Theme Of Guilt In The Crucible

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.

In Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible, Miller demonstrated that it was Abigail William's flaws-Immaturity, Lust, and Spitefulness- that led her to be most responsible for the tragedy of the witch-hunt in Salem.

The Theme of Justice in The Crucible The crucible was set in 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts. The play is based on true facts about events that actually took place. It is about a small secluded town that relies strongly on their religion to keep them feeling safe. Their enemy is the devil and they are always scared of the devil and constantly looking for signs that the devil is there.

Today, we plaster death, relationship drama, and corruption in Holy places everywhere for our enjoyment. During 1953 when the author Arthur Miller wrote a play called The Crucible, it had all of those components. This play had the drama of infidelity, lying, murder, and corruption of a church; all of the fun things that make us laugh, cry, and fear for a character's fate. The Puritans did not allow entertainment, only work and pray, so when they received entertainment they took to the extreme. The play will have Miller playing with your emotions in the same ways that the Puritans played with life and death. Throughout this play, Miller will create pathos through the conflicts of infidelity, religion, and injustice.

What is a moral dilemma? A moral dilemma is a man versus self conflict. It is when a character has to perform two different actions, but they can not perform both actions because it is not possible. Authors use moral dilemmas in their writings to retain the reader’s interest in the book or play and to have the reader ask questions. People often face many life altering choices such as right versus wrong or good versus bad. In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, John Proctor chooses to die because he does not want to blacken his name throughout Salem and to ruin his sons’ names when they grow up.

Guilt is often one of the hardest emotions for a person to overcome. Guilt is one of the few emotions that can hurt someone long after their integrity was damaged. Lying about something or someone, majority of the time makes a person ask themselves “ Did I make the right choice.” However, guilt can be a blessing and a curse. Guilt can show someone the truth behind their actions and make them act upon it. In contrast of that sporadically it makes situations worse. For example in Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible one of the main characters John Proctor feels as if he would feel too guilty if he signed his paper confessing his satanic works.He refuses to have this paper hanged on the church door, his emotions overtake him and he rips the document into two halves. Contradicting that statement, Abigail Williams a teenage girl, blames her use of witchcraft on a clueless slave named Tituba and she has no disregard for her actions. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller seems to prove that habitually people would rather hold other people accountable for their actions other than themselves.

Have you ever felt so burdened or overlooked that it leads you to deception? How can one readily react to these feelings, and what can be done if we find ourselves submerged in duplicity far beyond any point of return? In order to better answer these questions, one must first look to both literature and history for demonstrations of such conceptions. Just one example of this being that of the well-known play and movie, The Crucible. As first written in 1953 by Arthur Miller, The Crucible is the powerful production and retelling of the erratic events which took place in the town of Salem during the late 1600’s. The story follows a group of young girls who, after being discovered in the woods dancing, decides it is best to charge the honest as partakers in witchcraft; and instill turmoil and distraction not just within Salem, but the entire region as well. One of the girls guilty of such accusations is that of Mary Warren; the tentative, disingenuous housemaid of John and Elizabeth Proctor, who during the progression of the story, felt ashamed of her actions and took the sand to confess not just her own, but all the girls’ fabricated behavior. However as the confession wore on and testimonies denying her statement true came forward, Mary ultimately gave to the pressure and returned to her previous actions of fraud and deception. Doings which only compliment her many viable flaws of a naive judgement, weak minded demeanor, and inability to stay true to her word; and that

In The Crucible, Arthur Miller uses themes to display thoughts throughout the book. The theme that seems to be the center point of the story is religion. Religion is on the character’s minds with every action they do. When something goes wrong in the town, religion is sought out as a cause. When the witch trials begin, the devil is supposed to be the source of the troubles. Arthur Miller vividly uses religion to show the readers how important religion is to the people of Salem.

People have many different views of what justice is and how it should be handled. Because of human nature many times attempted justice becomes injustice. In the play The Crucible, Arthur Miller explores the themes of injustice through an incorrect accusation of witchcraft in the Puritan town of Salem in 1692 and in the famous speech A Plea for Mercy delivered on September 24, 1924 by Clarence Darrow, Darrow pleas for mercy of two boys who are guilty of a heinous crime. Although both have very different circumstances, they both are opposing an oppressive regime because in both works they are fighting against unnecessary bloodshed and how following other people’s example is not necessarily a good thing.

“The essence of immorality is the tendency to make an exception of myself” (Addams). Immorality is a very subjective concept, but sometimes it is undeniable. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, Abigail Williams is shown to be the most immoral character through her constant disregard of others throughout the different events of the story, furthering the point that when in fearful situations people will only think about themselves.

“Give them no tear! Tears pleasure them! Show honor now, show a stony heart and sink them with it!” (IV. 249). In this quote, the protagonist is expressing how he would die before writing a confession of witchcraft. It expresses how meaningful the theme of honor is in Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible. The theme of honesty is expressed various times through the actions of characters, such as the confessions of several actions, beliefs that are being shared, and the act of sacrificing for others.

In Salem, there are people Backstabbing each other to get out of trouble. In Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, we move to Salem, Massachusetts where a group of girls started convicting people of witchcraft and end up taking these witch trials to far because they needed an escape goat. In this play, betrayal is used as a resource, a way to escape from true responsibility and to escape from reality.

There are multiple types of conflict in The Crucible that forwards the plot, these types of conflict are in the play and most characters have some type of conflict with another person, the town, or themselves. The Crucible is a play that is absolutely filled to the brim with conflict and is set in the time period of the Salem Witch Trials that lasted from February 1692 up until May 1693. In the play, many people were deceived, accusations were thrown around town, and people were hung or burned at the stake.

One of the many works written and driven by Puritan influence, The Crucible by Arthur Miller has continued to influence life and thinkings. Its story tracing the 1692 Salem Witch Trials has been widely read, received and understood, along with influencing the reader and their ideals. The play has manifested into more than words on a page and has become of the greatest influences, even sixty years after its publication. Though its story has not changed and is merely a retelling of the original itself, its themes have greatly impacted its universal and enduring state.

Over my summer break, I read The Crucible by Arthur Miller. The Crucible is set in a town, year 1692, where religion plays a big role in society. When a young girl falls sick, the town is stirred up over the possibility of witchcraft. Crazy right? Now that I’ve told a little bit about the story, let’s discuss the theme. Theme is the main topic, or subject, of a story. Because you read my overview of The Crucible, you’d probably conclude that the theme of the story is religion or the supernatural. Congratulations, you’re not wrong- the theme could be anything. With that being said, from my standpoint, the theme of The Crucible is reputation.