Examples Of Motivation In The Crucible

The Crucible is a play written by Arthur Miller in 1850 and is set in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. It focuses around the events of the Salem Witch Trials, and is a fictionalized version of what actually occurred in 1692. In the story, the people of Salem use witchery as an excuse to accuse one another and profit from their neighbor’s conviction. The actions of the characters all have different motivations ranging from self-defense to revenge, and the theme of this novel is mainly based on these motivations. The story demonstrates how people are willing to take others’ lives in order to attain higher places in society, save their own lives, or seek out personal vengeance.

Throughout The Crucible various characters use the witch trials as a tool for achieving higher status in society. These characters sacrifice the lives of others for their own purposes and goals. Two examples of this can be seen in the characters Thomas Danforth and Thomas Putnam. Danforth, the Deputy Governor of Salem, uses the trials as a way of increasing his power as a judge, and convicts every accused witch of being guilty, causing them to either hang or be imprisoned. Putnam uses the trials as a way of acquiring his
These people, when accused during the trials, accused others of controlling them and forcing them to do witchery. They were perfectly willing to sacrifice their neighbors’ lives and good names in order to survive. This can be seen through the character Mary Warren, the servant of the Proctor family. When she is accused of attacking the children of the village through witchery she looks at John Proctor and says “You are the Devil‘s man”(Act 3). She says this in court knowing that these words will condemn Proctor and possibly lead to his death, but she knows it will save her life. She was willing to effectively kill Proctor in order to save her own