Themes in The Crucible by Arthur Miller Essay

The Crucible was based in 1692 in and around the town of Salem, Massachusetts, USA. The Salem witch-hunt was view as one of the strangest and most horrendous chapters in the human history. People that were prosecuted were all innocent and their deaths were all due to false accusation of people’s ridiculous belief in superstition and their paranoia. The Puritans in those times were very strict in personal habits and morality; swearing, drunkenness and gambling would be punished. The people of Salem believed in the devil and thought that witchcraft should be hunted out.

Reputation shines as a theme in the play. Through reputation comes discrimination and in the crucible almost all the witches are judged on reputation and this is important in today's world especially with things such as racism. Another critical theme in The Crucible is the role that hysteria can play in tearing apart a community. Hysteria messes with logic and enables people to believe that their neighbors, whom they have always considered upstanding people, are committing unbelievable crimes. Intolerance is key in the crucible. Because Salem is a theocratic society, moral and state laws are the same and therefore there is no room for error and intolerance becomes current. Danforth shows this when in Act III he says "a person is either with this court or he must be counted against it." Empowerment is central in modern day society and appears in The Crucible many times. The play shows how power corrupts and how certain characters use there power in association with fear, to get there way.

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.

In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible the witch trials in Salem were a devastating time. The entire community was in disorder and chaos because of personal vengeance. This included accusations of innocent town’s people being called witches, so they hanged and were jailed. Throughout the play certain characters help the rise of witchcraft as well as the disapproval of all the innocent people who were being convicted for no reason. Reverend Hale is a dynamic character whom comes to rid of the evil spirits in Salem, yet he later tries to end the trials. Hale realizes the accusations are false, attempts to postpone the hangings, and persuade the victims to lie conveys that he is a dynamic character and changes throughout the play.

     Themes are the basic and often widespread ideas explored in a literary work. The Crucible and Ethan Frome are two novels both focused on one main theme. In The Crucible the main theme was hysteria and in Ethan Frome it was desire. Both novels have very unique ways to express these themes throughout the stories.

Have you ever tried to compare and contrast two different stories? In this case, Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author of short story Young Goodman Brown, and the play called The Crucible, wrote these two stories as if they were meant to be compared and contrasted. Whether it is Young Goodman Brown himself, or Abigail Williams from The Crucible, there are many similarities, along with differences between them. Along with comparing characters of these stories, we can also compare and contrast the two main themes. These themes are hysteria, and community. In The Crucible, the main theme is hysteria because it seems to overcome a majority of characters. In Young Goodman Brown the main theme would be community. It is because of community, and

The play The Crucible written by Arthur Miller, withholds many conflicts that arise resulting in many themes as well. Such as weight, Reputation, and Good vs. Evil. These themes form from the Salem witch trials. Repeatedly people become accused of witchcraft, throughout the play this continues to drag out due to the people of Salem’s accusations and deceit for one another. The play continues to move to a tense and moving climax resulting in the death of many prominent people of Salem.

The Crucible is aiming to tell audiences about the dangers of mass hysteria and what damage could be done either to a small community or a larger, more controllable, area. In the beginning, we find out that at least three girls, Abigail, Betty, and Tituba, are involved with a forest dancing and perhaps calling upon the Devil, after more girls are accused and word is spread thru town, mass hysteria begins. Hysteria in society can spread rapidly leading to panic, chaos, and disaster, and in The Crucible this is exactly the message trying to be sent to the readers.

 The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, is a play that takes place in the sixteen nineties during the famous but tragic witch trials. The entire community is in pandemonium yet certain characters are also fighting internal conflicts. Miller uses three characters that manifest this internal battle ever so clearly: Mary Warren whose whole world turns upside down, John Proctor who must weigh the importance of his family against his reputation and Reverend Hale who must decide whether to do his job, or do what he knows to be right. 

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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.

Miller shows the greatest transformation in Mary Warren in order to convey the idea that good people can still cause destruction when swept up in mass hysteria like the witch trials. One of the most important themes of the crucible is hysteria. The definition of hysteria is “exaggerated or uncontrollable emotion or excitement, especially among a group of people” which is clearly demonstrated as the town of Salem is swept up in the excitement and drama of the witch trials. Mary Warren was one of those blinded by hysteria, causing her to be a dynamic character.

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Good Morning ladies and gentlemen, my name is Edward Hsu, and I'm an sociologist working with the Queensland Government as an adviser of community relationships.

Remaining tranquil during hectic situations is an imperative life lesson. The Crucible displays an accurate example of how people will go into hysteria if placed in a precarious position. When in court, many of the characters broke into a rage of fear and anger. After they became rambunctious, they were punished in one way or another. Scenes of these outbreaks give readers a sense of consequences of acting before thinking. In any situation that may be frenetic, society must remain calm, cool, and