More handpicked essays just for you.
Literal and symbolic meaning of the crucible
Themes and morals of the crucible
Theme of guilt in the crucible essay
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Guilt in The Scarlet Letter, Red Badge of Courage, and The Crucible
Human beings have certain feelings. The person at fault may feel
guilty after the incident happens. A feeling of guilt is the recognition
of wrong doing, and the wish that the consequences of the action could be
changed. In The Scarlet Letter, Red Badge of Courage, and The Crucible,
the main characters all have feelings of guilt as a result of what they
have done. Life on it's own can also bring such inner feeling from within
a person. All people at one point or another feel guilty and have their
own way of dealing with it.
In The Scarlet Letter, Dimmesdale feels guilty for his crime of
adultery. This character is not only guilty for what he does but also the
fact that he does not confess to everyone in town. By not admitting his
responsibility, he increases his guilt because Hester must endure all the
blame. Dimmesdale's guilt eats away at him and leads to his doom. On the
other hand, the adulteress handles the guilt by telling other people and
showing them that she feels guilty. The people forgive her after time but
Dimmesdale still feels guilty, and since time has passed can not face the
truth. A situation that creates guilt can also illustrate how people deal
with difficulty.
Guilt does not only appear in literature, but also in daily life.
A famous case is the O.J. Simpson murder trial. Whether he committed the
crime or not, O.J. has shown no signs of guilt. This can be interpreted as
meaning that he either did not commit the crime, or he did so but is hiding
the guilt. If the second situation is true, then he has emotional scars
that do not show exactly like Dimmesdale. A more common example takes
place in schools. Sometimes a student will cheat on a test, but not be
able to feel a sense of accomplishment about the grade. Guilt has overcome
this student and made it difficult to enjoy the success of a good grade
because it was obtained dishonestly. Sometimes teachers who favor one
student over another experience guilt. This can be seen when they may be
Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne attempted to expose the varying ways in which different people deal with lingering guilt from sins they have perpetrated. The contrasting characters of Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale ideally exemplified the differences in thought and behavior people have for guilt. Although they were both guilty of committing the same crime, these two individuals differed in that one punished themselves with physical and mental torture and the other chose to continue on with their life, devoting it to those less fortunate than they.
John smith, the accused, stood up in the courtroom and started yelling at the judge about what he thought of his innocence irrespective of the decision that the judge would make. He also cursed the prosecutor and kept quiet when his lawyer warned him of the negative consequences that would follow if he continued with the same behavior. Smith
During the salem witch trials a lot of people accused each others of being a witch or dealing with the devil most of them lied because they wanted something that person had people accused each other left from right and those who were accused felt to ashamed to lie and admit that they talked to the devil because no one would believe them.
Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible is a story about Puritans, a group of people not happy with the path religion was taking and were in search of reform. The Puritans in this play live in Salem, Massachusetts and it takes place in 1692. In this story Arthur Miller tells the reader about the Red Scare and the Salem Witch Trials. The Red Scare was Miller’s way of addressing mass hysteria induced by ignorant people searching for trust and acceptance in the colonies. The Salem Witch Trials are an example of the society’s needs to conform to the political, social, and religious beliefs of the time. The girls and their actions in The Crucible represent the unknown and the threat to the court system. Each of the women in Arthur Miller’s play represent and display many different views and characteristics that are still present to this day.
John Proctor John Proctor is considered the most significant character in the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller. The play mainly focuses on guilt and the forgiveness of oneself. Miller illustrates this concept through the actions of Proctor. Miller takes John’s guilt as an example and shows in the play how he struggles with his guilt and forgives himself. John Proctor is a well-known farmer and respected person within Salem village, who struggles with his guilt of committing adultery.
“The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse” (Burke). Lies, power, and selfishness can destroy families, friendships, and towns. When a person has power, they may not use it properly. There have been many instances where this has happened, but two main examples are in the novel The Crucible, and in McCarthyism. The Crucible is connected to McCarthyism by its model of a desire for power, unsubstantiated accusations, and the detrimental effects of these accusations.
1. The ‘confessions’ in the play are not usually about truth, as they are enforced and arise out of fear. Discuss the role you think confessions play in the dramatic force of this play. Confessions within the play The Crucible are driven essentially by fear and are not based on the truth. Arthur Miller uses the concept of self-benefiting confession to show the dark side of Salem, creating a sense of dramatic tension and suspense.
The evidence discovered during the investigation suggested to the police that OJ Simpson may have had something to do with this murder and they obtained an arrest warrant. The investigators believed that they “knew” OJ Simpson committed the murders. His lawyers and him were informed of the arrest warrant and agreed to a specified time when OJ would turn himself into authorities. Investigators are later admonished, by the defense, on how they handled the crime scene.
Many people take much pride in numerous things some being: their job, family, political views, even as much as in their favorite sport. People make mistakes big and small, but it is how one deals with the situation and the mistake, that shows the morality in a person, and shows who he or she may be. “The only crime is pride,” Sophocles, is still held to be true; for instance, pride itself can cloud a persons’ mind and caused him or her to commit the crimes he or she did. Pride is thought to be a good thing but in many cases it is proven otherwise. Even though there is some truth in “the only crime is pride” the crimes/mistakes caused by pride are not forgivable, and “yielding” does not help at all; pride is not just to prove oneself right, but also not to look “weak” in the eyes of others.
Many characters in The Crucible fall under the trap of lying, if not to other people, then to themselves. The Crucible is a fictional retelling of events in history, surrounding the Salem witch trials. It takes place in Salem, Massachusetts during 1692 and 1693. Additionally, Miller wrote the play as an allegory to mccarthyism, which is the practice of making accusations without evidence. In the play, Arthur Miller develops the theme of lies and deceit by showing Abigail lying for her own benefit, John Proctor committing adultery, and Elizabeth lying to protect her husband.
Everyone knows the feeling. The nagging in the pit of your stomach that makes you rethink your actions. The feeling that makes you nervous, sweaty and scared. Guilt, an emotion that occurs when a person believes that they have violated a moral standard. Imagine a world without guilt. People would feel no remorse in anything they did, no conscience that monitored their actions. It is a powerful feeling that can both hold people back and push them towards action. This strong emotion is portrayed in several very popular pieces of literature. In the novel Macbeth, William Shakespeare shows how Macbeth’s guilt motivates him to make fatal decisions to try and hide his culpability, such as killing the king, killing Banquo and killing Macduff’s family.
Women face discrimination in the workplace. Discrimination is defined as a behavioral activity is exhibited in how people treat members of other groups and in the decisions they make about others. In chapter 3 Race and Ethnicity in the United States discusses how discrimination not only effects positions in companies it also affects pay rates. Income is drastically different when it comes to men and women and only gets worse for women who are minorities. These women have broken through the glass ceiling in their corporations. “In 1991 the Glass Ceiling Commission was formed to help women and minorities, fight their derrepresentation in the workplace”. With this article and with research that is being done women are starting to break the glass ceiling that is holding them down. Women account for only 2.2% of Fortune 500 companies CEO roles. The number is shockingly low, less than 15 companies have women CEO’s in the 500 companies we look at that best fit our country’s
The “glass ceiling” is a barrier to advancement that affects women when they work in
"All conflict in literature is, in its simplest form, a struggle between good and evil." This means that all conflict in any work is basically just a fight between the forces of good and evil. The Crucible by Arthur Miller and The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne show that this statement is true.
...her children’s life. Andrea knew that her act was legally wrong but she claims she felt it was morally correct. While laws and morality are intertwined, the duty of our court system is to enforce laws not to legislate morality. Andrea Yates was aware that her premeditated act would be legally wrong, and did in fact think about the crime prior to coming it. These actions are distinct characteristics associated with the classical theory of crime.