The Crucible written by Arthur Miller is about The Witch Trials in Salem, Massachusetts in the 1600’s. The town was placed in hysteria by some of the town girls such as, Abigail, Tituba, and Mary Warren. Certain events in the story led to the widespread of hysteria amongst the town. First, when Abigail pointed her finger to blame Tituba. Second, names of people were mentioned and other events made the town think that the Devil was taking over. In the beginning of the story some of the town girls quietly left out of their house and ran into the woods without anyone noticing them. In the forest the girls were laughing and screaming while dancing around the fire. Tituba was the slave from Reverend Parris’s home, she was chanting around the …show more content…
Mr. Jacobs was an old man that could not walk without his sticks (canes so to speak). The little girl pointed the finger at him that he crawled through her window and threated to kill her if she testify against him. The man questioned that remark with his disability, but as the girls started the hysteria with devil and spirits. The girl made the court think it was his spirit that came to her because he was involved with witchcraft as well as the others. He would be ordered to be hanged like the others as well. The girls continued to fool the town with being overtaken by the devil and the spirits that come to harm them. When Goody Proctor’s name was brought up, John Proctor became angry with Abigail knowing why she was doing the things she was doing. Reverend Hale went to see John that night to tell him about the mentioning of his wife, he asked them to recite the commandments like if that was a way to see if they honored their God or was involved with the devil as well. That same night before Mr. Hale came, Mary Warren had come back to the house upset and John Proctor was mad at her for not being in the house. This is when Mary cried out about the mentioning of Goody Proctor (Elizabeth) by Abigail. The people had come to get Elizabeth that night to face the court in the morning. She was accused because Abigail was stabbed by what they assume her spirit because of what Abigail confessed. The girls once again panicked in the court causing an uproar believing that devil was among them. John was determined to free his wife, he went to the court and admitted his adultery he committed with Abigail and the reasoning of why she is causing the chaos in the town for revenge. He claimed that the girls were all pretending. His proof was Mary Warren as she was in the forest that night when they were only dancing and hoping for love when it was Abigail
The Crucible deals with witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts which shows utter chaos and hysteria in the town. Many were accused of witchcraft and died because of lies.
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
The Crucible is a famous play written by Arthur Miller. This play centers around the witch trials that took place in Salem, Massachusetts. In Act II, Abigail and her friends accuse several innocent people of witchcraft. Once they leave the court, Reverend Hale goes to John Proctor’s house to inform Elizabeth Proctor that people in the court have mentioned her name. Then officials of the court, Herrick and Cheever, arrive at the Proctor’s house. They claim to have a warrant for Elizabeth’s arrest because the court declares she practices witchcraft. After, Herrick and Cheever take Elizabeth to jail. Injustice in Act II prevails because of the inability to see the truth. Reverend Hale and John Proctor illuminate the theme that closed-mindedness
The Crucible is set in this mass hysteria in Salem, Massachusetts during the mad witch hunts in the late 17th century. It tells a true tale about a town, after accusations from a few girls, which begins a mad witch hunt for witches that did not even exist. In result, many townspeople were hanged on charges of witchcraft. The Crucible demonstrates the cruelties people face when society turns their back upon them.
The Crucible is set in Salem, Massachusetts, 1692. One night, a bunch of girls were caught dancing in the forest and people in the village start accusing the girls for being witchcrafted by a witch. In the progress of finding who the witch is, people start blaming on each other and lie. These lies and false witnesses confuse the entire town. Arthur Miller, the author of The Crucible, uses irony and paradox in the stories.
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
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.
Rush's Witch Hunt song states "The mob moves like demons possessed/ Quiet in conscience, calm in their right/ Confident their ways are best." However, in Arthur Miller's work The Crucible, Mary Warren states "The Devil is loose in Salem, Mr. Proctor, we must discover where he's hiding" (Miller 59). Rush's remark shows the irony in Mary Warren's statement through the description that the accusers "move like demons." Although, Mary's statement is ironic, it allows Miller to accomplish his goal of relating communism to the Salem Witch Trials and still has a universal meaning that applies to today's situations.
The events of the Salem Witch Trials. In Salem the witchcraft hysteria, first began in January of 1692. It all started when a group of young girls who later come to be known as the “afflicted girls”. They became known as that because they fell ill after paying a fortune – telling game and began acting strangely (Charles W. Upham). The reason why it ended up with “witch trials” because it was unnatural to other people. They all started experiencing the same symptoms, which consisted of suffering “fits”, hiding under furniture, contorting in pain, and experiencing fever. Soon later on they caught other things like epilepsy, boredom, child abuse, mental illness or even a disease brought on by eating rye infected with fungus. “In February, Samuel
The crucible, written by Arthur Miller, is about the Salem witch trials and how people react to hysteria created from the fear of witches. In the play, after hysteria breaks out, the Salem government starts persecute and hang people it believes are witches. This prompts people to start to accusing people of witchcraft. Some people who accuse others of committing witchcraft are Abigail Williams and Thomas Putnam. They do not accuse people of witchcraft to stop witchcraft, but for personal gain or to hurt others. Thomas Putnam, one of the many characters who takes advantage of the witch trials, is able to use the fear of witches to bend the court to his will. Hysteria causes people to believe claims that are clearly false. This allows Putnam to persecute his enemies. He and many other are able to get away with this because hysteria driven persecutions are not run like regular courts and the fact that witchcraft is an invisible crime allows evidence to be made up. The theme of The Crucible is when any persecution is driven by fear and people can and will manipulate the system so they can gain and hurt another.
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 Salem Witch Trials occurred from 1692-1693.Witch trials were not uncommon in Puritan society;therefore it was not unusual for it too have occurred. The only unusual aspect was the frenzy and large number of accused.The mass hysteria of this event was to be matched in the nation once more during the Red Scare of the Cold War period, and prompted Arthur Miller to write a play about it. Thus, The Crucible was born. In the play several characters contribute to the worsening situation in Salem. One of these characters whom carries the blame of the trials is surely Mary Warren.
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.
In The Crucible, the mass hysteria surrounding the witch trials caused paranoia amongst the people of Salem. Miller uses the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 as a symbol and allegory of the fear surrounding the spread of communism during the 1950s in America. The community’s sense of justice was blinded by the mass hysteria and for some, a desire for vengeance and personal gain. The Putnams
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.