Themes And Stereotypes In The Twisted Trainset By Arthur Miller

Irving Wallace, an American author and screenwriter, once stated: “To be one’s self, and unafraid whether right or wrong, is more admirable than the easy cowardice of surrender to conformity.” Wallace admired those who were not afraid to be the “lone wolf” and stick to their own individual ideas and character, no matter the consequences. People often view submission as the one and only route; they see a majority of the population following one another and figure it is the best option. Unfortunately, conformity does have its consequences. In The Crucible, Miller reveals that the overwhelming pressures to conform causes one’s rationality to be diminished, resulting in the destruction of their morals and ultimately a society through his use of situational and dramatic irony.

Few people are willing to stand up to the overwhelming power of authority, especially during a time like the Red scare. Hardly any authors are able to recognize meaningful similarities between the present times and an event that happened many years ago—and write about it effectively. Only one has had the courage and intelligence to do both. Arthur Miller was an American author who wrote plays, essays, and stories and has published works dating from to 1936 through 2004. The Crucible, one of his most famous plays, premiered in New York on January 22, 1953 (InfoTrac). It is a historical-fiction story set in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. The witch hunt described in this play is similar to the Red Scare, an anti-communist movement led by

How many people have you met in your life that is stronger because of a difficult experience they went through? Most people are because we take these difficult experiences and grow from them and become better people. This is the exact case is expressed in the play, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller. The story begins in Salem, Massachusetts 1692 right in the middle of a period of witchcraft hysteria. During this time many people were accused of being witches and wrongly convicted by judges Danforth and Hathorne. The characters in the story are struggling because of a girl named Abigail who gets caught practicing witchcraft and then starts naming and accusing others so that she doesn’t get in trouble; one of these people being a well-respected farmer, John Proctor’s, wife Elizabeth. The title, The Crucible, refers to a test, trial, ordeal, formation by fire, and vessel baked to resist heat, and the entire story is an allegory meaning it has a hidden meaning. John Proctor symbolizes a crucible by embodying the definition of one, as he went through a test and was formed by fire.

Crucible, a noun defined as; a container of metal or refractory material employed for heating substances to high temperatures, in the traditional sense but, it also means a severe, searching test or trial. The latter of the two definitions is exactly what Arthur Miller had in mind when he wrote the play, The Crucible. The play set in Salem Massachusetts during the start of the infamous Salem Witch Trials, is about the struggle to discover truth within the twisted and brutal lies flying about the little town, started mainly by a young girl by the name of Abigail Williams. Abigail Williams, as we quickly come to know, is the past mistress of the prominent Mr. John Proctor, a local farmer. As the tension rises in the

Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, focuses on the inconsistencies and injustice of the 1692 witch trials of Salem, Massachusetts. The restrictive Puritan society of Salem in the 17th century was based upon religious intolerance, where faith was demonstrated through physical labour and by strict adherence to religious doctrine. Material, physical and sexual desires were considered the Devil’s work and a threat to the very fabric of society. In summary, it is said that Puritanism discouraged individualism on all levels. The literal way in which the Bible was interpreted by the Puritans, provides a paradox within the play. This is because although the Bible says “thou shalt not kill,” the people of Salem are willing to sentence innocent

A man 's reputation in many forms is his, life’s work. To have your reputation dismantled is like taking away one 's accomplishments and life’s work. Arthur Miller 's The Crucible is a play about justice and injustice, and how our justice system can be easily corrupted. The story revolves around a man named John Proctor, the tragic hero of this story. John Protector is a symbolic character created by Arthur Miller, because he faced the justice system head on. Proctor’s biggest flaw would be his great amounts of pride, which unfortunately led to his own death. In Arthur Millers’ The Crucible, he characterizes John Proctor as the tragic hero of the story because of all that he lost, through his relentless crusade to free his wife and exposing injustice, illustrating that no hero is perfect.

In the strict religious theocracy of Salem in the year 1692, “patrols invigilated every single activity and redressed the slightest mistake” (Lejri 91). The society affords little natural privacy to the villagers and they thus must strive to conceal their wrongdoings or risk becoming socially ostracized. In Arthur Miller’s 1953 tragedy The Crucible, this atmosphere of paranoia inevitably results in an internalization of guilt that any villager must ameliorate prior to attaining a sense of tranquility. Miller traces protagonist John Proctor's relationship with guilt to reveal that, in a society that values strict adherence to established relationship norms such as monogamy, those burdened with guilt for failing to conform to such norms will suffer from its internalization until they finally take ownership of their actions and accept the resulting consequences. In the short term, they often attempt to redistribute their guilt privately. Should that not succeed, they will resort to more frantic methods of relieving themselves of culpability in the long term, even risking their own statures in the process. Ultimately, these tormented souls hold themselves accountable, achieving both intrapersonal and interpersonal harmony by taking full responsibility for their actions.

All throughout the play,The Crucible , Arthur Miller uses various themes to get his message across. A motif that made an enormous impact in the Puritan community would be demonization. Demonization could be described as marking an entity as evil, due to having the polar opposite beliefs as one's own. In Miller’s play demonization caused instability in the community by creating chaos, fear, and false accusations. It allowed people to create scapegoats, and it revealed repressed social conflicts in both the Salem witch trials and in the era of Mccarthyism. Demonization plays an important role on how characters in the play live, and associate with one another. Miller in the play describes the lives of the people living in the Massachusetts Bay Colony during the witch trials, that occurred during the late 1600s. Much of these characters are a representation of what was happening during Miller’s lifetime.

American playwright, Arthur Miller, in his play The Crucible, implies that witch hunts still exist in American society. Miller supports this claim by drawing parallels between the Salem Witch Trials and the Senator Joseph Mccarthy Trials. His purpose is to warn his readers of the dangers of mass hysteria. He uses emotional appeals and logic to convince the reader that mass “hunts” are still a danger to Americans today. The central way, however, that Miller achieves his topmost goal of displaying the hazards of Individuality vs. Ideology is through the expressive characterization of Reverend John Hale. John hale is an example of outward conformity because he believes in the devil in the beginning, he sees that the girls are

Arthur Miller writes about the tragic results of human failings in his play, The Crucible. He presents characters from the past and infuses them with renewed vitality and color. Miller demonstrates the horrifying results of succumbing to personal motives and flaws as he writes the painful story of the Salem witch trials. Not only do the trials stem from human failings but also from neglect of moral and religious considerations of that time. Characters begin to overlook Puritan values of thrift and hope for salvation. Focusing on the flawed characters, they begin to exhibit land lust, envy of the miserable and self-preservation.

“The worst form of injustice is pretended justice” once said by Plato, an ancient Greek philosopher. Plato’s words today are as true as when he spoke them. Arthur Miller, American playwright, put Plato’s words into practice in his play titled The Crucible. In this particular play lies a conservative town with the appellation “Salem”. Salem’s residents are thrown into disarray when talks of witchcraft plague their town. Irresolute as to whether they were dealing with true witchcraft or not, the citizens pondered upon their next course of action. With the urgency of the situation and involvement of witchcraft, it was then decided; Salem needed help from outside forces. Miller presents to the audience a story of how three men named Giles Corey, John Proctor, and Reverend Hale persevere and succeed in speaking out against the social injustices happening around them.

Stacy tugged and tugged at her foot but it wouldn’t budge. She began crying; it was the same thing all over again. I ran over to the little rundown shack where you can change the direction of the train and barged through the door. The air inside the shack was filthy and filled with dust. There were so many buttons and levers, I didn’t know what to do. Stacy kept screaming for help and I kept yelling back that I was trying. The sound of the train grew louder and inched closer and closer each second. Out of panic I switched the lever and right when the train was about to hit Stacy, it switched tracks. I ran over to Stacy to see if she was alright.

I potentially had ruined his beloved train set! He patted me on the shoulder and consoled, “It’s only a minor malfunction. We can fix this if we work together!” Paw-Paw rushed to the closet and returned with a box labeled “Lionel Train Maintenance Kit” which contained several small bottles and some tools. He instructed me on the proper methods to clean the tracks and to lubricate the gears so that the train would be back to normal operation. He explained how dust and grime (including crumbs) can negatively affect the train’s function. I promised him, “I will never eat pretzels while I’m playing with train set again. I will make certain that I properly maintain the train set from now

A View From the Bridge ' He's like a weird'. This opinion of Rodolfo expressed by Eddie encapsulates the main theme of the 20th century play, 'A View From the Bridge', by Arthur Miller. Rodolfo is subject to Eddie's hostile feelings towards him, emotions like abhorrence, resentment, jealousy and aggression. Eddie's belief in manliness and masochistic behaviour is one explanation why he detests Rodolfo with such vehemence.

Arthur Miller’s, The Crucible, is an allegory of the Red Scare that impacted society mentally, physically, and spiritually. “This play is a commentary on the claustrophobic Puritanical-code-of-conduct-fear-of-witches nonsense of Massachusetts in the 17th century and a commentary on the claustrophobic, girdles-white-picket-fences-fear-of-Communists nonsense of America in the late 1940's and 1950's.” (The Crucible – Summary) Arthur Miller was born on October 17, 1915 and later passed away on February 10, 2005. Arthur was a renowned American playwright, essayist, and a famous figure in the 20th century American theater. He was famous for his multiple plays he created with one of those being The Crucible from 1953. Arthur had numerous screenplays as well and was most noted for his work on The Misfits from 1961. Arthur had been married three separate times with one of those wives being Marilyn Monroe. Miller and Monroe wed in 1956 but later divorced in 1961 after Marilyn stated that Arthur was “highly self-destructive.” (Arthur Miller – Biography) A total of four children were born to Arthur Miller throughout his three marriages. “Puritan New England which is a town in Salem, Massachusetts, a group of girls go dancing in the forest with a black slave named Tituba.” (The Crucible) After being caught in the forest by a local reverend, one of the girls falls into a coma. The townspeople start talking to each other stating that Betty was in a coma due to witchcraft. Seems the girls