Guilt vs. Conscience In 1692, Salem, Massachusetts was known for the Salem Witch Trial. It was significant because people were being accused of witchcraft and twelve people were hanged. Arthur Miller had captured it and wrote the play The Crucible afterward. During the acts, characters can either change their thoughts and actions or they stay the same. Reverend John Hale, for example, changes the most during the play. He changes from a man with the intentions to free the town from satanic influence to a person who realizes the Salem witch trials were based on lies and fakery to reveal the theme of guilt. In Act I, Reverend John Hale came to Salem because Reverend Parris requested him to come with the intention of freeing the town from the satanic influence, showing his arrogance and self-confidence overall. After finding out that the girls were dancing in the forest naked and calling spirits at the scene, he comes straight to the conclusion that the girls had summoned demons, meaning he believed that there was a witchcrafting situation going on. Abigail blamed Tituba for all of their action in the forest. Hale “freed” Tituba from of the demons that she summoned, she is with God now. Hale asked Tituba: “And you love God Tituba...And to His glory--... Open yourself, Tituba--open yourself and let God’s holy light shine on you”(Miller 1234). This quote means that Hale believed he had saved Tituba from the demons. This comes back to how he believed that helping people,
The Crucible is a historical play by Arthur Miller, and is set in the town of Salem during the late 1690s. The main characters are John Proctor, the protagonist, and Abigail Williams, the antagonist. The conflict occurs when Abigail falsely accuses others of witchcraft. This leads to hysteria in the town, with people turning in innocent people for witchcraft. Many people including John and Elizabeth Proctor are arrested and put on trial, despite their innocence. John Proctor is sentenced to death after refusing to denounce his friends as witches, forgiven by Elizabeth for his affair with Abigail, and restores his reputation of being a good man. The Crucible delves into the extent people will go betray others in order to benefit themselves
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is a tragic play set in 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts, where Miller uses the Salem Trials as a metaphor for the 1950s McCarthy hearings. In Salem, people value their good names. The Puritan community acts as a theocracy in which there appears to be no right to privacy, and people must conform to a strict moral code. The theme of reputation, lying, and deceit are shown in Abigail, John Proctor, Elizabeth Proctor, Mary Warren, and other characters. In the play’s dialogue, Miller uses Biblical allusions, situational irony, and dramatic irony to develop these themes.
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.
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
“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.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller takes place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. It all started when Reverend Parris discovers a group of girls dancing in the woods. After he found the girls in the wood, his daughter Betty fall ill. Since Betty wouldn’t wake up, people become paranoid and started believing that witchcraft was real. Fake accusations were made and innocent people kept dying. In The Crucible there are many people to blame for all for everything that occurred, characters such a Abigail Williams, Reverend Hale, and Reverend Parris. Abigail Williams is to blame because she accused everyone else just to protect herself. Reverend Hale is also blame because he was the one who got people to think that witchcraft was real. Lastly Reverend Parris is to blame because he was just worried about himself and his reputation in Salem.
If honesty is the fastest way to prevent a mistake from turning into a failure, then why don't people just tell the truth? In 1938, the House Un-American Committee was created by Senator Joseph McCarthy who accused government employees of being Communists. McCarthyism had targeted not only the members of the United States Government but also the entertainers and writers. Author Miller was one of those writers.He wrote “The Crucible” to show the similarities between the Salem Witch Trials and the McCarthy Trails, who both accused people of being what they weren't.People accused in the McCarthy Trails went through the same tests as people in the Salem Witch Trials.In the play “The Crucible”, the characters Mary Warren, John Proctor and Giles Corey all face a test of honesty, in which they either passed or failed.Mary Warren is unsuccessful in telling the truth, John Proctor cheated on his wife, and Giles Corey gets him and his wife sentenced to death.
Superman once said, “There’s a right and a wrong in the universe and that distinction is not hard to make” (Superman, Kingdom Come). Justice, being pivotal in society often fails to meet its purpose. In an idealistic world, justice has been portrayed as a divine fairness, where the nefarious have been punished and the ethical live a moral life. Pragmatically speaking, justice has constantly been played into the hands of power, suborn and greed. Desperate times call for desperate measures, forcing vulnerable humans to drive to consequential lengths to meet their aspirations. The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller in 1953, comments on the biased view of justice in Salem and how the court models the role of justice as guilty until proved innocent, similar to the case of Giles Corey, which is barbaric.
In The Crucible by Arthur Miller the town of Salem Massachusetts breaks apart due to accusations and lies. The play, set in 1692 is broke apart by Abigail Williams when she tries to cover up lies and makes accusation she knows are not true, therefore the town turns on each other and chaos breaks out. The whole town is convinced witchcraft is a real thing but the entire idea is counterfeit. The community of Salem is destroyed by the manipulation and dishonesty of Abigail Williams.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a famous play which was written in the early 1950’s. The Crucible is a play based upon the events in 1692, which led to the ‘Salem Witch Trials’, a series of hearings before local magistrates to prosecute over 150 people accused of witchcraft. This was due to the hysteria caused by a group of girls accusing innocent people of witch craft. The play was set in Salem, Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. Salem was a very isolated and puritanical community, so their biggest fear was the devil and witchcraft. A person being accused of witchcraft was the worst thing possible in this society.
In the play the “Cruicible” there were a lot of different emotions in this story and guilt was one of the main ones. To this day people still feel guilty about the actions that they make in life and some can’t get over it and some do, some end up doing the right thing and some end up doing the wrong thing that’s how this world was created. During the “Cruicible” guilt is portrayed through a lot of the events and characters, some of the events were when Mary gave Elizabeth that doll with the needle in it because she didn’t know Abigail was gonna do something like that and she felt guilt that she put the needle in the doll because Elizabeth got in trouble for it.
In Act 1, Hale’s devotion to carrying out God’s law reveals his sense of obligation in eradicating the diabolic disturbances in Salem, despite the negative impact it may have on its citizens. Prior to entering the town, the Reverend’s motives lie in defeating the Devil, believing that this valiance will bring preservation to the Puritans. Although “his goal is light,” he believes the people of Salem have been “called upon to face what may be a bloody fight with the Fiend himself” (36). Despite wanting to face off with the devil, Hale stands strong in his belief that this will restore peace and prove to be beneficial. Consequences aside, his heavy
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 concept is capable of more destruction than almost anything else. It can change a person’s life, or end it. The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is a play that is set in Salem, Massachusetts in the early 1690’s. The play revolves around the infamous Salem Witch Hunts and their proceedings both within the court and outside of the court. Within this plotline, a theme of greed functions in the play, influencing the actions of certain characters, including Reverend Parris, Thomas Putnam, and Abigail.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller is an interpretation of the Salem witch trials of 1692 in Puritan Massachusetts in which religion, self- preservation and self-dignity play a vital role. The three factors I listed played a huge role in John Proctor, Rebecca Nurse, Reverend Hale, Danforth and many other lives. Many other characters such as, Abigail Williams and her friends can be characterized by being greedy, bitter, and selfish. In the play, Miller reveals how people can go against their own morals, therefore they can protect themselves. In Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible, he reveals to readers how fear escalated in Salem because of people's desire for personal gain.