Preview

The Crucible Research Paper

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
365 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Crucible Research Paper
The Crucible Essay The word crucible means a severe test or a vessel of a very refractory material (as porcelain) used for melting and claiming a substance that requires a high degree of heat. It also means a place or situation in which concentrated forces interact to cause or influence change or development If you combine these three definitions, you come up with a container where under high heat (or in Miller's case...the stress of being accused of witchcraft (or communism under McCarthy)), there comes a severe test (the trials), where forces interact (the girl's false accusations and the people's fear about doing the right thing), to influence change (the hangings and murders of innocent citizens due to false accusations). The reason

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Of the over 40,000 words brilliantly crafted into a story, only two are able of capturing the meaning of Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible. Set in Salem, Massachusetts during the witch trials, Miller depicts the town and the strong puritan values vested in its people. When accusations of witchcraft run ravage through the streets, such puritan purity is in question. The Crucible is a fitting title for Arthur Miller’s play.The English noun crucible symbolizes Salem, the trials and the resulting changes that occur.…

    • 683 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Crucible is a book written by Arthur Miller in the 1950’s. The book describes events of paranoia in the form of witchcraft, and trial. This book was written during the McCarthy Era, which, as defined by http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mccarthyism?s=t, was the government, amongst others, making unsupported claims of people being communist. The Crucible was based on the witch trials of Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries, in which central european countries would trial, torture, and kill tens of thousands of men and women across the continent.…

    • 638 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The definition of crucible is a severe test or trial. Arthur Miller skillfully uses this word to describe the 16th century, Salem inspired, witch trial based play, The Crucible. Handling the chaos of the courts in Salem became an accomplishment in its self. The characters also endured a test of strength by deciphering between what is best for themselves or their friends. Three characters that undergo many tests of emotional strength and stability in this play are John Proctor, the protagonist, Elizabeth whom is John’s upright and composed wife, and Reverend Hale the supernatural expert with a vendetta against witches.…

    • 509 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Paranoia In The Crucible

    • 762 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Crucible. One word. Three syllables. Two definitions: “a container for purifying metals” and “a severe test.” When applying this dual meaning to the Salem Witch Trials’ havoc, the title’s cleverness becomes apparent; Arthur Miller’s selection is fitting. Both definitions are suitable for the play because its characters are refined to their core elements as well as given the ultimate test.…

    • 762 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Crucible was about the Salem witch trials in the 1600’s. Witchcraft is the practice of black magic, which uses spells and the invocation of evil spirits. A crucible is a metal container used to melt down metals and separate the valuable from the less valuable. It also means a difficult situation where people are severely tested.The title of Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible is symbolic of both of these words. In act one Abigail Williams was the most responsible for the chaotic situation that occurred in Salem in the 1600’s.…

    • 616 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The author purpose to write this story is to explain why he wrote The Crucible, what pushes him to write such a story. Arthur Miller tried to make life real by showing that things get repeated in history. The McCarthy trials are similar to Salem Witch trials. People were being accused for things that they never did and do not have any proof that they did these thing. The Crucible shows that whatever is happening now happened before, and we are repeating the history. It is important for people to remember so they do not make any more mistakes,or make up any silly stories that will affect society The anti-communist rage in the McCarthy era and the Salem witch trial in Massachusetts destroyed people's lives; the mass hysteria that swept the United States.…

    • 418 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Crucible means a place or occasion of severe test or trial. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, it talks about the Salem witch trials, where Reverend Hale, the so called Doctor of the story, comes to play a dramatic role as religious man, trying to figure out the truth of what's really going on in the town.…

    • 57 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Why the “Crucible”?

    • 578 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The definition of a “crucible” is, “A ceramic or metal container in which metals or other substances may be melted or subjected to very high temperatures.” But what would this have to do with the Salem Witch Trials? Arthur Miller meant for the title to be very symbolic when associated with this definition. The best way to break it down is to think of it like this. At high temperatures, things melt or burn. At high emotion, logic melts or burns, the emotions of the characters are high, hence the logic melts away, the logic melts away through hasty decisions and hypocrisies.…

    • 578 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Hysteria In The Crucible

    • 2228 Words
    • 9 Pages

    The title of this play is a good choice because it has a double meaning. A crucible is a situation in which someone or something is severely tested. It also is a container used in the process of heating and melting metals to separate the valuable metals from the not so valuable. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Abigail is most responsible for the chaotic witchcraft situation by the end of act 1 in Salem, Massachusetts.…

    • 2228 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Trials In The Crucible

    • 885 Words
    • 4 Pages

    According to the Encarta® World English Dictionary, a definition for the word crucible is a place or set of circumstances where people or things are subjected to forces that test them and often make them change. In the drama The Crucible by Arthur Miller, various citizens of Salem, Massachusetts face the witch trials. Victims were tried and convicted based on only spectral evidence. John Proctor, Giles Corey, and Reverend Hale were a few among the many that went through these severe tests, hardships and trials.…

    • 885 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When considering the title of the play “The Crucible” and the first definition in the Webster’s dictionary, one may gain insight into Arthur Miller’s title selection. Crucible is a vessel used for melting at a high degree of heat. The village of Salem can be compared to this. The village was a very strict Puritan village.…

    • 738 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible in 1953, just when the Second World War had ended. But still there was a battle between the capitalists and the communists. Arthur Miller wrote this book because of the incidents that occurred during the 1950’s. Senator Joseph McCarthy had a feeling of communism in the United States. So he starts a witch hunt to find the communists in the United States and he targeted celebrities of Hollywood such as Helen Keller, Langston Hughes and Charlie Chaplin put them all on trial for been associated with the Communist Party. This also parallels into Arthur Miller’s Crucible where people were put on trial based on supernatural evidence such as the Red Scare when McCarthy accused people with little to no real evidence.…

    • 507 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A crucible is a severe test as of patience or belief, a trial. Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible is a journey through the trials of many townspeople caused by suspicions of witchcraft. As the story progresses, people’s words and actions cause Reverend John Hale to change his views on whether the people prosecuted were guilty or innocent of witchcraft. As numerous events and their consequences unfold, they cause Hale to rethink his initial views on witchcraft and to be persuaded of the innocence of those convicted in Salem.…

    • 994 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” (H. P. Lovecraft). The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, is set in a controversial religious part of history that uses strict morals and disquietude to install panic of the unknown. In The Crucible, the reader can see that Abigail is a depraved, vengeful, manipulative, evil minded young girl who uses fear and spite to dictate the world around her. Using her vengeful and nasty, unforgiving past of witnessing her parents getting bashed in the head right next to her pillow helped her form a wall to hurt others before they hurt her. To be above everyone else at all times by using her evil mind, malicious words is how she sees success and safety in herself.…

    • 501 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Crucible Essay

    • 654 Words
    • 3 Pages

    An outlook on gender roles in today ‘s advanced society is drastic contrast to the views portrayed in the crucible written by Arthur Miller depicts women as weak . None of the females in crucible posses extreme power but the truthful pre-hearted and family oriented women seemed to be even less powerful than the others . Therefore, Miller has also shown women sufferance In crucible through interpretive evidence on how tituba was being accused for all witchcraft and how she demolished the puritan society rules. According to the document women are not as inferior as men , despite how literate they are , their always fictionalize as barmaids, bitches, whores, or brainless housewives .…

    • 654 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays