Salem had its strengths and weaknesses, like the faults and cracks in the earth. It all slipped through, and darkness overswept the small town. Darkness came in many forms; even the characters who had traits defined who they are. The three main character traits are weakness, courage, and truth. They demonstrate the deeper meaning of the play. Weakness can be shown in ways more than one. For example, Mary Warren concretizes human fear and weakness, In the beginning of The Crucible she is ultimately the weakest within the group of “mean girls”. Another character, Abigial WIlliams takes advantage and manipulates Mary many times. She fell under peer pressure. For example, Abigail pressured Mary into pretending that they see the devil. When John Proctor pushes Mary to confess the girls lied. She tried to convince the judge and then went right back to Abigail and the girls because she was so scared. Weakness is a trait that is a huge roll in the play. The trait shined through Mary, and showed more than others. Honesty is a divine trait to acquire. In the play, Elizabeth Proctor is the living and walking definition of truth. She stayed faithful throughout the hard times. Elizabeth was accused of witchcraft, and she was wrongfully arrested. She never once lied and admitted to …show more content…
John Proctor was a very courageous character in the play. He held true to what he thought was right. He defended his honor and held on to what little he had. He almost lied and admitted to witchcraft to save himself from being hung. He stopped himself and realized he didn’t want to live with his name vain. He did not want to sign a piece of paper, and have it nailed to the church door for everyone to see a liar and a traitor. He hung for his actions, but died in pride. He died right along with 19 people in Salem. They all died with a sense of relief from the heavy burden of being
Nothing good can come from lies, John Proctor understands this and abides by the truth. He demonstrates that he is a man of truth when he confesses to his wife, Elizabeth, that he had an affair with Abigail Williams. He confessed as him and his wife were talking about whether or not he could prove that Abigail
The Crucible tells of a town’s obsession of accusing innocent people of withcraft. One character that stands out and makes a spiritual growth is Elizabeth Proctor. Elizabeth allows her frustrations of her depression to overcome her religious beliefs which separates herself from God and her marriage. She grows spiritually and begins to understand the things going on around her which was the strength she needed in the beginning.
In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, Miller demonstrated that it was Abigail William’s flaws – mendacity, lust, and arrogance – that led her to be responsible the most for the tragedy of the witch hunt in Salem, Massachusetts. Driven by lust, Abigail was able to lie to the Salem community in hopes of covering her and her friends’ deeds and gaining the attention of John Proctor. Her arrogance enabled her t0 advance her deceit.
Reverend Hale was correct, John Proctor possessed an excessive sense of pride. Proctor chose to be hanged because he didn’t want to put his name in vain by claiming to be associated with the devil. Proctor refused to confess he was acting honorably. Thus, earning himself respect in Salem by dying. His actions were foolish; he committed adultery with Abigail Williams.
In the Crucible there was three characters that stood out from all the other ones in this wicked story. Abigail Williams was a big influence in this story she would lie and lie to get out of things and she was also the leader of the girls in the woods. Furthermore she also had an affair with John Proctor which made John and Elizabeth relationship unstable. Also John Proctor runs into a situation at the end of the story where he is put in the position if he wants his pride of not signing that paper full of lies or die knowing he did the right thing of not lying. Additionally, Elizabeth Proctor has never lied ever until the day John was being prosecuted for his witchcraft and possibly adultery and Elizabeth lied so that his name wouldn't be ruined.
Despite these good qualities, John Proctor had many flaws as well. Lust was a constant struggle for Proctor in many forms. For instance, when Abigail was working for him and his wife, he lusted after her and committed adultery by having an affair. Afterwards, Proctor was extremely repentant and stopped seeing her. “Abby, you’ll put it out of mind. I’ll not be comin’ for you more” (Miller 21). This essentially lead to his demise because of the affair, Abigail became infatuated over Proctor to the point where she went into the woods with her friends and Tituba and practiced “witchcraft” to kill Proctor’s wife. “You drank a charm to kill John Proctor’s wife!” (Miller18). When the girls were caught and the whole “witch” hysteria broke out, people were getting accused and executed, including Proctor, who wouldn’t confess to witchcraft and died because of it. If Proctor never lusted after Abigail and had an affair with her in the first place, accusations of “witchcraft” would have never happened and his death. Throughout the book unlike many other characters, Proctor never accepted the girl's story about witchcraft to be true. He on the other hand knew
Mary Warren is an important character in Arthur Miller’s play, THE CRUCIBLE. Much of the action in Act III revolves around Mary’s testimony in court. She is a kind and basically honest girl who tries to do the right thing, saving her friends from harm. However, throughout Acts I and II, Mary is a follower who allows Abigail Williams to negatively influence her good judgment. To make matters worse, Mary is terrified of Abigail’s threats. Because of her weak will, the reader isn’t certain if Mary will maintain the courage to help John Proctor to win his court case in Act III.
In The Crucible, Arthur Miller shows that the tragedy of the Salem Witch Trials stems from human failings, particularly the need for vengeance, greed, and fear. Abigail Williams is an example of all three. Her fear prompts her to first accuse random women, her need for vengeance directs her toward Elizabeth, and her greed for power affects the lives of everyone around her. Individual flaws, when acted on collectively, inevitably cause the downfall of Salem.
When people are put in tense and difficult situations, they lose control. John and Elizabeth Proctor, and Mary warren, all exhibit this throughput the play. John exhibits courage, in the sense that he found the strength to keep his name and lose his life rather than keep sinning and lie. Mary Warren displays weakness when she falls to Abby once again, in the end, instead of sticking to her story and assisting John, in freeing Elizabeth. Elizabeth illustrated how difficult it was to tell the truth in life or death situations. All three of these characters, and their traits, represent what “The Crucible,” is about, courage, weakness, and
He was the only one who knew that everything Abigail was doing, was in fact to get him to lover her and nothing she said about the witches was true. Along side John Proctor was Mr. Hale who also knew the girls were lying and this led him to quit the court because he knew it was controlled by the Devil her self Abigail. In the end John Proctor gave his own life so the hundreds of other people sitting in jail would get another truthful chance and Proctor himself would have his goodness now.
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 primary dramatic focus in the play The Crucible is the moral struggle of its protagonist, John Proctor. Certain characteristics of John Proctor's character and also the environment of the Puritanical Salem alleviated this problem for him. The main issues running through out the play are a series of dilemmas that John Proctor faces. The first and foremost of these is his guilt over his adulterous affair with Abigail Williams, the second his hesitation to testify against Abigail to bring out the truth and the third, his final decision to make the ultimate sacrifice.
In essence, John Proctor was in fact a tragic hero, he successfully saved the life of his wife and children. His tragic flaw was that he chose lust over his family, which ultimately caused the series of events that occurred. He chose to die rather than to have his name ruined and for his wife to be punished for something that he did. He admitted to himself that he done wrong, and for that, he chose to end his
John Proctor is a good man. He is a puritan, a husband, a citizen, and an all around valuable member of the community. All of this is represented by his name. The name of John Proctor could be considered his most prized possession. It is his most priceless asset. Proctor is very strong-willed and caring. He does not set out with any intentions of hurting anyone. He is a farmer and village commoner who is faced with incredible inner turmoil. He has committed adultery and had absolutely no intentions of joining in the witch trials. After his wife got involved and eventually was set free due to the fact that she was pregnant, he feels that he can't sit back and accept what is happening to the town. John Proctor is a good and noble man and because of this he believes that he can't be hanged and die a martyr when he has this sin blooming over him every waking moment.
Throughout the play John Proctor was an honest man, as was his wife, Elizabeth until she was asked to testify against her husband about his affair. One thing that never changed about Proctor throughout the whole play was his willingness to stand for his beliefs. Time after time, he was bombarded with questions about why he didn't regularly attend church or why he didn't have one of his sons baptized. He answered these questions with integrity and questioned the ministry of Parris. No one in the town of Salem had done that before.