The Crucible: Self Betrayal
This research paper will examine how the theme in Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, shows how “...betrayal of the self no less than of others” (Bigsby xi), is connected to both McCarthyism in the 1950’s and the Salem witch trials in the 1690’s. The Puritans were a group that had suffered religious persecution in the Old World and came to America to establish their own religion in a place where they would be free of any type of persecution. Because of the personal persecution they endured in England, the puritans in turn became the persecutors when they were in America. The Puritans were the type of people who felt that there way of life was absolutely right, and all other ways were wrong. If you were not a member in good standing with the church, you were not allowed to remain in the community. The Puritans had two major beliefs, The Doctrine of the Elect and Theocracy. The Doctrine of the Elect better known as predestination or foreordination is the belief that when a person is born or at any time later in their life, they might be chosen by God to become one of the Elect, which is one of the people who would receive divine salvation. Those who were not among the select would not receive divine salvation. There is nothing that a person could do to be chosen, it was entirely predestined by God. No amount of good works, righteous living or moral behavior could help a person achieve this status. Since no one knew if they were one of the Elect, everyone lived a good life in order to be prepared for being elected when the day came. The Puritans also believed that if God could elect certain people to be saved, then the Devil could select certain people to be bewitched. The Devil, to the Puritans, was an active enemy to mankind because they accepted the story that the Devil was once one of God’s angels who had fallen from grace, and that now the Devils job is to continually try to destroy what God has made. Reverend Hale reiterates upon this when he says to Proctor “...remember, until an hour before the Devil fell, God thought him beautiful in Heaven.”(Miller 68) The Puritans second belief is that of Theocracy. Theocracy is the belief in a government that is totally controlled by the church.
The protagonists In both the play The Crucible, and the movie “None without Sin” ultimately emerged from their own nightmares without sin. Both Terry and John Proctor had to endure challenges and had to complete correct course of action, however both characters differ in comparison to the screenwriter Dalton Trumbo’s quote.
The tragic tale of the Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts was re-written by Arthur Miller in the form of the play “The Crucible”. The trials have been studied to figure out what really happened, but no one will ever know since it happened decades ago. The play is the closest reenactment we have to help us see how people could have reacted to life. “The Crucible” shows how using others as a cushion to keep from being punished can go extremely bad. Amidst all the chaos a man by the name Reverend John Hale came to help but ended up with making it a huge amount worse.
Before Bäumer gets leave to return to his family, he often discusses how the war has changed him and his comrades. However, he does not understand to the great extent in which he has changed until he returns to his old life. Seeing his family, his old home, his bedroom, his piano, and dressing in his old clothes is a direct confrontation with the distance the war has created between his old self and his new self. "A sense of strangeness will not leave me; I cannot feel at home amongst these things... I am not myself there. There is a distance, a veil between us." (160) It is heartbreaking for Bäumer to see his family because he has learned to disconnect his emotions in the war. Once soldiers train themselves to be so disconnected, it is different to reverse the effect.
During training Paul and his schoolmates come across Colonel Himmelstoss who teaches them the survival skills needed in the front. During training Himmelstoss tortures the recruits but is indirectly teaching them to become hard, pitiless, vicious, and tough soldiers. Althou...
John Proctor plays the leading role in The Crucible by Arthur Miller. He was persistent, honest, and full of integrity. He was simply, a man with pride. A wise woman once said, "Do what you feel in your heart to be right--for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't." (Eleanor Roosevelt). Proctor was the protagonist of the dramatic piece of literature.
Greetings to all. I am Dillon Marshall, I’m here today presenting to you why John Proctor was an unfavorable and bad character in The Crucible. The story takes place in Salem Massachusetts in 1692. John Proctor a farmer who lived in Salem. Elizabeth Proctor’s husband. A hard, bitter tongued man, John a man who also hates hypocrisy. John Proctor also putting his marriage to the test having relations with Abigail Williams along with his wife creating a scandal. John Proctor wasn’t the man he proclaims to be.
Life as a human is dictated by an inborn hunger or purpose, and people, in general, will act on this hunger for their own personal gain in their individual ways. This hunger, be it for wealth, land, love, power, revenge, or pride, can, and will be the undoing or failing of all mankind as Miller so clearly points out in his play The Crucible. This essay will explore the motives of characters within the play and even the motives of Arthur Miller himself and therefore show how conflict stems from certain recognisable human failings, including those mentioned above, fear, and hysteria. Reverend Parris is the character that initiates the hysteria of the Salem witch trials, in a community where authorities wasted no time minding the business of its citizens, what should have been seen as teen frivolity was blown into one of the ugliest moments in American history. Parris sparks this by firstly acting on his own paranoia, which the reader would find in the introduction 'he believed he was being persecuted wherever he went';, and calling Reverend Hale in an attempt for self-preservation '….
The Crucible – Characters and Changes & nbsp; Change is good for the future. " We hear the catchy phrase everywhere. From company slogans to motivational speeches, our world seems to impose this idea that change is always a good thing. Assuming that the change is for the better, it is probably a true statement in most cases. The root of this idea seems to come from the notion that we are dissatisfied with the state that we are in, so, in order to create a more enjoyable environment, we adjust.
Even though The Crucible is not historically correct, nor is it a perfect allegory for anti-Communism, or as a faithful account of the Salem trials, it still stands out as a powerful and timeless depiction of how intolerance, hysteria, power and authority is able to tear a community apart. The most important of these is the nature of power, authority and its costly, and overwhelming results. “But you must understand, sir, that a person is either with this court or against it,” says Danforth conceitedly. With this antithesis, Miller sums up the attitude of the authorities towards the witch trials that if one goes against the judgement of the court they are essentially breaking their relationship with God. Like everyone else in Salem, Danforth draws a clear line to separate the world into black and white. The concurrent running of the “Crucible” image also captures the quintessence of the courtroom as Abigial stirs up trouble among the people that have good reputation and loving natures in society. In a theocratic government, everything and everyone belongs to either God or the Devil.
Arthur miller constructed some courageous characters throughout his play The Crucible. John Proctor is thought of as a good man who lusted at one point however earned back his goodness. The one with the greatest amount of courage would have to be John Proctor. Although he had made some poor decisions, he didn’t shy away from them like the rest of the village did. He did what all the others were too afraid to do. Most people would say that Giles Corey was the most courageous because he didn’t confess to witch craft either, but in addition to not confessing John Proctor also went against what Abigail was saying because he knew why she was doing it.
In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, the madness of the Salem witch trials is explored in great detail. Arthur Miller was an American playwright, who was born in 1915. He grew up in a Jewish family in New York City. While attending the University of Michigan in the mid 1930’s, he began to characterize himself as a distinguished writer. His first plays were Honors at Dawn and No Villain. The Death of a Salesman, which he wrote in 1949, won him the Pulitzer Prize for literature.
In John Proctor’s sudden confession of committing adultery, Miller used strong ethos and pathos to help further his agenda. He used disinterest, a rhetorical ethos device, to show that he reluctantly confessed for the greater good. By casting away his reputation, he made a personal sacrifice to show that his revelation helped the people of Salem more than it helped him. Throughout the play, Proctor concealed his disloyalty to his wife from the public; however, he finally came to terms with his sin to save Elizabeth and other innocent people from the trials. John used a rhetorical tool called the reluctant conclusion during his confession, which is blatant by the uneasiness/hesitancy he displayed. John Proctor lost his credibility and appeared
People who have actually been through war know how horrible it is. Society on the other hand, while it believes it knows the horrors of war, can never understand or sympathize with a soldier’s situation. The only people who can understand war is those who have been through it so they can often feel alone if they are out of the military. Paul cannot even give a straight answer to his own father about his dad’s inquiries about war. Paul’s dad does not understand that people who have been in the war can in no way truly express the horrible things that that have seen and experienced. Nor can Paul fit in with the society who does not understand him. Paul and so many others were brought into the war so young that they know of nothing else other than war. Paul held these views on society as he said, “We will be superfluous even to ourselves, we will grow older, a few will adapt themselves, some others will merely submit, and most will be bewildered;-the years will pass by and in the end we shall fall in to ruin.
After entering the war in young adulthood, the soldiers lost their innocence. Paul’s generation is called the Lost Generation because they have lost their childhood while in the war. When Paul visits home on leave he realizes that he will never be the same person who enlisted in the army. His pre-war life contains a boy who is now dead to him. While home on leave Paul says “I used to live in this room before I was a soldier” (170).
The play “The Crucible” is an allegory for the McCarthyism hysteria that occurred in the late 1940’s to the late 1950’s. Arthur Miller’s play “the crucible” and the McCarthyism era demonstrates how fear can begin conflict. The term McCarthyism has come to mean “the practice of making accusations of disloyalty”, which is the basis of the Salem witch trials presented in Arthur Miller’s play. The fear that the trials generate leads to the internal and external conflicts that some of the characters are faced with, in the play. The town’s people fear the consequences of admitting their displeasure of the trials and the character of John Proctor faces the same external conflict, but also his own internal conflict. The trials begin due to Abigail and her friends fearing the consequences of their defiance of Salem’s puritan society.