Witchcraft In The Crucible

People believe that actions happen for many different reasons and tend to blame others before themselves. Some believe that the devil is doing the work in the body of someone else, and some believe that the devil does not, and some even believe in witchcraft. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, nineteen innocent people are hung for accusations of performing witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts. A group of young girls go out into the woods which is forbidden in Salem. They are sent into a frenzy when the town’s reverend, Parris, spots them dancing in the woods. The girls are led by Abigail Williams, a young teenage girl who lives with her uncle, reverend Parris. Abigail is not the most truthful girl, which ends up causing 19 innocent people their lives. Previous to these events, Abigail was a servant in the Proctor household, but was sent off after Elizabeth Proctor found out about the affair between Abigail and her husband, John Proctor. In Abigail’s case the more lies she told, the more lives she ended.

American playwright, Arthur Miller, in his play The Crucible (1952), suggests 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 (pathos) and logic (logos) to convince the reader that mass “hunts” are still a danger to Americans today. The main way, however, that Miller achieves his ultimate goal of demonstrating the dangers of individuality vs. ideology is through the vivid characterization of Mary Warren. Mary Warren is an example of an outwardly conforming character because in the play she tells Abigail that she wants to tell

In the play The Crucible, the author Arthur Miller displays an unfair treatment of humans when it comes to justice. Characters who live in Salem, Massachusetts, receive improper punishments for their sins of witchcraft and are being accused of crimes they did not commit. The justice system in the play is based on the maxim “guilty until proven innocent” which portrays unjust human rights due to executions of individuals without evidence. The accused characters attempt to defend themselves in court but it is ineffective because the only way to survive is to confess to witchcraft. Miller presents a cruel approach in justice systems and proves them to be unjust through the characters Giles Corey, Tituba, and Rebecca Nurse, who all suffered

The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a historical play set in 1962 in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts. As you may know, you've all placed your trust in the words and actions of someone close to you. And what do they do? They betray you! It's rarely justified, and can happen to the best of us. Based on authentic records of witchcraft trials in the seventeenth-century this play explains how a small group of girls manage to create a massive panic in their town by spreading accusations of witchcraft. These rumors in turn are the causes that many citizens are hung for. This essay will show how the lies and betrayal of a few individuals eventually leads to the downfall of Salem and its society.

The Crucible by Arthur Miller, explains the marvels of witchcraft and the world of “magic”, which unravels a set of confusing disasters in the town of Salem, Massachusetts. While confronted between a choice of life and death, situations hastily get out of hand, and soon become uncontrollable. These events are based on true happenings that led to the writing of this play, which contains the themes mass hysteria, groupthink, and abuse of power. The vast world of witchcraft may not have seemed too intimidating, but it is proven that it’s more dangerous than one can truly imagine.

In The Crucible if these girls didn’t like someone they blamed witchcraft and those people were either hung/jailed or keep the trend going by blaming

If someone told you that your light in your room is flickering, because of witchcraft and not the simple fact that the light bulb is burnt out, would you believe them? Well in Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible they did if something out of the ordinary happened and couldn’t be explained they turned to witchcraft. People were being accused without any proof which leads us to the theme of this play that is to not believe false accusations or accusations that have no proof. The author, Arthur Miller is trying to convey in this story that the government can sometimes get too powerful over the people and rule the people in ways just to benefit themselves. In today’s world there is a lot of debates about whether or not

In “The Crucible”, the author, Arthur Miller, conveys what he believes Senator Joe McCarthy is doing during the Red Scare. The Salem Witch Trials were true events, while this play uses these trials and adds a fictional twist to show a point. Witchcraft was punishable by death during this time. Once names started flying in town it was like a chain reaction, people were accusing others of witchcraft because they were not fond of them or they had something they wanted. Some definitions state mass hysteria as contagious, the characters in this play deemed it true. In this play, innocent people were hung because some of the girls in town cried witch.

The Crucible is a play that takes place in Salem, Massachusetts during the 17th century and is based on true events. The Puritans believed in witchcraft and were gullible. At the start of the play, the audience learns some girls were caught dancing naked in the woods by Reverend Parris. They had supposedly “conjured up spirits” and this led to the accusations of the girls as witches. In order to escape the punishment, they accuse other women of the town of being witches. They say that they were approached by the devil but did not go over to his side so they are used as members of the jury.

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.

Mary’s inability to faint on command for the members of the court was because she tries to make a point that witch accusers are not in fact what they seem. She tells the judge that “HATHORNE: And yet, when people accused of witchery confronted you in court, you would faint, saying their spirits came out of their bodies and choked you, (Miller 106).” “MARY: That were pretense, sir.” (Miller 106) based off this she tries to persuade the judge that the girls got carried away and just don’t want to get into trouble from the dramatic scene where they were dancing in the woods and doing other demonic things. The judges get into the mix of this and claim to have seen her faint before, “PARRIS: Why not? Now there are no spirits attacking you, for

Arthur Miller’s The Crucible features many forms of logical fallacies. Many characters accuse others of witchcraft as it is an easy explanation for hardships; fallacy known as scapegoating. The Putnams decide witchcraft causes the death of their children and the strange behavior of their daughter: “There is a murdering witch among us, bound to keep himself in the dark” (Miller 15). The fallacy adds to the already growing tension in the scene over witchcraft. Instead of following more probable causes that fall outside of the Putnams’ control, they place blame on witchcraft, an enemy that can be fought unlike more probable natural causes.

In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne references many people and things to sources of evil power and evil influences. One of main characters is a little girl named Pearl, who is looked upon as an elvish child by everyone; and she is very abnormal, mystical, and strange, as she runs about wildly and freely, contained by no one and no thing, as an unruly elvish earthling. In the story we read, “The unlikeliest materials—a stick, a bunch of rags, a flower—were the puppets of Pearl’s witchcraft” (Hawthorne 65). From this reference, witches can be perceived to use these materials in their sorcery as well as using them for other rudiments in their practiced religion. Witches were commonly found to be dressed in a rugged appearance of rags, often very

In the Play “ The Crucible” by Arthur Miller. The play is full of suspense, mysterious, and tragedy. Based on the play we can see the same thing that happened a long time ago is happening again throughout the years. The Salem Witch Trial has been according in Modern years. For example The Holocaust, The 911 terrorist attack, and many more events throughout the years. There were innocent people that we accused and blamed for things they have not done like in The Salem Witch Trials. In the 1600s, many England immigrants’ settled in New England. Many immigrants were Puritans and the Puritans didn’t like their church in England. They were very devoted people because they would read the bible and had strict rules in the community. In the 17th century, witchcraft was a crime in their town. In 1620 - 1700, sixteen colonists were executed. This execution happen because of Betty Parris which she was nine years old and her cousin Abigail Williams which she was eleven years old. Every month they would hang different people that was accused of witchcraft because that way they would have a lot of people watching the hangings in the town. Many innocent people were killed due to to jealousy, lying girls, and the town division by wealth and power. The Salem Witch Trials Hysteria of 1692 was caused by jealousy, lying girls, and due to

Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is about the people of 17th century.Salem, Massachusetts situated in a dangerous and dynamic period. The Puritans of Salem joined the bandwagon of the witch hysteria that was first caused by girls falsely accusing others. The inhabitants of Salem feared for their lives as the people who were accused were subjected to death. However, the accused have a chance to save themselves by admitting to a crime they did not commit. Many took the opportunity for self-preservation because it is a human instinct of survival. However, there others who chose to uphold their ideals, name, and reputation. Self-preservation is the motivates the characters to behave and act when they are situated in a compromising situation about the involvement of witchcraft, but there are also times when it is abandoned.