Euthanasia and Religion
Euthanasia is the inducement of a gentle and easy death. It is
considered to be a form of suicide. Yet the procedure requires the
assistance of a third party, due to the potential incapacity of the
individual requesting this procedure be carried out. The case could
then be turned into one of homicide. As a result of this, it is
incredibly difficult to find an individual who is willing to aid in
the conduct of euthanasia, as they could face prosecution in a
criminal court on the charge of murder.
Patients who request euthanasia are often motivated by terminal
illness. They appreciate that further medical treatments are unable to
cure, or deacelerate, the illness. They also wish to preserve their
dignity and conclude their painful suffering. Another example where a
patient may want to opt for euthanasia, is when health authorities
suggest they go into a hospice especially designed to cope with their
illness. A wish to maintain their independence, along with the desire
not to continue to be a burden on other family members, then becomes
the motivation.
Perspectives on the ethical issues are vastly variable on this topic,
across the social spectrum. An argument against the practice of
euthanasia, commonly starts with religion. The sixth commandment in
the Christian Bible states, 'Thou shalt not kill'. This implies that
the act would be committed with violence; a criminal act, where the
victim believes that they have a life worth living and would prefer
not to be killed. There would have been no comforting way to induce
death at the time when the Bible was written. Euthanasia however, is
mercy killing. A death where the recipient believes their life is not
worth living and they want an end to their suffering. Thanks to modern
medicines, the end of suffering can be carried out in a humane way.
Therefore to directly associate this commandment to euthanasia is
misleading and the text should rather read, 'Thou shalt not help to
die'.
A majority of the religious opposition to euthanasia comes from the
The floor creaks between each one of their pauses. The silence is deadly. Should I dishonor my lord? The pressure I just can’t stop pacing back and fourth, my skin is tender and sweaty. Salem’s gone mad! All the women be crying witchcraft! But the only one that bewitching is that whore Abigail Williams. Reverend Parris caught her in the forest leading the young ones into the depths of sin, yet I am the one to blame. Its as if I’ve gone crazy myself. They all be believing the devil is loose in Salem. But the Lord may not shine through the unfaithful. She be confessing that my Elizabeth Proctor be practicing witchcraft. I will not believe none of it. She is the biggest sinner in the house of the lord, a liar. How may she call heaven? She may think God sleeps, but God sees everything. God knows a sinner.
The Crucible the film is an adapted version of Arthur Miller’s play of the same name, which was inspired by the 1692 Salem Witch Trials in Salem, Massachusetts. The two main characters are Abigail Williams played by Winona Ryder and John Procter played by Daniel Day-Lewis. The Crucible’s opening scene is Reverend Parris catching Abigail and her friends dancing in the woods and conjuring spirits. Abigail did not want to get in trouble so she blamed Tituba, a Barbados slave, for making her drink chicken blood, and tempting her to sin.
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.
Abigail is wicked and confident and is not afraid to take control of situations. This is shown when she is with Parris, Abigail is respectful on the surface but she hides her resentment and disrespect. She talks back to defend her name and in Act One, she suggests to Parris," Uncle, the rumour of witchcraft is all about; I think you'd best go down and deny it yourself." She is also aggressive and forceful, the other girls are afraid of her. When Mary Warren suggested that they should confess to dancing in the woods. Abigail threatens them,."..I have seen some reddish work done at night and i can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down!"
The play opened with the girls doing something considered taboo in Puritan society, dancing in the woods. The girls involved in this were Abigail Williams, Betty Parris, Mary Warren, Ruth Putnam, and a few others. Tituba, Reverend Parris’s slave from Barbados was also with them. All of the girls involved were caught by Reverend Samuel Parris, the minister of Salem. When Reverend Parris catches the girls dancing in the woods, his daughter Betty Parris becomes ill. Abigail Williams, Parris’s niece, is questioned by Parris on what they were doing in the woods. Abigail eventually admits that they were only dancing in the woods. Abigail reveals that there are rumours in the village that witchcraft is the cause of Betty’s sickness, and Parris becomes nervous. Parris calls upon Reverend Hale, an expert on witchcraftery, to figure out what is wrong with Betty. Later, Parris asks Abigail if they were conjuring spirits in the woods and she denies it. He says that he saw Tituba chanting and that he saw someone naked. Abigail again denies that anything but dancing occurred in the woods. Next, Parris asks why Elizabeth Proctor, wife of John Proctor, fired her from her job as their maid. Abigail says that she was fired because she didn’t want to be a slave to Elizabeth and she calls Elizabeth a gossiping liar. Moments later, Mrs.Putnam enters and says that she sent Ruth Putnam to Tituba and told her to conjure dead babies in order to find out why Mrs.Putnam’s babi...
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.
After Abigail Williams and the girls are discovered dancing in the forest by Reverend Parris, there are rumours of witchcraft among them, when Betty Parris and Ruth Putnam are found "witched". Once the girls discover this, they become more and more frightened of being accused of witchcraft. Abigail is the first to "admit" to seeing the devil, and all the other girls join in, so the blame will not be placed on them. "I saw Sarah Good with the Devil. I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil. I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil."
“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
In the strict Puritan society, Abigail, Parris’ niece, commits actions that break the Puritan religion, such as dancing naked in the woods, and drinking blood with friends, her cousin, and slave, Tituba. Parris catches her and forces her to confess every detail of what she had been doing because of the vulnerable position he holds, “I have fought here three long years to bend these stiff-necked people to me, and now, just now when some good respect is rising for me in the parish, you compromise my very character” (11). Parris aims to keep the information secret to avoid others from finding out of the suspicious activities occurring in his household and uphold his good name in Salem. Parris is a leader and any mistake he makes affects his reputation, so he is convinced others are waiting to see him fail, “There is a faction sworn to drive me from my pulpit,”(10). Through his worries and focus on himself, he forgets that there are bigger issues at hand, like the sickness of his daughter, Betty, who is unexplainably sick and unable to wake up. Yet, Parris is only interested in how others discovering why she is in such state will affect his
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.
"People are stewards, not owners, of the life God has entrusted to them" (Vaticana, 550). To decide if euthanasia is wrong, one must first decide whom life belongs to. The Bible says, "In God's hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind" (Job 12:10). Life belongs to God and since God gave life to the human race, God should decide when it is time to take life. Also, the fifth commandment says, "Thou shall not kill." Assisted suicide and euthanasia disobey this commandment.
A recent poll founded by the Canadian Medical Association found that “only one in five doctors surveyed. . . said they would be willing to perform euthanasia if the practice were legalized. . . Twice as many – 42 percent – said they would refuse to do so” (Kirkey 1). Euthanasia is defined as giving a patient the right to die early with a physician’s assistance, and the legalization of this practice is being considered by lawmakers in many countries, including the United States. Accordingly, 42 percent of doctors in Canada are on the right side of this debate. Euthanasia should not be legalized because it violates society’s views that life is sacred, creates economic pressure for doctors, and for those countries that have legalized it, their laws are not specific enough to fully protect patients.
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.
Our values, opinions and beliefs depend on what culture, religion and the society we come from. People who are against view euthanasia as murder and that we must respect the value of life. Those who are in favor of euthanasia believe that doing such act eliminates the patient’s pain and suffering. Also, the right to die allows the person to die with dignity. Euthanasia may involve taking a human’s life, but not all forms of killing are wrong nor consider as murder. It depends on the underlying reasons and intentions. If you value a person’s life and the cause of death is for the patient’s benefit and not one’s personal interest, then euthanasia is permissible.
Abigail’s struggles come from many of her personal desires that are forbidden in her society, causing her to lie. However, this also creates further social problems, such as the initiation of the witch trials. After Betty is stuck in a coma, Reverend Parris questions Abigail about the night in the woods, because he is suspicious and she denies that it had anything to do with witchcraft. Abigail replies to Parris saying, “ We never conjured spirits” (24). Abigail lies to Parris, denies the statement that witchcraft ever occurred, and says that all they did was danced. Witchcraft and dancing both are sins in the society, and she knows that her reputation is at stake and finds the need to lie to look innocent. Parris wants to be sure and calls Reverend Hale to look further into the issue. Once Reverend Hale comes into town, he questions Abigail about the night, and she once again denies everything he asks her. Abigail is being questioned by Hale, and once Tituba enters she screams, “ She made me do it! She made Betty do it! She makes me drink blood!” (45). Abigail denies every...