What is there about the society of Salem that allows the girls’ stories to be believed?
What are the moral implications of this in Arthur Miller’s the Crucible?
The Crucible is a book written by Arthur Miller Americas most foremost playwright, born on October 17th 1915 in New York at 15 he experienced the Great Depression as his father went bankrupt. He released The Crucible in 1953 around the time when he was accused of being a communist spy. He named the book The Crucible because of the words many meanings. Throughout the play the characters encounter many problems which make force them to question their own selves and their faith. The term crucible can be used to describe the heat of a situation this shown when innocent people are caught up in the craziness of the witch hunt – a situation which was blown way out of proportion. Whereas in the final moments of the play another term for ‘crucible’ was shown which means to put to a severe test. Proctor has to make the ultimate choice, heaven or hell, sins or pure. Salem was an unstable town which was part of what made the girls stories to be believed, they were more willing to believe the word of a young house girl rather than the word of a respected member of the community.
This inspired him to write the Crucible. In addition of the accusations of being a communist spy he was inspired by he witch hunts, McCarthyism and Ancient Greek theatre/drama he created antagonists and protagonists , he even called the Salem witch hunts ‘one of the strangest and most awful chapters in human history’.
The story tells the tale of a Salem community who were very strong Puritans who had cultural suspicion and had no room for other beliefs than their own. “What are we Quakers”- Danf...
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... later on he realises the girls lies and tries to change it. Abigail too is said by Proctor to be a “lump of vanity” her selfish deeds leads to the fact that the man she loves dies.
In conclusion the Salem society being a foundational religious society is built on moral and religious beliefs have been acceptable as normal over several centuries. As a result people’s attitudes tend to support any character that is seen as pious, honest and morally upright. However there exist a conflict between what is acceptable and what people do. Therefore many of the characters try to cover up a few misdeeds so as not to be seen as hypocrites, executing the innocent, sending the honest to the gallows, because of the insecurities within Salem it made it easier for the girls stories to be believed and through the many many moral implications displayed throughout the play.
The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, focuses on the Salem witch trials and the extreme behavior that follows the trials. Miller shows how the dark desires and hidden agendas provokes such extreme behavior. The Crucible was written in a time when the anti-communist movement was strongly protested. During the Salem witch trials, a person was guilty until he proved himself
20 were executed” (Blumberg). The Crucible setting is based on The Salem Witch trials, but the plot is based on The Red Scare. The author employs strict tone and rhetorical questions to convey power. This connects to the purpose of how a occurring can devastate a whole community and the people in it. Arthur Miller, the author of The Crucible, employs empowerment by expressing the challenges within each character and their influence on the trial through the characters John Proctor, Abigail, and Danforth.
Morals are conforming to standards of what is right or just in behavior. In The Crucible most characters believed in morals. Salem is mostly run on what the church's morals are. Each character must abide by these rights and wrongs in order to be accepted into the church and town. During the time that this play has taken place the church and court were inseparable. So if the judges did not think you were right in "God's eyes" then you were proven guilty. And with dynamic characters such as John Proctor who strongly believe in his own morals may find it easy to have his life affected by this rule. Then there are our more characters like Mary Warren, Elizabeth Proctor, Reverend Paris, and Reverend John Hale who base their morals on the church and town they are more accepted or in "their place".
A crucible is an extremely difficult experience or situation in which different social forces cause a change in a person. With this in mind, Arthur Miller uses this term to title one of his most famous novels The Crucible. The Crucible portrays events and change in people during The 1692 Salem Witch trials. Essentially, fear motivates the characters to change or become dynamic in order to protect themselves. Dynamic characters influenced by events in The Crucible include John Proctor, Elizabeth Proctor and Reverend Hale.
The Crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller, is based on the actual people of the Salem witchcrafts trials. Arthur Miller wrote the Crucible in the early 1950s in response to experiencing his own modern “witch trials” in the United State. During this time, the panic of Communism has arisen in the United Stated and Senator Joseph McCarthy convinced himself that the American government was slowly being taken over by communists. He began hunting them out, forcing them to confess, and getting them to name their associates, which is very similar to the events in Salem witch Trials. Although Miller researched on the historical records of the Salem witch trials, The Crucible displayed many historical inaccuracies regarding
Salem citizens in general were afraid of all ungodly things with their Puritan views. They had no trouble believing that, because Parris had called Reverend Hale, (known for his studies in demonic arts), there must truly be witchcraft within the town. The play progresses and certain characters begin to develop: here is a community full of underlying personal grudges. Religion pervades every aspect of life, 'A man may think that God sleeps, but God sees everything, I know it now.'; but it is a religion that lacks the ritual of confession. Here and throughout the play we see how this affects John Proctor, a man so proud of his name that guilt eats at his very heart, as he will not let out his secret pain in a vain attempt to keep his integrity.
The Crucible is a novel based on the Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts, written by Arthur Miller. The Crucible demonstrates forbidden temptation between John Proctor and Abigail Williams, honor and dishonor in the town of Salem, ruthless revenge, and the strive for high social status. The narrative style of this play is standard 1950s everyday language. The Crucible is set in a theocratic society of Puritanism in 1692.
As flawed people, achieving perfection is an impossible task. Yet, despite this inevitability, individuals strive for perfection only to reveal and witness imperfections. The Puritan lifestyle attempted to achieve this unattainable mission by setting strict morals upon the people of Salem, Massachusetts, however they struggled to do so. Salem faced a major change as a result of the Puritan ambition. Because of their thought on the ideal community as a straitlaced society, those who portrayed an imperfect model were to be isolated. Suspicion flooded the holy Puritan town, and led to accusations of innocent people. After a close analysis, it may be relevant to look at the Puritan belief system as a possible catalyst for the events that occurred during the Salem witch trials.
A crucible refers to a harsh test, and in The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, each person is challenged in a severe test of his or her character or morals. Many more people fail than pass, but three notable characters stand out. Reverend John Hale, Elizabeth Proctor, and John Proctor all significantly change over the course of the play.
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 is a famous play written by Arthur Miller in the Early 1950’s. It was written during the “Red scare, when McCarthyism was established. Many anti-communists wanted to prevent communism from spreading just like in The Crucible many wanted to get rid of witchcraft. Many would accuse others of witchcraft in order to not be accused just like many would accuse people of communism. In The Crucible witchcraft would be punishable by death. Many were scared to be accused; therefore many would admit practicing witchcraft in order to save their lives. The Crucible is considered a good play because it is based on real life events during the Salem witch Trials and shows how fear played a role in the individual’s life just like during the “Red” scare.
“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
Arthur Miller’s 1953 play The Crucible and Alfonso Cuarón’s 2006 dystopian science-fiction film Children of Men both represent people and politics through an exploration of the concept of justice and conformity and non-conformity. Both texts represent people and politics in a unique and evocative way through their differing textual forms, contexts and techniques.
The society of Salem is a very Patriarchal Society where the men have power over the women. Husbands control their wives and children, males work and earn money, males control the high court and because of the Patriarchy they also run the church itself, another source of power.
Another important work Miller wrote, The Crucible, takes place in Salem, Massachusetts, during the 17th century. It is a time when jealousy and suspicion poisoned the thinking of an entire town. Neighbor turned against neighbor when events happened that could not be explained. Accusations turned into a mad hunt for witches who did not exist. One of the main characters of the play is John Proctor, a well-respected man with a good name in the town. As the play develops, John Proctor’s moral dilemma becomes evident: he must decide whether to lie and confess to witchcraft in order to save his life, or to die an honest man, true to his beliefs.