience and righted the wrong to the best of his ability, motivated by protecting his family’s name from shame. He paid for these convictions with his life. Throughout the play The Crucible, John is motivated to tell the truth even though it ruins reputation, and contributes to the theme of someones reputation. Although he lived and died in the seventeenth century his example is timeless as we are faced with situations similar to

The phrase “honesty is the best policy,” applies to Arthur Miller’s history-based drama, The Crucible, in a variety of ways. The accusations throughout the story build on lie after lie after lie from those trying to protect their own name, thus putting the whole town in a state of confusion and chaos. Nobody in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts knows whom to trust anymore, after all of the false allegations made. There are three characters in particular in the story that, if they had told the truth from the commencement, the town would have been in a state of peace rather than mayhem. If Abigail Williams, John Proctor, and Elizabeth Proctor had been honest, many innocent lives could have been spared and Salem would not be in such

Lying is a common occurrence throughout the play of The Crucible despite every character being a “believer.” In this play, Miller demonstrates characters being freed by the sin of lying. This theme has shown that the people of Salem lied to protect themselves or others. This also happens in everyday life and is a common issue that can be shown through false confession. The Crucible has shown many ways of how this theme is influenced in the real world. The two main situations from the play that show this theme of lying for self-freedom or the freedom of others involves John Proctor and Abigail Williams.

In The Crucible, Arthur Miller writes about the accusations of witchcraft fabricated in the tightknit town of Salem, putting into question the fate of those previously respected by the town. The betrayal and depravity of the town’s members described during the book is used to build the theme of deception throughout the play. The court eventually chooses to succumb to the hysteria, which sparks some characters to resist through their ability to see through the delirium. As the tension rises in the story, John Proctor chooses to combat the court. John Proctor’s refusal to acquiesce to the deceptive demands of the court represents his desperate search for justice in the town, which leads him to realize that true justice lies within himself, and must be upheld, no matter the cost.

Although lying seems unimportant, it can be much more powerful than one might think. Arthur Miller’s tragic play The Crucible recites the story of the Salem Witch trials of 1692, in which the false accusations of a few young girls resulted in over 20 casualties. Many different characters, including Parris, Abigail, and John Proctor, hide the truth to preserve their reputations. Despite their diverse social statuses and positions, they each have something to hide. They constantly omit or deny things in their testimonies to save their names.