The Crucible written by Arthur Miller is a historical play about the Salem Witch Trials. The play contains a historical allegory to the Salem Witch Trials and a political allegory to Mccarthyism. John Proctor is one of the main characters in and is considered the tragic hero of the play. Throughout Miller’s play, John Proctor is seen as the protagonist of the play because he is not afraid to stand up for what he believes in, even if no one else agrees with him. John Proctor’s intention to hang instead of admitting that he was consorting with the devil was an act of honor because he didn’t want to lie for the sake of saving his own life, but also wanting to prove that Puritan society has changed because of the Salem Witch Trials. In act 4 of …show more content…
how they are now especially in the time of crisis in the Salem Witch Trials. He believes that Puritan society should be focused on religion more than power, but Proctor perceives that the Witch Trials is changing that idea and making power more important than religion. This shows that Proctor is honorable and speaks his mind regardless if anyone sides with him. “The people of Salem developed a theocracy, a combination of state and religious power whose function was to keep the community together, and to prevent any kind of disunity that might open it to destruction by material or ideological enemies.” (Miller 13). Puritan society is expected to be a well functioning community that the main focus is on God and power isn’t a big deal. The people of the community are supposed to be united and stick together to fight common problems that interrupt how the community functions. In this case the problem would be the Salem Witch Trials. Proctor doesn’t want to lie and confess himself because once he does that then what will stop the authoritative figures to accuse other people and how will these accusations stop. Proctor would rather hang and try to save his friends instead of confessing that he is a witch and just let people continue being hanged when he knew he could have done something to prevent it. “he knows this is critical, and is striving against his disgust with Hale and with himself for even answering: I know not what I have said, I may have said it. I have wondered if there be witches in the world—although I cannot believe they come among us now.” (Miller 75). While everyone in the town is going along with the idea of witchcraft, Proctor isn’t considering it. He strongly believes that the rumor of witchcraft is just another way of demonstrating power. Proctor won’t accept the fact of witchcraft not because he knows the truth, but because he
In The Crucible, Arthur Miller shows the true dynamics of his characters. We see the characters moral or immoral actions and how they’re all put into life changing situations. John Proctor experiences a drastic change when his wife Elizabeth is accused of being a witch. In the beginning of the play, he portrays a man who isn't affiliated with religion and becomes a man who redeems himself. Finally, he proves to be a man of actions, not just words.
Written in the 1950s, Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible delineates the situation of the McCarthy conflicts in America while the plays’ events revolve around the Salem witchcraft trials of 1692. In the play, two major characters are Reverend Hale, an expert on witches sent to Salem for investigation, and John Proctor, a man known for his leadership and hard work. Proctor and Hale, in addition to both being Puritans, are alike in their actions and motives since they both see the depravity of the court and seek to protect people from it. However, they have major differences in their characters as they have contrasting dedication to Christianity and the values that they live by.
The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 was the death of nineteen men and women to hang and jailed many more. The city was filled in accusation; as fear and and distress took all control. As one of the men was accused, John proctor a man of irreproachability and truthfulness was hanged for his association with the devil. In the play The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, the author portrays John Proctor to be a good man because of his loyalty and honesty shown throughout the play.
Arthur Miller’s dramatic play The Crucible, takes place during 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts. The setting is important because it takes place during the time of the Salem Witch Trials. The play begins with the town’s girls, led by Abigail Williams, gathering in the forest and starting to dance around a fire, chanting. Reverend Parris catches them dancing, sending the girls into a panic and causing two of the girls to go into a coma-like state. The townspeople spread rumors that there are witches lurking throughout the the town that have put the girls under their spells. This causes Reverend Parris to send for Reverend Hale, an expert in witchcraft and the devil's work, who hopes to rid the town of all witchcraft. John Proctor, a local farmer, asks Abigail to stop accusing innocent people and start telling the truth about what happened in the forest. Elizabeth Proctor, John Proctor's wife, excused Abigail from their house because she found out about an affair between Abigail and John. She lies to the court when she is asked about John’s affair to save him from any punishment. In doing so, they were both sent to jail for witchcraft because they knew she had lied. Abigail and the girls continued to lie about people in the town being witches, causing many innocent people to be killed, including John Proctor. Miller shows the dangers of scapegoating when lies that are regarded as the truth, and can kill innocent characters.
The Crucible was written by Arthur Miller in 1952 and has remained such a renowned play in American literature because the play pays close attention to the importance of reputation, which continues to be as much of a priority in 1692 as in modern times. The play opens with girls getting caught dancing in the woods by Rev. Parris, which escalates to the assumption of them practicing witchcraft. The girls, lead by Abigail Williams, pledge their love for God and undertake the responsibility of accusing whoever they please of witchcraft, usually under false assumptions. An accuser, Mary Warren, does whatever it takes to stay on Abigail’s good side, even if that means going against the principles of her religion. Reverend Parris prioritizes reputation over religion when he pledges to not lie in court, but convinces his daughter, Betty, to fabricate a story to justify her fainting in the woods after he caught them. Lastly, when Mary Warren betrays John Proctor and claims, “You are the Devil’s man!” he refuses to confess of witchcraft to
The Crucible is a book that takes place around the 1692 Salem witch trials. John Proctor, a major character in the book, chooses to die without lying rather than sell out the people around him. Proctor did not do the right thing because he did not have to incriminate anyone in immediate danger, it was possible to survive as a social outcast, and he has a duty to his family.
The play The Crucible is set in a puritan society; a society which is a theocracy, where priests and church figures have all the power. Abagail; a servant girl becomes the antagonist of the story. Abigail’s character is the victim of the Puritan society in which she rebels.
Puritans are Christians that strongly believe in religion and persecution of anyone who’s not a Christian. Ku Klux Klan has the same beliefs Christian based group who persecute immigrants and anyone who’s not white.
In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, Miller demonstrated that it was John Proctor’s flaws- lust, Mendacity, and Idealism- that led him to be responsible the most for the tragedy of the witch- hunt in Salem. Salem was a Puritan village that frowned upon anything that was evil and they also believed in the witches. Anyone who was caught practicing any type of witchcraft was severely punished. The Crucible started when Abigail and a few other girls were caught dancing naked in the woods with animal blood. When they were caught, they were accused of practicing witchcraft. The girls began to blame other people of their crime so they would not be punished.
“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
The play The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, is the story of the witch trial where took place in Salem, Massachusetts. In this town there were many people who faced accusations of the witchcraft. If someone was convicted of witchcraft, they had to confess or blame to other to get rid of being hanged by the court. It started with a main character named John Proctor. John Proctor had to decide whether to confess to witchcraft or refuse to confess and be hung. In the end Proctor was sentenced to die. He believed he could not lie forever and his decision will be good for his children and his own name.
Arthur Miller is the author to The Crucible; a play set in Massachusetts during the witch-hunts of the 1690s. The townspeople accused others of being witches they would later be tried and hanged. If they agreed to being a witch they were to be set free. One main character is John Proctor. Due to his high pride, when he was accused, he would not give up his own name and say that he was a witch. He is a true tragic hero because of one error in his life which he made led to his downfall.
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.
In the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller goes into detail about the historical event, the Salem witchcraft trials which took place in Massachusetts in 1692. The drama centers on John and Elizabeth Proctor and a young girl Abigail Williams, whom John Proctor has committed adultery with. In order to get rid of Elizabeth so that Abigail can have John to herself Abigail accuses John’s wife of witchcraft, a crime that was highly frowned upon. John proctor goes through a series of changes from being a horrible person who cheated on his wife to a tragic hero who will give up his life to say his wife. John proctor is viewed as many things in this play but at the end he come out an honest and noble man.
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.