In Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692, many innocent people were arrested and hanged for witchcraft. Playwright Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible in 1953. In this play, he tells about the characters involved and what happened during these harsh times. This event is known as the Salem Witch Trials. As many as 19 people were killed because of a group of girls trying to save their good name. In The Crucible, many of the characters lie to preserve their reputation which leads to the death of many innocent people. John Proctor cares so strongly about his reputation that he even dies in an attempt to preserve it. John is a well-known man in the town of Salem. John earns his living by farming and is married to Elizabeth Proctor. John and Abigail Williams have an …show more content…
Danforth believes strongly in the witchcraft idea and sentences many people to be hanged. He believes everything Abigail and the girls tell him. He doesn’t believe anyone who says they are innocent and sentences anyone who pleads not guilty to death. Danforth realizes close to the end of the story that maybe the witchcraft accusations aren’t completely true. He starts changing the way he acts when this happens and starts listening to the accused more instead of just the girls. He also gets angry more easily and yells at Parris, “Mr. Parris you are a brainless man!” (1100). Danforth yells this at Parris after Abigail and Mercy Lewis steal Parris’s money and leave town on a ship. This confirms that the girls are lying but Danforth doesn’t want to admit it so he directs his anger toward Parris. Even after the girls leave town and he knows that the witchcraft stories didn't actually happen, Danforth thinks that if he changes his mind after he sentenced all those people to death, the whole community would think less of him. This leads him to hang John Proctor and two other women even after he knows of the girls’ lies just so he could retain his good
He never blamed anyone or agreed with it, and Parris was not directly spreading it either. However, they are both indirectly at fault for not telling the truth in the beginning and letting the lie continue. Danforth was the one who was executing the people accused of witchcraft so he would not be thought of for the reason it is spreading. He is not trying to stop it either though. In the end people try to convince Danforth to stop executing people, but he refuses because so many people have already been executed, and it will look bad upon the
One of many reasons the witch trials were able to continue was because of Judge Danforth’s ignorance towards what was actually going on in Salem. When Francis Nurse and John Proctor try to explain to him the girls are deceiving him, he over rules their ideas by challenging “And do you know that near to four hundred are in the jails from Marblehead to Lynn, and upon my signature?”(Miller 179). Danforth is proud to say that he has put people in jail, put people to death for witchcraft because his ignorance blocks him from seeing the evidence he is presented with is false. As well as being exposed to false evidence, Judge Danforth also makes the claim that witchcraft cannot be disproved; therefore the court has to rely solely on the girl’s accusations. Danforth declares, “But witchcraft is ipso facto, on its face and by its nature, an invisible crime, is it not?
John Proctor’s Faithful Life John Proctor is known throughout Salem for being one of the most honest people to live in the town. Even when he does something wrong, he always admits to it, even if it puts his life in danger. John is a farmer in Salem, that does not go to church much, but still holds strong to his christian beliefs and his honesty. John also has a wife and three sons within the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller. John Proctor is easily the most honest person within the play, The Crucible.
People are always trying to follow the majority whether it is to fit in or so they don’t get caught in a lie. In The Crucible John Proctor is following the majority so then he won’t end up ruining his reputation. In the real world people try to lie so then they don’t lose their jobs or an amazing opportunity. Following the majority will lead John Proctor into a lot of trouble because he ends up confessing in the end.
In the play The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, the character John Proctor will not lie and confess to something he did not do. Thus, he is hanged for his principles. Proctor has two main principles he felt were more important to respect and uphold than his own life. The most obvious one was his reputation. In theocratic Salem, where private and public ethics are regarded equally, one’s reputation plays an important role. In such an environment where reputation is regarded so highly many are afraid of guilt by association. Various characters base their actions on the desire to protect their own reputations, in order to keep them in the best light possible. Towards the beginning of the play, John Proctor sought to keep his good name
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible takes place during the Salem witch trials of 1692. The book tells the events surrounding said trials and the motives of the people involved in the executions of John Proctor, Rebecca Nurse, and Martha Corey, epitomizing the book's title.
In Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible, many characters value their reputation. A character who especially values his, more than anything else, is John proctor. He has strong feelings about how others view his overall quality or character. Unfortunately, other characters in the play must pay for their bad actions. John Proctor will do almost anything to keep his reputation, he will lie and do everything in his power to protect it. He shows how he really values his reputation especially in the act four. He was going to confess, and did, but when judge Danforth told him he was going to write his confession on a piece of paper and put it on the door of the church he would not stand for it. When Danforth asks him why he doesn't want to put it there
He gathered a letter that was signed by people from the village that said there was no way his wife was a witch “This a sort of testament signed by 91 people, and if you’ll notice, they declare they’ve known our wives for many years, never seen no sign they had dealings with the devil”(Act2Scene2) .This showed how even tho Proctor thought Mrs.Proctor was boring he still defended her and stood up to the government which no one did because they were consumed with fear. John also stood up for Rebecca Nurse, known to be QUOTE.Danforth didn’t like this but Proctor already knew this came with consequences.Danforth hated that people opposed the court so they were immediately considered suspects “A person is either with this court or against it”(Act2Scene2). John knew that this might cause him to get hanged but he would rather die than have someone innocent die
The Crucible is a play by Arthur Miller written in the 1950’s. It was set in the 1690’s in Massachusetts. The play is about the witch trials and how something like a group of girls in the woods could lead to about 200 people being hanged and accused of witchcraft. The people of Salem were new to Massachusetts as they were puritans who went off to America to set up a new religious colony . The people were new to their surroundings had the Native Americans as enemies because they took their land. Although the Crucible is about the witch trials, it is thought to be a metaphor for the McCarthy Communist trials
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.
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.
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.
Arthur Miller’s play named “The Crucible” is based originally upon the Salem witch trials that occurred in the late 1600’s
The Crucible is a story based on the Salem witch trials that took place in Salem Village in 1692. The Story starts with a servant to reverend Parris named Tituba. She takes a few young girls into the woods to attempt to conjure spirits and create a love spell for a woman named Abigail. Abigail worked for John and Goody Proctor. She was fired in an attempt to bury the fact that her and john Proctor had an affair.
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.