The Crucible – Forgiveness
The Healing Power Of Forgiveness - The Gift of Reconciliation
"The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong."
---Mahatma Gandhi
Forgiveness is a process of inner healing. For most of the people in The Crucible, they did not need to necessarily forgive others; but forgive themselves. The Crucible is a story of mass hysteria in a period of time in which men dominated women. However, Arthur Miller portrays Abigail Williams and Elizabeth Procter as two women with drastic roles to play. John Procter is a man who has great influence over the people of Salem. They speak to him because he is a man of truth and integrity. There are many other characters in the novel although these three stuck out in my mind the most. I have definitely forgiven people in my life; but as a Christian I know I cannot forget.
Arthur Miller portrayed forgiveness in The Crucible in a way I had never thought possible. There were many characters in the novel, but the three that appeared to be most important were John Procter, Abigail Williams, and Elizabeth Procter. John Procter was a farmer in his mid 30's who was married to Elizabeth Procter. The Procter's lived in the outskirts of town and were, for the most part, good Christians. John was a very proud man, who was considered a leader by many of the townspeople. John Procter's one mistake was having an affair with their servant Abigail Williams. Although John confessed the affair to his wife, she never fully forgave him. Abigail Williams was around 17 years old and was a very misleading girl. She was the leader of a group of girls in falsely accusing many innocent people of witchcraft. In all actuality, Abigail just wanted Elizabeth dead because she wanted John. Another reason that she wanted Elizabeth dead is because she had been fired from being the Procter's servant for so long. Abigail knew that Elizabeth had been catching on that she loved John and the only way she could have John was if Elizabeth was dead. If Elizabeth had just forgiven John of his lechery with Abigail and then moved away, none of the Salem Witch Trials would have ever happened.
¨I have known her, sir. I have known her.¨ A crucible is a test or severe trial, and no trial is more severe than that of a man’s soul. The entire story of Salem is ridden with tests of character and the humanity of the citizens as they respond to the mass hysteria created by someone crying witch. Every single character in this play is given a trial through which they must come to achieve their greater purpose, and these trials expose the skeletons in their closets and the blackness of their sins. However, the similar message is presented in different ways by the cinematic portrayal and Miller’s original play. Lies, unsubstantiated accusations, jealousy, and self-righteousness are the main factors fueling the flame of deceit and hatred. John
Abigail and her friends start to accuse people in the town of witchcraft; by saying a person’s spirit attacked them. The people who were accused were usually the outcast of the town or someone Abigail and her friends
The Soviet Union and the United States were very distant during three decades of a nuclear arms race. Even though the two nations never directly had a battle, the Cuban Missile Crisis, amongst other things, was a result of the tension. The missile crisis began in October of 1962, when an American spy plane secretly photographed nuclear missile sites being built by the Soviet Union in Cuba. JFK did not want the Soviet Union and Cuba to know that he had discovered the missiles, so he made his decisions very secretly. Eventually, Kennedy decided to place a ring of ships around Cuba and place missiles in Turkey. Eventually, both leaders superpowers realized the possibility of a nuclear war and agreed to a deal in which the Soviets would remove the missiles from Cuba if the US didn't invade Cuba. Even though the Soviets removed took their missiles out of Cuba and the US eventually taking their missiles out of Turkey, they (the Soviets) continued to build a more advanced military; the missile crisis was over, but the arms race was not.
The Cuban Missile Crisis began with a set of photographs taken over Cuba by an American pilot.2 These photographs showed that Russians were building missile bases in Cuba and placing missiles and atomic weapons there that were easily within range of the United States. President JFK and Robert Kennedy were both stunned. From this point a board of advisors was created and called the Ex Comm, who met every day during those thirteen days and debated the various courses of actions, and consequences of each, that the president could take. Kennedy emphasizes the making of this board as a lesson for future government officials because he believes that it "proved conclusively how important it is that the President have the recommendations and opinions of more than one...point of view."3
The Cuban Missile Crisis was not only the tensest confrontation between these two nations; it was also the most controversial. There have been many different theories as to why the Soviet Union set up nuclear-armed missiles in Cuba in the first place. One theory suggests that Stalin’s successor, Nikita Khrushchev, placed these weapons in Cuba because he felt endangered by the United States’ nuclear missiles in Turkey, which were a threat to the Soviet Union. Another theory proposes that Castro feared for another US invasion in Cuba, thus enlisting the help of their communist allies. Since the unsuccessful attack at the Bay of Pigs, Castro feared for another invasion, perhaps a more successful one of Cuba. But nonetheless, the Cuban Missile Crisis proves to be successful in which we avoided a nuclear war.
A. Khrushchev, and the Russian military, placed nuclear offensive missiles into Cuba. A U-2 plane taking pictures over Cuba spotted the missile camps in Cuba, and brought it to the attention of the President. After a meeting with Russian officials, the Russian’s assured that the missiles were for defensive purposes only. The U.S. officials knew that the missiles were nuclear and for offensive purposes. So, instead of bombing the area before the missiles were ready, like the White House officials wanted, President Kennedy decided to put a quarantine line on the border of Cuba, to stop Russian ships from delivering nuclear equipment. As the ships got closer and closer to the line, Khrushchev wanting to avoid war, called the ships to turn around. After 2 letters, to and from Khrushchev, Kennedy agreed, that if the Russians dismantled the missiles, and got the equipment out of Cuba, the U.S. would get their missiles out of Turkey, within 6 months.
The Cuban Missile Crisis most definitively is known for how it halted nuclear attack on the brink of a hot war. With missiles in Cuba and Turkey pointing at each other, a stalemate was created between the Soviet Union and the United States. A policy of Mutually Assured Destruction was followed in order to prevent either side from attacking the other in fear of mass amounts of death and environmental consequences that would be caused by a nuclear war between the two most powerful countries in the world. The United States had always had weapons in Turkey within the region of the Soviet Union, being threatened by this the leader of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev order for missiles to be sent to the communist ally in the caribbean which was Cuba led by former revolutionary Fidel Castro. After this event had occurred President Kennedy addressed the nation and the world on how the U.S. would respond to such threats. “ This urgent transformation of Cuba into an important strategic base--by the presence of these large, long range, and clearly offensive weapons of sudden mass destruction--co...
The play, The Crucible, is a fireball of guilt, evil, and good compiled into one magnification. It is a play with tremendous feelings, with many inside twists hidden in the archives of the true story. It is a play with emotional feelings; feelings of anger, hate, and evil, yet also feelings of goodness, and pureness. Undeniably, The Crucible is a play illustrating good versus evil. The principal characters, Abigail Williams, John Proctor, Ann Putnam and Marry Warren all contain within them elements of good and evil.
In every conflict there always seems to be at least one person to blame. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, many problems arise that deal with live and death. Many innocent people in this play were hanged during the Salem Witch Trials. Of course, there are many people that may be blamed. In The Crucible, one may find Abigail Williams, The Putnams, and Mary Warren to blame. Abigail was manipulative, The Putnams were very jealous, and Mary Warren was weak-willed.
“Well, all the plays that I was trying to write were plays that would grab an audience by the throat and not release them, rather than presenting an emotion which you could observe and walk away from.” by Arthur Miller. All great works provide a way to reach in and grab the audience through the reoccurring themes like, greed, jealousy, reputation and hypocrisy. Arthur Miller had one of those great works and it was called “The Crucible”. The play was based off of the witch trials that happened in Salem in the year of 1962. Some of the characters were actual characters involved in the witch trials. Arthur Miller wrote this play during the time of the “Red Scare”. Miller wrote The Crucible because he wanted to turn the The Salem Witch Trials into
The Crucible is a 1953 play by Arthur Miller. Initially, it was known as The Chronicles of Sarah Good. The Crucible was set in the Puritan town of Salem, Massachusetts. It talks of McCarthyism that happened in the late 1600’s whereby the general public and people like Arthur Miller were tried and persecuted. The Crucible exemplifies persecutions during the Salem Witch Trials. The people were convicted and hung without any tangible proof of committing any crime. Persecutions were the order of the day. When a finger was pointed at any individual as a witch, the Deputy Governor Danforth never looked for evidence against them or evidence that incriminated them; he ordered them to be hanged. This can be seen through his words “Hang them high over the town! Who weeps for those, weeps for corruption!” (1273), the people were persecuted aimlessly. The four main characters in the play, John Proctor, Abigail Adams, Reverend Hale and Reverend Parris, are caught in the middle of the witchcraft panic in the religious Salem, Massachusetts in late 1690’s. Persecution is the most important theme in the Crucible, the leaders and citizens of Salem attacks and persecutes one of their own without any tangible evidence against them.
The Crucible – Human Nature Human nature was fully to blame for the disaster which took place in Salem in 1692. Human nature is what your character is made of in trying situations, and in 1692 scientific knowledge was extremely poor by today's standards and so all reoccurring problems were blamed on an evil force, whether it be the devil or witches or anything the imagination could conjure, hence human nature was being tested regularly. The decisions people made were critical to the disaster's progression, in today's scene in would have been dismissed within minutes, but the paranoia floating around in the town kept the ball rolling. People were so terrified of the thought of evil that any suggestion of it would create a preordained judgement in the mind of anyone, especially those who made judgement of the accused. To get to the supposed
Great events, whether they are beneficial or tragic ones, bring change in a person. These scenarios can give one an entirely new perspective on life, and turn around his way of thinking. Events such as the Salem Witch Trials show the people involved what they could not see before. In Arthur Miller's The Crucible, Elizabeth Proctor, Reverend Hale, and John Proctor gain valuable insight into themselves, as well as others.
Nathan, James A. "Chapter 9: The Kennedy-Khrushchev Letters: An Overview." The Cuban Missile Crisis Revisited. New York: St. Martin's, 1992. 281.
Forgiveness is the act of releasing an offender of any wrong or hurt they may have caused you whether they deserve it or not. It is a decision to let go of resentment or vengeance toward a person or group of people. When we choose to forgive, we’re wiping the slate clean, cancelling a debt, or as I love to say, “Letting it go.” In the Bible, the Greek word for forgiveness literally means to “let it go.” This concept, “forgiveness,” is easier said than done. Majority of people find it very difficult to let go of offenses and hurts caused by others. I really do believe that most people desire to let it go, but we lack the knowledge of how to do it. As believers, we are instructed by God maintain an attitude of forgiveness.