Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Puritans in salem witch trials
Puritans in salem witch trials
Puritans in colonial america
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Puritans in salem witch trials
Austere religions with black and white definitions for right and wrong are bound to result in the deception of a suppressed people. With the cornerstone of Puritan lifestyle being the church, their community is profoundly influenced by religious philosophy and beliefs. Anything believed to be a contradiction of their religious moral code is deemed to be sin, and directly connected to the devil. Devil worship and witchcraft is conjured by means of fear that gives superstition power, and those accused of unnatural behavior receive harsh castigation. Due to the illogical misconceptions, the rigid town of Salem took it upon themselves to rid their community of “sinners”, thus creating a whirlwind of accusations and deceit. In his play The Crucible, Arthur Miller demonstrates how a rigid …show more content…
This is not to say that they denied the existence of supernatural evil” (Morgan). Their strict Puritan belief in the plain right and wrong clouded their senses, while resulting in the deaths of many innocent people. Unfortunately, their clouded vision is problematic since authority of Puritan society is raised on high pedestals and is seen as perfect examples for the rest of Salem.
True catalysts of chaos in The Crucible are those cunning enough to break their moral ties to Puritanism to avoid the destructive punishments of a puritanical society. Abigail, “the prime mover of the Salem hysteria” (Martin), is a complex character who demonstrates her ability to manipulate beliefs and evade punishment for breaking the Puritan moral code; her role in The Crucible is a petri dish for lies and abundant fear. Early on, Abigail’s opposition to Puritan fundamentals is revealed through a short lived affair with a married man, John Proctor. She continuously “imagines herself in the arms of Proctor” (Bigsby) and “had felt him 'burning ' in his loneliness’” (Bigsby), a frame of mind which is still intact
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.
Authors often have underlying reasons for giving their stories certain themes or settings. Arthur Miller’s masterpiece, The Crucible, is a work of art inspired by actual events as a response to political and moral issues. Set in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, The Crucible proves to have its roots in events of the 1950’s and 1960’s, such as the activities of the House Un-American Committee and the “Red Scare.” Though the play provides an accurate account of the Salem witch trials, its real achievement lies in the many important issues of Miller’s time that it dealswith.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller shows how authority is a characteristic that can easily become a problem throughout a society. Many subjects were addressed in The Crucible such as guilt, hypocrisy, justice, hysteria, and courage. However, the most important subject throughout the play would be the nature of authority. There is a fine line between the concept of having authority and having power. In the book, the authority weakened and led to the antagonist Abigail Williams leading the law as opposed to the law leading Abigail Williams. At the instant that Abigail was granted authority over the townspeople she acted on it in order to have power. Not only is there power that comes with authority, but there is also responsibility which was demonstrated
It is clear that Abigail Williams is portrayed as the antagonist in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, taking place in the late 1600s in Salem, Massachusetts and based on the witch-trials therein. She serves as a catalyst for the witch trials by falsely accusing innocent townspeople with the intent of maintaining the position of power she gains from them. Due to the transparency of her actions, Abigail’s ulterior motives are also distinguishable. Certain effeminate stereotypes are presented throughout the course of the play. One of which, being that of the immoral, husbandless woman, Abigail embodies. Slave to emotion and motivated by lust, Abigail falls
The Crucible: Hysteria and Injustice Thesis Statement: The purpose is to educate and display to the reader the hysteria and injustice that can come from a group of people that thinks it's doing the "right" thing for society in relation to The Crucible by Arthur Miller. I. Introduction: The play is based on the real life witch hunts that occurred in the late 1600's in Salem, Massachusetts. It shows the people's fear of what they felt was the Devil's work and shows how a small group of powerful people wrongly accused and killed many people out of this fear and ignorance.
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.
The Crucible is one of the most bizarre accounts of a historical event to date. The naïveté of the townspeople leads them down a road of madness and confusion, led by a shameless Puritan girl. Abigail Williams was a ruthless girl who showed no mercy upon accusing her victims of witchcraft. Knowing the entire town of Salem would believe her and the other girls, she would not hesitate at charging anyone she wished with the crime of the Devil’s work. However, a challenge arose to Abigail when she decided to accuse Elizabeth Proctor, and eventually her husband John, of witchcraft. The Proctor marriage was not just any simple marriage; it had its times of cold shoulders, heartfelt truth, and undying love.
The Salem Witch Trials, Who is Really Guilty? After all of the witch trials in 1692 concluded, a total of 20 people were hanged, all because of people craving attention and personal gain. There are three people depicted in Arthur Miller's The Crucible that are most responsible for this and they are, Abigail Williams, Judge Danforth, and Thomas Putnam. Abigail Williams is mostly responsible for the Salem witch trials because she was the first person to start accusing innocent people of witchcraft.
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 – Human Nature Human nature was fully to blame for the disaster which took place in Salem in 1692. Human nature is what your character is made of in trying situations, and in 1692 scientific knowledge was extremely poor by today's standards and so all reoccurring problems were blamed on an evil force, whether it be the devil or witches or anything the imagination could conjure, hence human nature was being tested regularly. The decisions people made were critical to the disaster's progression, in today's scene in would have been dismissed within minutes, but the paranoia floating around in the town kept the ball rolling. People were so terrified of the thought of evil that any suggestion of it would create a preordained judgement in the mind of anyone, especially those who made judgement of the accused. To get to the supposed
Crucible- a severe test, a hard trial or also could be define as a pot for melting metals. A severe trail could be as other then a physical it also could be mentally a severe trial like person verses self. In The Crucible, Miller reflects the theme that pressure can force people from there can force their morals. The characters in The Crucible have morals that they must up hold to be accepted into the town and church. It is a struggle to keep these values when there are moral hazards like desires, greed, hate, and obsession.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller raises many thought provoking issues throughout the play, including the importance of personal integrity, injustice in society and the rights of the community versus the rights of the individual.
Although a strict society composed of high morality and disciplinary laws may be necessary for safety, it causes internal conflicts within the individuals. In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller a theocracy in Salem rules and guides the citizens into doing what is “right”, but eventually backfires due to issues of reputation and jealousy. Society has a lot of influence on the citizens, and with a bad reputation, it is nearly impossible to live in a Puritan society. Salem’s strict Puritanical social structure causes personal struggles for the individuals involved in the events of The Crucible, and then eventually these personal struggles affect the society overall.
The reputation of a person is very important to their standing in the community, and especially in a religious community. In the play the Crucible, Arthur Miller shows the importance of social standing by religious beliefs and contemporary social dynamics. Therefore, the play was based off of a historical context, witchcraft, some characters represent as a scapegoat while others act as an antithesis of being a witch to meet the society’s standards.