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Morality in the crucible
Theme of deception in the crucible act 1
Honesty in the crucible
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Have you ever told a lie to protect yourself or someone you love? People lie for their own purposes. Some people lie for themselves or for their close one. They depend on the lies so much that they do not care that their lies might hurt others. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, almost all the characters lie for their own desires and to protect their own interests. Even though lies are forbidden in their religion, some people are blind to understand the punishment of lying. The concept of lying to save oneself is also evident in “Fear Was Reason For Lying About Shooting, Woman Says” by Mary Spicuzza. The article highlights how a woman hid the truth about witnessing a murder just for the sake of her own life. Another article, “The Truth …show more content…
At certain times it might feel right for some people to help the people that they love by lying. Elizabeth, Proctor's wife, does not tell the truth about her husband's affair in front of the society to protect her husband. She describes her husband as a “good and righteous man” in the court (Miller 113). However, that is not the truth. When a person loves someone, he or she would do anything to help that person. Some people choose the right way, while the others choose the wrong path. Elizabeth decides to lie for the first time just to save Proctor from the problems that he might face if the truth is revealed. Similarly, a teenage girl lies about her friend’s abortion to protect her. De Paulo says, “People tell these serious lies to protect something when the truth could threaten something that they really value” (Kelleher 1). In this case, the girl took the same step to save her friend. People do not want to see their loved ones suffer. As a result, they hide the truth to protect that person from danger. To protect others, they forget the bad outcomes and the trouble they might have to face for telling lies. Not only do people lie for others, but they lie for their own
In conclusion, the theme on how hysteria can occur and corrupt the entire community is displayed in The Crucible. Miller depicts how people can become hysterical over nonsensical things and that hysteria can ruin many people's lives. The reader should understand this theme to be aware of how much we can get swept up in hysteria. Without this hysteria a teenage girl had no power until she cried out witchcraft, a man was not able to act on his revenge until accusing someone else. Fear caused the townsfolk to believe the crazy accusations that someone could actually be a witch. All they were hearing was lie after lie. It’s sad how they actually could believe them. Make you think twice when you hear of a rumor, doesn’t
Lying is a natural human defense that we use for various things. Everyone lies. In The Crucible we get to see exactly what could happen if lies spiral out of control to the point where crying witch is believed at every turn. In the article “Ways We Lie” by Stephanie Ericsson, she discusses the different types of lying and when they are typically used. Some of these include Facade, White Lies, and Groupthink. These three types of lying are directly relevant and present in The Crucible. The plot is driven by lies, and as they pile on top of eachother is becomes harder and harder to uncover the truth.
"Power tends to corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely" - Lord Action. In "The Crucible" composed by Arthur Miller control, power, fear and greed were the main factors that began the Salem witch trails. Power brings out the true nature of a person and we see that happening to Abigail throughout the play. That brings me to my next point fear, Abigail used the fear of accusing people of being witches to gain power and control. It all started with Abigail misunderstanding lust for love. John Proctor thought softly of her and she began dreaming of replacing his wife willing to go to any needs necessary.
If you had to choose between your life or someone else’s, which would you pick? Everybody wants to think that they would do the noble thing, but when it comes down to it, would you? Miller describes it was a choice that can go both ways in his play, The Crucible. The Crucible explores how scapegoating functioned in the Salem Witch Trials and how its characters like Mary Warren and Tituba embody this theme in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692.
First and foremost, the act of lying can cause a lot of wrongs and damage. For example, Abigail Williams told her uncle, Reverend Parris, that all the girls including herself were only dancing in the woods. This is not truthful because in the beginning of act 1 in the Crucible it was stated that Reverend Parris saw Tituba waving her hands over the fire mumbling gibberish while the girls danced and someone ran through the trees naked. Knowing this it had also caused a lot in the village due to the belief of witchcraft. Abigail denied it but told the girls that if anyone questioned them to keep hush and claim that they had only danced. “Listen
People make life or death choices every day. In The Crucible, John Proctor and others decided dying honestly was better than living a lie. At this time, countless were accused of witchcraft and working with the devil in the town of Salem, MA. In this play, Reverend Hale told Elizabeth proctor “no principle, however glorious, is worth dying for.” He argued that living a life of dishonesty is better than dying for the truth, trying to persuade John to live, but as a devil's advocate. But John believed no life was worth living if it was full of falsifies information.
When Proctor is put on trial, Danforth brings in Elizabeth to questions about the affair. Elizabeth must feel her heart racing because his life is in her hands. The words that came out of Elizabeth’s mouth is taken seriously. When Danfourth questions Elizabeth he says “Look at me! To your own knowledge, has John Proctor even committed the crime of lechery?”(Miller 105). Elizabeth answers faintly and says “No, sir”(Miller 105). At that moment, things went terribly wrong. Elizabeth tries to protect Proctor’s name, so she does not tell the truth. Little does she know, Proctor confesses beforehand. Obviously, she does this because no matter what, she still loves him. After the trial, Elizabeth talks to John about the situation. When Elizabeth soothes John about the situation, she says “John, it come to naught that I should forgive you, if you’ll not forgive yourself” (Miller 126). Elizabeth’s forgiveness makes John want to keep lying. If he knows she is okay with it, he will deny it to others. Her opinion is so important to him because he wants the best for her. Although, he decides to confess. This proves Elizabeth does not want him to die. Finally , after everything Proctor has been through, she lies to the court, so they do not hang him. This proves Elizabeth is a loyal
portrays that a person should not lie, even when drastic consequences such as death threaten
In Arthur Miller’s contemporary play, The Crucible, many abandon logic in face of tumultuous time. A group of people who claim they practiced witchcraft accuse many others of the same crime. Difficulty exists in maintaining a fair trial for the accused, due to the hardship of proving innocence and ulterior motives of the court. Many use fallacious arguments to protect themselves, such as circular reasoning. In her trial, Martha Corey bases her innocence on knowing “not what a witch is” and defends her statement that if she practices witchcraft “I would know it” (Miller 83-84). Martha can only use a fallacious argument in her defence, as hard evidence for the invisible crime of witchcraft does not exist. Martha’s trial and several others
They say “Honesty is the best policy”, but that isn’t necessarily true especially for those who lived in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. Honesty may have been a good trait for someone to have, but during the witch trials people rethought that. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller portrayed many people as good puritans. Always loyal and honest throughout their lives, and avoiding any sins that they possibly could. But there were people who had to sin to save their lives or even to save their reputation. Abigail Williams was just an young girl who turned to lying in order to save herself during the Salem Witch Trials. At the same time, Elizabeth Proctor was not agreeing with the witch business that she was accused of. You could tell lies during this time, and no one would think that you were turning too sins because the entire town was becoming obsessed about all those accused of possible witchcraft. While some were being accused, others were avoiding the truth when confessing. Like when Abigail never confessed to drinking blood when she was with Tituba and Betty. In The Crucible, Honesty was portrayed
“I want my life, … I will have my life” (137). In the drama of the “Crucible” John Proctor is accused of being a witch. John is unaware of the reason he is accused, but it is obvious that every time someone comes close to getting to the bottom of the girls lie that is the person the girls accuse. Before the beginning of the play John had committed lechery with Abigail Williams. John Proctor is almost ready to admit that he is a witch even though he is not, some reasons that he doesn’t admit it could be that it could help to make the girls seem like they are telling the truth, because he doesn’t want to live a lie and because he doesn’t want other people to look at him as a witch, nor does he want people to follow his lie and start admitting to things when they didn’t really do it. John Proctor would rather die honest than live a lie!
Honesty is being fair and truthful to others. Honesty creates strong relationships in everyday life while dishonesty does the exact opposite and destroys relationships. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, dishonesty is linked to the main cause and also it affects the evidence of the Salem witch trials of 1692.
The reasoning pitfall raising a red herring appears in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible when Mr. Parris questions John Proctor’s religion in court. Parris commits a logical fallacy by stating “Such a Christian that will not come to church but once in a month” (88). Paris uses the red herring to mislead the court into questioning Proctor’s moral character instead of examining Procter’s evidence. Damaging Proctor’s reputation develops the theme reputations before reality; for once Parris damaged Proctor’s reputation Proctor’s evidence held no water against the Parris family stands high in the community.
Stephanie Ericsson’s The Ways We Lie, analyzes and reflects on how lying has simply become the norm in our society. We all lie, there is not one person in the world that does not lie. Most people lie because they are afraid of telling the truth, however what they do not know is telling a lie can lead them in the wrong direction because many things can happen when lying to a person. The person can find out when everything unravels that person will not have trust in you and you would be known as a liar. To every action there is a consequence, so why not deal with just one consequence when telling the
Judgement is everywhere. Everyone has blamed another person and likely has been their own fault. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible the people are ready to hang someone so long as somebody cries witch. For example: reverend Hale judges people from what he has heard from