Reputation of the Crucible

Throughout the play The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, one?s name is a very important motif that is carried out. Reputation is the general estimation in which a person is held by the public, as referred to by dictionary.com. Reputation is very important in Salem because public and private moralities are one and the same. Witchcraft plays a huge role throughout the book and if someone is being named a witch then that is a huge sin to Puritanism. Reputation is a huge key factor to even everyone?s daily life. As a young teenager in high school, a teen would like their reputation to be positive so that people think highly of that person. Same goes with the play The Crucible. Focused on maintaining public reputation, the people in the town of Salem must fear that the sins of their friends and associates will taint or ruin their names. Many characters for example John Proctor and Reverend Parris, base their actions on the desire to protect their personal reputation.

When the play first begins, Parris fears that Abigail, his niece, is convicted of being a witch because of her intolerable actions, and the witchcraft that associates with his daughter?s coma will cause much chaos and bring down his power as a Reverend in Salem. Parris feels that power and reputation is the most important thing to him as a Reverend and as a townsperson in Salem. For example on page 30 Parris shrieks, ?I want a mark of confidence, is all! I am your third preacher in seven years. I do not wish to be put out like the cat whenever some majority feels the whim. You people seem not to comprehend that a minister is the lord?s man in the parish; a minister is not to be so lightly crossed and contradicted.? Parris thinks that because he is a Revered, he has automatic power, but if anything were to interfere with his authority, it would cause a huge decline in his power leading to his reputation being ruined.

John Proctor, a farmer who lives outside the town has an affair with Abigail who is just a