Theme Of The Crucible

In this essay I will talk about two main central ideas. First, some people accuse innocent people for witchery. Secondly, there is a lot of hatred in the town of Salem.

How would you feel if you got blamed for something you didn't do. The Cruciblie by Auther Miller is about a town and it start with a group of girls that get caught in the woods doing witchcraft. Then the group of girls starts to blame the townspeople to get them in trouble and to get them out of it and the people that were blamed got exicuted or went to jail if they admit to it. Guilt and power are the two main themes in the story.

Fear, An Unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that something or someone is dangerous. Hysteria, exaggerated or uncontrollable emotion. Revenge, The action of inflicting pain or harm to another after they have caused damage to you. All of these emotion play a huge part of the Crucible, these emotions cause characters to lie, and make decisions that can change the life of them of people around them, sometimes good most times bad. Emotions can play a big part in life or death situations like we saw in the Crucible.

In the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the theme “temptation” is displayed throughout the entire play. It is mainly shown through the characters John Proctor, Mary Warren, and Abigail. There is a lot of temptation in the play because of the events that occurred, such as the Salem Witch Trials, and because of how the characters acted and treated one another.

American Musician John Mellencamp was quoted as saying, “When you live in Hysteria, people start thinking emotionally” which is exemplified thoroughly in The Crucible. Hysteria is defined as- exaggerated or uncontrollable emotion or excitement, especially among a group of people. During a time of despair or crisis, people rely on their primal instincts rather than their moral views or opinions. Emotions become more powerful and overwhelming in times of “hysteria” than any other situation. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, Miller uses the theme of hysteria as the deeper meaning of the novel to argue that fear can be manipulated to influence decisions, fabricate false evidence, and keep power. These three main ideas are developed throughout

Hannah Seibold Dr. O’Brien American Lit. X 07/11/15 Power, when in the wrong hands, can be misused to cause fatal consequences. Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, which is set in a small village in Massachusetts in 1692 during the famous witch-trials, illustrates the devastating consequences of a destroyed idyll leading to mass hysteria and a lack of authoritative figures, a deficiency that quickly turns into an abundance. The power vacuum that is created when the illusion of a perfectly biblical life under God falls apart, leads to Rev. Hale taking control of the town with his ability to distinguish between witch and non-witch.

Sin to the Puritans was a matter of life and death; if a person chooses to pursue original sin and not to take God’s righteous path, then that person chooses to burn in Hell, for forgiveness was not an option to their God; He would not allow them into his gates of Heaven, especially followers of the Devil. Arthur Miller’s The Crucible (1953) shows the sad, sinful lives the Puritans lead. The life of the Puritans may be sad but not dull, for the time of the Puritans at Salem were full of witchcraft, corruption, and personal agendas. Once the Puritans thought there were witches among them, mass hysteria broke out, and Abigail Williams seized this opportunity to seek vengeance of John Proctor and Goody Proctor, because John’s previous relations with her did not continue. John felt so guilty while Abigail was full of fury, which led her to manipulate the town against her enemies.

The soul of a victim tends to prove his innocence. Abigail pretends to be the victim; however, Abigail is the villain who does everything, the one who lies, the infamy to the extra people. Sometimes can seem to be the victim and the villain at the same time.

For this book review I decided to read The Crucible. In this play there are a wide variety of themes from hysteria, conformity, empowerment, reputation and many others. Each aspect of these themes within the play comes with the idea of witchcraft. So I decided to pick apart the topic of witch craft and decided to see where the idea of a witch trial originated, and I found that it started in early Europe.

People change, but is it always for the best? Mary Warren, a shy, quiet, and pushover girl is put into some difficult situations that will show everyone just how weak her backbone really. Mary was a good girl, but was influenced by everyone and made wrong decisions. Then she became extremely indecisive and couldn't choose whose side to be on. To then becoming  exactly like Abigail, a guileful profligate of a girl. Mary is a dynamic character, who is bound to change in the drama, The Crucible written by Arthur Miller.

A play by Arthur Miller where he thought of the play a year after he wrote the award winning play the Death of a Salesman that won the politer prize he continued to show his greatness and write a legendary play called the crucible. A small town in Salem, Massachusetts the year of 1692 a bunch of girls accused other people for the crimes they did for they wouldn’t be hanged for witchcraft. I believe that all of this is eighty percent of Abigail’s fault that all these chain events happened was because of her. The other percent was because; everybody else followed each other, reputation, and empowerment. In this essay I am going to explain the three themes that I found the most interesting that happened in the play crucible.

Both The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Crucible by Arthur Miller have moral and psychological aspects that are still relevant. People can still somehow relate to this and connect with these aspects of the stories. Both of these stories involve sin and guilt as well as morals and ethics. Sin is a topic that is equally relevant in the book and play as it is today. Although there have been changes in our society, these literary pieces still hold knowledge and ideas that are prominent today. The psychological and moral aspects of sin in The Crucible and The Scarlett Letter makes these works relevant for today’s readers because people still experience public humiliation or judgment, punishment, and strong guilt.

People often tell lies to evade punishment for their wrong doings, however sometimes these lies get out of control and a person must test their weaknesses and courage. This is exactly the situation the characters in The Crucible dealt with. It takes place in the Puritan village of Salem, Massachusetts during the Salem Witch Trials which happened from 1692-1693. The mayhem of the trials began when Abigail Williams and several other girls are caught dancing in the woods with the Barbados slave, Tituba. Dancing is considered a sin by the Puritans, the girls instead of owning up to their mistake, claim the Tituba had them under a spell. The girls later claim seeing others with the devil. Further fueling Abigail's desire to be involved in the trials is her past affair with John Proctor. In an attempt to take Proctor's wife place she accuses her of witchcraft. However, the accusations are never truly questioned by the court because Abigial’s lies are just accepted as truth in the midst of the hysteria until Mary Warren tries to testify against Abigail. The hysteria ends with Proctor refusing to sign a false confession choosing to hang instead and Abigail runs away. Arthur Miller shows the impact of weaknesses, courage and lies, though the actions of Mary Warren, Elizabeth Proctor, and Abigail Williams.

The Crucible was not accepted widely when it first came out in the 1950’s. The Crucible, by Arthur Miller. There is a multitude of themes in The Crucible. These range from guilt and revenge to authority and integrity. A very apparent theme is guilt. The theme of guilt is shown through many of the characters and is a big part of making The Crucible by Arthur Miller so interesting. Maureen Johnson, a well known author says, “Guilt isn't always a rational thing... Guilt is a weight that will crush you whether you deserve it or not”. If one is to believe this saying, it is vital for theme guilt to be notice in the Crucible.

The prideful have a likeness to vipers; if they feel you have wronged them they will strike until they feel revenge has been gained. Salem, Massachusetts became the poster child for the 17th century witch-hunts. This story is about this town during this period of confusion and hysteria in 1692. Before these events there are, of course, typical small town issues such as land disputes and neighborly disagreements. The town’s reverend, Parris, caught his daughter, niece, slave, and other local girls dancing naked around a fire and singing wild songs. Betty, his daughter, is struck ill by the shock when her father appears and there the story begins. In the drama, The Crucible, Arthur Miller creates conflicts between characters to shape the belief that prideful people seek revenge no matter the cost to others.