Preview

Crucible

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
884 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Crucible
! Throughout history, it is evident that creating a perfect society is impossible. Two specific examples come from the United States, these include the little town of 1692 Salem, Massachusetts and the reign of McCarthyism in the 1940s to 1950s. During McCarthyism reign, fear of communism swept the nation. McCarthy blacklisted anyone and everyone, this meant they he believed he they were involved with communism. These accusations made McCarthy one of the most powerful men in the nation. One of the accused communist was Arthur Miller, author of The Crucible. The Crucible was written in response of the accusation. In Miller’s play, he quickly made it clear what motifs he wanted to express the audience, which included law, religion, and accusations.
! In the crucible, the theme of reputation can be found at all corners. The citizens of Salem frequently fear for their public image because the word spreads fast and ruin their name. The first Act demonstrated this theme clearly when Reverend Parris who does not want his daughter Betty’s condition to be linked with witchcraft. He also fears that his niece, Abigail Williams, will create chaos within the whole situation since her name is rumored to being involved with witchcraft. As you read, you can feel that sometimes he feels a little more worried about his power and authority than he is about his own daughter. His fear resulted in him lying about the night in the woods with Betty and Abigail, in which they were accused of witchcraft despite the of proven evidence. One of the main characters, John Proctor, struggled throughout the play to defend his name. He knew that Abigail Williams had accused his wife, Elizabeth, of witchcraft because she saw that she was in the way of her relationship with Proctor. During the court trails, Proctor doesn’t immediately admit to his affair with Abigail due to his fear
that his name will be ruined since adultery is considered a sin. In act four, Proctor’s desire to keep his

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    John Proctor Essay

    • 1012 Words
    • 5 Pages

    To start, Proctor was a man that was well respected in the community, but his flaw of lust broke the stronghold of his marriage and what happened would incite the town’s loss of sanity and thus began the witch trials. John Proctor was married to Elizabeth Proctor and was a respected man and was very influential in the village (Miller 1245). The Crucible described him as, “The kind of man-powerful body, even tempered, and not easily led” (Miller 1245). However, a little later, The Crucible, states, “Proctor, respected and even feared in Salem, has come to regard himself as a fraud” (Miller 1245). Why? To explain, he and seventeen year old Abigail Williams had an affair. He, feeling like a fraud illustrates the fact that perhaps Proctor didn’t have as much pride as one would think. Abigail was wholly convinced John loved her…

    • 1012 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    He becomes selfless and sacrifices his reputation and his life to save everyone else in the court by the end of the Crucible. John Proctor said "You will not judge me more, Elizabeth. I have good reason to think before I charge fraud on Abigail. And I will think on it. Let you look to your own improvement before you go to judge your own husband anymore. I have forget Abigail" (pg. 918.) In the beginning of the book, he knew he was going to hurt his neighbors from hiding what he did with Abigail, but he was so afraid about the citizens of Salem find out about his affair. John was afraid to tell the judges about his affair with Abigail because Abigail is going to ruin his reputation by charge lechery. John proctor said " I speak my own sins; I cannot judge another." (Pg. 968.) John Proctor tried to speak his own sins, confess he saw the witches to survive, and ask forgiveness for Elizabeth because it will save the others. John Proctor signed a written confession that will be hung on the courthouse door. He knew that will ruin his name and reputation in the society, but he sacrificed himself to save people who are in the prison.…

    • 830 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a play based on the Salem Witch Trials. The people behind the Trials, the Puritans, were used as the characters in this work, and one of them, as well as their partly fabricated background, struck me in particular. John Proctor was an average Puritan man, decent amount of land, livestock, and Christian. John Proctors, entry into the story starts with his wife, Elizabeth Proctor, being accused of witchcraft by Abigail Williams, Reverend Parris’s niece. John Proctor then dedicates his time to saving his wife. Some of Proctor’s actions, before and during the time period of the play, cause people to ask the question, “Is John Proctor a sincere Christian?”…

    • 454 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Crucible

    • 1026 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Crucible is a play that explores ideas such as conflict, the importance of reputation and the relationship between fear and power. Arthur Miller uses this dramatic setting, symbolism and conflict between characters to show his audience and readers the similarities between the Salem witch hunts and the persecution of communists in his own time. This essay will show that the messages in The Crucible such as the harm that false accusations can cause and the importance of having a good reputation are as relevant today as they were then, through comparison to current events in Australia.…

    • 1026 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Crucible

    • 873 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is a historical fiction play about the famed Salem witch trials. Historical fiction? So it 's both historical fact and fiction? Is it more fact or fiction? In my opinion this play, The Crucible, is more fiction than fact. This is only my opinion though, it is not a fact and it cannot be proven that the play is more fact than fiction or the other way around. In this paper I will discuss why it is my opinion that The Crucible is more fiction that fact. In my opinion that Arthur Miller changed too many things in the play to make it very factual. Why did he do that? I think that there are several reasons.…

    • 873 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Crucible

    • 890 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Result of her pride. Provide another quote from the play, page number, and explanation. *…

    • 890 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Characters in the play The Crucible have a tremendous amount of pride. They are known as good citizens in the town, for one reason or another and they would like to uphold their good name. Reputation Is extremely important, where public and private moralities are one and are the same. In Salem, there is no such thing as a private act. Private sins are punished publicly. A person's name is equivalent to one's reputation and how they were known in the town. Having a good reputation is very important throughout the play due to witchcraft trials, where untrue accusations made in court could ends somebody's life. When Reverend Parris found out about the witchcraft he starts to panic. Abigail tries to defend her acting by saying it…

    • 961 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    One of the factors that can be accredited to starting the hysteria over witchery in the Crucible is the weakness of several of the characters in the story. The fear and lack of mental stability of these characters are a pivotal reason as to why these trials took place. It was Parris’s fear of his reputation being tarnished by his daughter’ssickness that led him to bring John Hale which eventually spirals down to the whole witch hunting hysteria. It was Tituba’s fear of being hanged that led her to accuse all those people of being involved with the devil. It was John Proctors reluctance to get involved that led to the downfall of him as well as the town. It is our natural impulse as people to avoid anything that will either bring us harm physically or mentally without considering other perspectives of the situation. We make certain decisions without accumulating significant aspects; people can be blinded by fear as well as love. Like fear love is another weakness that is portrayed by a character in the play. Proctors love for his wife was obvious to the court and was eventually used against him. Proctor did involve himself in the town’s hysteria over witchery, even though he held significant evidence that could contribute to ending these trials. It was not until his wife was arrested that Proctor started to get more involved in the trials. Striving for the freedom of his wife Proctor eventually confesses his affair with Abigail squandering away his reputation. Although love is more of strength then a weakness in this play I see it as a weakness. Human weakness is greatly exposed in the Crucible; it is shown through the acts of the major characters in the story.…

    • 710 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Crucible

    • 1546 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Reverend Parris is characterized in this production as a hypocritical pastor who seems to really only want money and notoriety, and as someone who is generally narrow-minded. The opening scene of the play in which Abigail feigns being attacked, and blames it on Tituba elucidates this. Reverend Parris is eager to believe her because it both proves his accusations of witchcraft, and because Tituba is from a different culture, meaning that she of course must be a witch. Abigail Williams is someone who is vengeful, and who is not afraid to throw others under the bus for her own personal benefit. When Abigail accuses Elizabeth of being a witch, it is an attempt to get back at Elizabeth for firing her, and back at John for not continuing his relationship with her. Abigail also blames Tituba for her own immoral deeds such as laughing during prayer, and dancing in the woods while conjuring spirits. Abigail plays right in to the hysterical witch-hunt in the town so that she may gain something from it. Mass-Hysteria and panic can easily be furthered with people who are young, naïve and impressionable. In The Crucible that character is Mary Warren. The one time that Mary is made to face her friends and accuse them in court of lying, she ultimately falls back into the trap of madness by acting and believing that she is under attack by the spirit of John…

    • 1546 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Crucible

    • 1873 Words
    • 8 Pages

    The crucible by Arthur Miller, is a play that deals with conflicts involved in the Salem witch trials of 1692. The characters in Miller’s theocratic society are not only in conflict with their environment, but with each other and their religious authority.…

    • 1873 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Crucible Book Report

    • 404 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In “The Crucible”, the main plot is surrounded by John Proctor and Abigail Williams, as they are having an affair. John is very sorrowful, but Abigail doesn't believe it was a mistake. Throughout the story she will blame Elizabeth Proctor, who is John's wife, for her and John's relationship not working. While that drama is going on, meanwhile the town…

    • 404 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Dramatic accusations and confessions are an important aspect of injustice in The Crucible. In the first act, even before the hysteria begins, we see Parris accuse Abigail of dishonouring him, and he then makes a series of accusations against his parishioners. Giles Corey and Proctor respond in kind, and Putnam soon joins in, creating a chorus of indictments even before Hale arrives. The entire witch trial system thrives on accusations, the only way that witches can be identified, and confessions, which provide the proof of the justice of the court proceedings. Proctor attempts to break this cycle with a confession of his own, when he admits to the affair with Abigail, but this confession is trumped by the accusation of…

    • 2168 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Reputation is tremendously important to citizens and people in positions of authority in Salem, a theocratic society where public and private moralities are one and the same. Focused on maintaining public reputation, the townsfolk of Salem must fear that the sins of their associates and acquaintances will taint their names, and the fear of guilt by association becomes particularly common. There are various characters that base their actions on the desire to protect their delicate reputations. As the play begins, Reverend Parris becomes concerned that his niece Abigail’s increasingly questionable actions, and the hints of witchcraft surrounding his daughter’s coma, will threaten his reputation as a good minister and force him from the pulpit. In Act I, Parris says, “I pray you leap not to witchcraft…They will howl me out of Salem for such corruption in my house…” (Miller 13). He does not want people to associate him, a priest, with any form of witchcraft, because in that society they associate practices of witchcraft with the Devil. Meanwhile, John Proctor, the protagonist, also seeks to keep his good name by not testifying against Abigail in order to…

    • 1599 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Proctor in the Crucible

    • 662 Words
    • 3 Pages

    When the novel began Proctor was known for being very serious and harsh. His wife was very virtuous but could be cold at times too. It was said he hated hypocrisy which was ironic because when the Proctors got a new housekeeper, Abigail, John was manipulated by her and they ended up having relations. When Elizabeth found out she fired her immediately. As the village starts finding out he does everything he can to keep his name clean and his reputation saved. At first he denies it but Abigail clearly says ““I know how you [Proctor] clutched my back behind your house and sweated like a stallion whenever I came near” (Muller)! Abigail is trying to let everyone know what happened and to embarrass him. So he tries to get the court against her. In Act III, he confesses the truth to the court room by saying “God help me, I lusted, and there is a promise in such sweat” (Miller 110). For this, he gets accused of witchcraft and he gets called a liar to so it back fired to him even though it was out of his control because Abigail manipulated him.…

    • 662 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    the crucible

    • 325 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Rev. Parris and Rev. John Hale are both important characters in the story. These two characters can easily be compared and contrasted. There are some commonalities between the two in the story. Both men are lead male figures in the town, but they were also ministers in the Puritan faith. This was important during this time period because of the beliefs of the time period. And the obvious one if you read the book, is that both are main characters in the story.…

    • 325 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays