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Theme of power in the crucible
The crucible reflecting the character of a society
Theme of power in the crucible
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The Marxist theory explains how in many of the texts that are written and read by the human race all have evidence of a power struggle and inequalities. In Arthur millers the Crucible it is very evident that there is a struggle between all the classes that Karl Marx points out are there. The power dynamics and economic inequalities among the different groups found in Miller's play is evident in the way that everyone has a certain role and that everyone has different problems they are worried about. In the Karl Marx's theory, he usually points out the three roles that everyone plays in a piece of literature the upper class, bourgeois, and the proletarians. The upper class are those who do not have to worry about money food and other provisions
People will always have something to say regarding what kind of a person you are whether it is good or bad. In the drama, “The Crucible” reputation was one of the biggest concerns for the people of Salem. Everyone was pointing fingers at each other, making accusations of being witches, or so-called “running with the devil.” If you use quotation marks, be sure to cite the source. If the marks are for effect, then italics should be used in instead. Reputation influences the actions and motivations of three major characters: Elizabeth, Proctor, and Parris. Use your thesis statement last, stronger effect and better organization. All three characters encounter some sense of being ambushed and their name goes down the drain. A person’s reputation makes or breaks them and always follows them till the day that they die. Their name and legacy lives on forever.
We often hear about people of Middle Eastern descent being called terrorist at the airport and no one doing anything to stop that behavior – if you do anything people hate you. Or does one go with the crowd and bully someone or does one attempt to do the morally correct thing and stand up to the bullying but face social harassment of their own? The Crucible: a play by Arthur Miller takes place in the small town of Salem in the late 1600s amid the witch trials and an affair between John Proctor and Abigail Williams. Innocent people are accused of supporting witchcraft and Proctor ultimately dies to save these people and stop the conformity. In The Crucible, choosing conformity becomes a moral choice of right
Arthur Miller was an American author who was born in 1915. He wrote ‘the crucible’ in 1953 during the McCarthy period when Americans were accusing each other of pro-communist beliefs. Many of Miller’s friends were being attacked as communists and in 1956; Miller himself was brought before the House of Un-American Activities Committee where he was found guilty of beliefs in communism. The verdict was reversed in 1957 in an appeals court. The crucible was written to warn people about the mass hysteria that happened in Salem and how the McCarthy period could follow the same route.
“Sarah Good, confessed y’see, that she sometimes made a compact with Lucifer, and wrote her name in his black book-with her blood- and bound herself to torment Christians till God’s thrown down-and we all must worship Hell forevermore.” (Miller 57). During the Salem Witch Trials, people were accused left and right of being a witch. In 1953 Arthur Miller proceed to write a play entitled The Crucible, which portrayed what life was like during the Salem Witch Trials.In The Crucible, the actions of the characters determine how much justice is truly present in the society. Miller shows this through the actions of the characters in the play. He shows how each of the characters may have or may not have justice and good morals in their life. Thomas Putnam, Judge Danforth, and John Proctor’s actions during the play portray the qualities of justice or the lack of justice.
Arthur Millers, The Crucible is set in an era of deceit and pretense. Through the cracks in the illusion of the ‘perfect society’ based around morals of Christianity and a strong religious agenda_ greed, hypocrisy and a struggle for power slip through. This society harboured the perfect conditions for the witchtrials to fester and become bloodier than ever imagined.
In the play the “The Crucible”, by Arthur Miller there are many examples of weakness, courage and truth. As we read the play and watch it, we can see there is more weakness than courage, and more lies than truth. With John Proctor and Elizabeth Proctor there are things proctor has done to mess their relationship up, and make it cold instead of warm and loving. Abigail Williams also is making lies about seeing the devil, and she is making her father feel as if she is innocent, when she isn’t. This play poses more lies than truth, which makes us understand we should not lie, it draws unnecessary attention.
“Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I’ve given you my soul; leave me my name!” (John Proctor) The Crucible had been written by, Arthur Miller in 1953. The Crucible is about the Salem Witch Trials and how it all had begun. Many superstitions had been spread about Witches and for how fast it had spread people had been accused of Witch Craft later being sentenced to death for what they are not guilty of. There are many examples of propaganda found in the story, The Crucible. Some types of propaganda in this play that had been used are fear, stereotypes and emotional appeal.
This urgent, inherent need and his own realization that it has been belied by his own actions and sin, or abused through self-delusion, has been the source of his nihilism. Now, his despair having ostensibly abated, John can finally realize this desire, through redemption. This desire is spurred into a process of active realization by Elizabeth’s avowal of regarding herself partly responsible for his sin, her being a “cold wife” being enough “to prompt lechery”, and therefore subsequent relief over and potential peaceful acceptance of his guilt, John follows Elizabeth “releasing” advice to be the judge of himself and make a decision accordingly. “There be no higher judge under Heaven than John Proctor is” she points to him. John’s desire to believe in his worth and goodness are even more reinforced when he adamantly refuses to confess that he has seen Rebecca Nurse and her sister with the Devil, which would “blacken” their names (“I have no tongue for it” he cries out “with hatred” to Judge Danforth when essentially solicited to “spoil” his friends’ “names”).
Marxism is a method of analysis based around the concepts developed by the two German philosophers Karl Marx and Fredrich Engel, centered around the complexities of social-relations and a class-based society. Together, they collaborated their theories to produce such works as The German Ideology (1846) and The Communist Manifesto (1848), and developed the terms ‘’proletariat’ and ’bourgeois’ to describe the working-class and the wealthy, segmenting the difference between their respective social classes. As a result of the apparent differences, Marxism states that proletariats and bourgeoisie are in constant class struggle, working against each other to amount in a gain for themselves.
Fear can greatly influence an individual's perspective. Author Miller writes about how the fear of communism influenced him to write The Crucible. He writes, "The Crucible was an act of desperation… I was motivated… by the paralysis that had set in among many liberals who… were fearful… of being identified as convert Communists if they should protest too strongly…” (Arthur Miller 4).
Marx focuses on class struggle and the constant battle of the power. Marx focused on the hardship of workers in nineteenth, as a group and how the revolution of the 1848 created the power surge between different classes. Karl Marx was more interested in creating classless (people) society rather than welfare for an individual or people in general. Although, both the writers had similar education and lived on same era, Marx created a way to classify people ignoring the basic human nature creating a nightmare of Communist societies. By using Marx literature as an example, Dalrymple proves his point that although an intellectual claims to care for the welfare of people, it is not always
How good a reflection is The Crucible by Arthur Miller of Anti-Communism in the McCarthy era of America?
The political philosopher believed that communism could only thrive in a society distressed by “the political and economic circumstances created by a fully developed capitalism”. With industry and capitalism growing, a working class develops and begins to be exploited. According to Marx, the exploiting class essentially is at fault for their demise, and the exploited class eventually comes to power through the failure of capitalism.... ... middle of paper ...
The concept of Marxism is a popular one which is still being implemented in modern times, a prime example being within literature. When observing and analysing a text from a Marxist literary viewpoint, one must interpret the text as the author commenting on their society, culture and the political issues that were prevalent at the time; thus the background of the author must be researched. Marxism focuses more on the ideological and sociological aspects of the text as opposed to a psychological viewpoint of each character within the text. Marxist critics also reflect on texts in different ways, believing that literature is created as a product of ideology and not the desires of the authors/playwrights themselves. In the three texts King Lear, The Bloody Chamber and 1984, the concept of socio-economic struggles is more prevalent than ever with many analysing the texts from a Marxist literary viewpoint.
Religion is fused with culture, politics, and economics on every level, whether you attend church commonly, or whether you are a casual believer, you simply cannot escape religion. Things that were once considered important and vital to families in prior generations are no longer important to modern families. The once classic idea of close family sitting around a dinner table saying a prayer before they eat and going to church on Sunday has become a thing of the past. In the new modern society, people have become more accepting of other ideas and become busier with work, school, and other things that many of the traditional societal norms have diminished. Religion is one of the major traditional cultural aspects that is slowly fading