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Essay about character
Historical understanding of the term individualism
Effects of individualism on society
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When people are placed under the spotlight of criticism, it is important that they possess individualism and uniqueness. The word individualism is a social theory favoring freedom of action for individuals over collective or state control. In the play “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller, the poem “The Pink Car” by Mark Halliday, and the short story “The Piece of String” by Guy de Maupassant, the protagonist from each piece of literature possesses or wants to portray their individualism or distinction between themselves and others. John Proctor, Mark Halliday, and Maître Hauchecorne all want to remain as themselves and refuse to give into what society wants or expects from them. They continue to act as individuals even though the people around them …show more content…
In the short story, Maître Hauchecorne is a little kid that picks up a piece of string in the town square. “He took the bit of thin cord from the ground and began to roll it carefully when he noticed Maître Malandain, the harness maker, on the threshold of his door, looking at him.” With his enemy watching, he put the string in his pocket discretely and prayed nobody saw him, but somebody did. While eating lunch, a police Sargent removes him from the inn. He is brought to the mayor, who accuses him of picking up a wallet. Hauchecorne had no proof to prove he was innocent but he knew that he didn’t do anything wrong by picking up a piece of string. He was accused of stealing, but yet, he never gave in or conveyed his beliefs to the people. Although this whole situation led him to become miserable, he maintained his individuality by not giving in to the public accusations made against him. There is actually some irony in this story too, which is quite interesting. By picking up something so little, led to something so big and ultimately his death. The underlying theme of individualism is portrayed throughout the story by Hauchecorne because with all the criticism and accusations, he remained himself and didn’t do things that others wanted him to
“The Crucible” and “Young Goodman Brown”, are both examples of societies that are trying to create perfection and become a “city on a hill”. Both of these cities are both created in a way, where everyone and everything has to be perfect. Both of these cities set an example for other cities around them in such a way, that it shows their achievements and success that they have created in a perfect city. In both, “The Crucible” and Young Goodman Brown”, the main characters true goal in life, is to have a perfect world. The stories “The Crucible” and “Young Goodman Brown”, are prime example of how being “a city on a hill” is impossible because of people lying and people sinning against their religion.
The successful and what could have been successful societies in both Lord of the Flies and The Crucible eventually decayed and fell apart. There were struggles with good and evil in Salem and on the island that were the result of three main elements. Fear, misuse of power and fanatical religious beliefs were the cause of the two societies failure.
Personal character traits are the attitudes you have toward your activities and the challenges they present. These traits may be positive, negative or often in between, depending on the situation. Many negative character traits were depicted in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. He discussed the guilt of personal private sin, loss of emotional control and the worst of all jealousy. Negative personal character traits can lead to failure or frustration. These characteristics will affect you throughout your life. The story revolves around Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. The author converses about witchcraft and displays many issues in the town of Salem. These above traits are still found in our times because we don’t live in an ideal society.
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is a play that discusses many issues and spurs contemplation within the reader. While reading this play, because of the controversy of many issues detailed within, it is difficult for one not to take a look at one’s own morals and determine what one would do if placed in a similar situation. The key issues discussed within this play, the effects of hysteria, marital betrayal, and the murderous powers of lies, are portrayed intriguingly and effectively. The lessons that can be learned from The Crucible are still quite applicable today.
In this world some people live and die for pride, others try their whole lives to understand it, and there are others who cowardize from it as well. John Procter's actions throughout the play are motivated by his strong sense of pride that he has on himself. In the book The Crucible by Arthur Miller, many of the characters learn things about themselves as well as the others. Some of the characters were John Procter, Reverend Parris and the judge, Danforth. Author Miller develops the characters in the play to introduce the themes of pride and self-centeredness that took a strong part in throughout the book in every step of the way.
Piers Anthony once said, “When one person makes an accusation, check to make sure that he himself is not the guilty one. Sometimes it is those whose case is weak who make the most clamour.” Everybody has been falsely accused at some time in his life. In fact, being blamed for something that one was not guilty of occurs during adulthood just as frequently as it does during childhood. False accusations are not abnormal in today’s society. Furthermore, they’ve been prevalent throughout all of history.
Miller captured the paranoia and hatred of the 1692 Salem Witch Trials and made a controversial reference to his own society's Witch Hunts during McCarthyism in the 1950s. In only 146 pages, Miller told us the stories of the lives of John Proctor, Elizabeth Proctor, Abigail Williams and others during the 1692 Witch Trials in Salem Massachusetts. The quiet Salem community was living happily in their own sleepy world, until several local girls fell ill and their sickness was blamed on witchcraft.
After finishing The Crucible in both novel and movie form, it truly transcends to be comparable to the many accusations of sexual harassment from well-known actors, directors, and producers in 2017. Both The Crucible and the sexual harassment allegations of 2017, led to the demise of many people’s reputation, which either killed their career or themselves. Both, include many accusations against people, from usually women, with either little to no evidence. Lastly, both are similar into why
The Crucible is a story about how some girls from the town of Salem were found dancing naked around a fire in the middle of the bush. They were trying to do spells on the men that they love to love them back with a lady named tituba. The man that had found them was the leader of the ton and since his daughter was there she ran and then acted like if she was in a coma so she wouldn't get in trouble. The dad had thought that they did witchcraft in her and they had brought actual police fo a court. The Dying Girl that No One Helped is about how she was murder in the streets of New York in plain day time while 36 neighbors watched and did not do anything and the killer knew they weren't. Turns out that they were scared about being questioned. The stories both have similarities and differences.
The Crucible takes place in Salem, Massachusetts at 1962 and is about the Salem Witch Trials. The Crucible starts with a man named Reverend Samuel Parris. His daughter Betty is comatose. No one knows what is wrong with her. When she began to be comatose, she, his niece Abigail Williams (who lives with him since her parents died from an attack from Indians), and other girls were dancing in a forest with his black slave named Tituba the night before, which Parris witnessed. The town is rumoring that witchcraft was involved. When Parris confronts Abigail about it, she denies everything and says they were just simply dancing. Parris has asked for Reverend Hale, an expert on witchcraft to look at Betty.
Does society’s elucidation of you demarcate everything about who you are? Arthur Miller explores how the community of 1692 Salem, Massachusetts’ people’s reputation defines everything about them in The Crucible.
In The Crucible, Arthur Miller establishes the universal theme that good does not always prevail over evil. It shows that fear and suspicion can produce a mass hysteria that destroys public order and rationality. This theme is clearly identified through the character's actions throughout the play. Three characters in the play demonstrate different types of human condition through the decisions they make. Reverend Hale and John Proctor represent the human condition to choose rationally while Danforth advocates a more traditional side. All but Danforth have a change of heart from the given situation. The Crucible argues that even when a society is corrupt, a person with high moral character can follow their conscience to make a good decision.
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
The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is a play filled with backstabbing and deceit, but compassion and forgiveness are the prevailing themes hovering above the rest. People in the book are engrossed in a culture which lets women do no more than cook, tend the house and read. Women and girls in this culture often become bored with their lives and attempt to find outlets and this happened in the puritan lifestyle of which the Crucible is engrossed in. Compassion is a main theme of this book which takes its effect through Hale’s actions in the court, John Proctor’s attitude towards Abigail's love and Elizabeth's forgiveness of Proctor for Adultery.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller raises many thought provoking issues throughout the play, including the importance of personal integrity, injustice in society and the rights of the community versus the rights of the individual.