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Women's roles in the crucible
The role and treatment of women in the crucible
Women's roles in the crucible
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Recommended: Women's roles in the crucible
In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, there are multiple very specific ways women are represented, some of which are demeaning. We are shown two different types of women. Miller describes Abigail as a “supporter” of adultery and claims that she becomes a whore. He writes Elizabeth as the classic boring housewife. Miller’s way of depicting these women can be seen as insensitive and demeaning; so much that it may seem to be done on purpose. Was Miller himself stereotypical towards women, or was he trying to expose stereotypes from the
17th century? Miller essentially takes the gender discrimination from 17th century
Salem and applies it to his own writing to construct his female characters.
In The Crucible, one way women are represented is in a mischievous
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At the end of the play, Arthur Miller writes how, “Abigail turned up later as a prostitute in Boston,” (135). This rather unnecessary piece of detail further shows how Miller wrote Abigail’s character with the intentions of making her out to be a whore. He adds this to strengthen who Abigail is. Miller demeans Abigail in The Crucible with whore-like qualities very specific to women.
In The Crucible, another way women are represented is in an overly loyal and domestic way. Many times John Proctor refers to Elizabeth as being in the house or being responsible for their marriage issues. One time when John
Proctor is speaking to Elizabeth about the state of their marriage he says, “It’s winter in here yet,” (49). John Proctor is referring to both the state of their home and the state of their marriage. He puts the blame on her that their marriage is a cold and bleak one rather than evaluate what he could be doing wrong. Elizabeth exhibits a great deal of obedience —not necessarily a bad quality— towards
John Proctor. In court while being questioned she lies to defend John. Danforth says to her, “Is your husband a leecher?” (105) To this question
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, is about mass hysteria of witches being in the town of Salem, Massachusetts. An educated man named Revered Hale arrived in the town with his exclusive knowledge of witches to help the town eliminate the presence of the Devil. He became a member of the court and aided in putting innocent people in jail or hung. As Hale started to see the consequences of his actions, he struggled with fixing his mistakes. The change in his perspective of the witch trials caused his overall personality and attitude to change as well. Hale’s dialogue, stage directions, and other people’s perceptions of him reveal a man motivated by good intentions; furthermore, his mission to help Salem destroyed evil in the beginning and his attempts
Joseph McCarthy was a Republican senator who did as much as he could to whip up anti-communism in the 1950s. In the time of his term, he didn’t attach his name to anything significant until February 9, 1950. On that day, he gave a political speech claiming that he had a list of 205 Communists in the State Department. Although nobody saw the list of names and it wasn’t clarified by anybody else, the speech made national news. Furthermore, this relates to The Crucible because Abigail, like McCarthy, made multiple false witch accusations on women in Salem. Arthur Miller’s historical play, The Crucible, portrays the historical events of the Salem witch trials through a number of memorable characters and a background based off of McCarthyism. While
The definition of fear is when someone feels scared or threatened or feels like they’re in danger. For example think you’re in a house by yourself and you hear something outside and you hear something outside in your backyard or in another room, and your heart start beating and our thinking in your mind what to do. That’s fear and it’s something that you feel time to time. It’s something from a little spider to a fear drowning. The main point or theme of The Crucible is when people accuse each other of witchery but, not knowing if so.
Many of the characters in Arthur Miller's The Crucible have specific human flaws that cause the tragedy of the Salem Witch Trials. The Salem villagers exhibit failings, including greed, vengeance, and fear, which eventually lead to the downfall of their town. Many villagers, especially Abigail Williams, take advantage of the opportunity to seek vengeance on others through the trials. Greed for power and land often holds precedence when the hysteria takes over. Fear of being arrested or put to death is the key motivation in turning others in as witches. From these three human flaws, the town of Salem falls into chaos with many innocent people paying the price.
The statement,“The Crucible is essentially about courage, weakness, and truth,” is proven true numerous times, throughout the play. The Crucible was written by Arthur Miller, about the true events that happened in Salem, Massachusetts, between the years 1692 and 1693. The Salem witch trials consisted of many hangings, lies, and complete mass hysteria. The citizens of Salem followed the religion of Puritanism, and the ideas of predestination. The root of the mass hysteria comes from their belief in the sense that in something happens then it must have been planned by God. In Miller’s portrayal of the story, Abigail Williams was the ringleader of the witch trials, and she used the idea of predestination to cover up her own sins. Abigail was a very manipulative girl and ruined many lives. John Proctor, Mary Warren, and Elizabeth Proctor were just a few of the victims in Abby’s game. John, Mary, and Elizabeth exhibit the traits courage, weakness, and truth, whether it was in a positive or negative way.
Mary has to show great willpower to oppose Abigail; e.g. “I have no power.” In the stage directions it shows Mary summoning all her determination from within to stand up to Abigail. In this scene we can see how powerful Miller’s characters can be. Our first impression of Abigail is accurate because she is clearly capable of sending people to death to save herself.
One definition of "crucible" is "a severe test of patience and belief, or a trial". This definition pertains to Arthur Miller's four-act play, "The Crucible." The definition is suiting, because it is during this play that the wills of innocent women and men are put to the test when they are accused of things they did not do. It was the ultimate trial of determination and willpower to withstand such a wretched ordeal. Abigail Williams, Elizabeth and John Proctor, Mary Warren, Reverend Parris and even Reverend Hale had changed drastically because of what they had to go through during the course of the play. However, other characters such as Ezekiel Cheever and Marshall Herrick did not really change noticeably. Reverend Parris and Reverend Hale are two characters in "The Crucible" that did change, and Ezekiel Cheever is one that did not.
In The Crucible, the members of the Salem community accept the lies that their neighbors are taking apart of witchcraft as the truth. The lies and deceit in the community help attribute to the play’s overall theme of hysteria. The theme of hysteria is prevalent throughout the play, as the belief that witchcraft is occurring in the town enables members of the community to believe that their neighbors have committed devilish acts. As the town descends into a hysterical climate, members of the community take advantage of the situation to act upon any long-held grudges or repressed sentiment. Characters, such as Abigail, use both lies and hysteria to seek revenge and gain power. This reveals that the lies and deceit told throughout the play drive
The first way Miller illustrates the theme of lies and deceit is through Abigail’s conniving
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.
A group of teenage girls were secretly dancing in the woods with a black slave, named Tituba. When they were discovered of what they were doing, the girls started accusing certain individuals in the village of dealing with witchcraft. Within a blink of an eye, the entire village is controlled by a devil that exists within the fear of each person. A drama of suspense and impact, Arthur Miller's The Crucible, explores through the individuals' vengeance, fear, reputation, and quest for power.
To further complicate matters, John decides not to reveal to the court that Abigail has admitted to him in private that they were just sporting in the woods. Abigail spreads additional accusations and false rumors about her neighbors. These accusations have no basis in truth and their only purpose is for Abigail’s own benefit. Furthermore, Abigail is jealous of John’s wife, Elizabeth, and she schemes to get rid of her in order to take her place. Abigail’s plot is to accuse Elizabeth of witchcraft.
Throughout the entire play, Abigail is angry at John for not loving her back after the affair which preceded the play. Abigail is speaking to John, and she claims that he is still in love with her. As John rejects this idea, Abigail stills desires love from John. In Act I, Abigail says,“It’s she that put me out, you cannot pretend it were you. I saw your face when she put me out, and you loved me then and you do now (Miller I).” She is using her words to manipulate John into loving her. Later in the play, she accuses John’s wife of witchcraft to get back at John. This backfires on her when John dies at the end of the play. Abigail quickly becomes an adversary of John after she harasses his family and his life. Abigail shows her anger towards John Proctor by accusing his wife and eventually hanging
The Salem Witch Trials, Who is Really Guilty? After all of the witch trials in 1692 concluded, a total of 20 people were hanged, all because of people craving attention and personal gain. There are three people depicted in Arthur Miller's The Crucible that are most responsible for this and they are, Abigail Williams, Judge Danforth, and Thomas Putnam. Abigail Williams is mostly responsible for the Salem witch trials because she was the first person to start accusing innocent people of witchcraft.
He knew such a thing would tarnish his reputation. The only reason he admits to this sin is because Elizabeth is accused and is in danger of losing her life. John realizes the only way to save his wife is to tell the court what Abigail’s true ambitions are. One other character who seems to care about their reputation and takes severe steps to protect it is Abigail Williams. From the start of the play, Abigail already has a bad reputation for committing adultery.