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Themes in the crucible essay
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One of the most important motifs throughout The Crucible, is that of power: who has it, how they got it, how they use it, and for what eventual goal. The power in Salem does not seem to circulate very much, until the end of the story. The Reverend Parris and Abigail mainly have the most power in the community, along with the people of the court: Deputy Governor Danforth, Judge Hathorne, Cheever, and Herrick.
Abigail Williams obviously has an insurmountable amount of power in this story. She already had power over her friends by being the niece of the Reverend Parris. Once she made her first accusation toward Tituba, all the other girls followed along and started accusing many women of witchcraft. She controlled all the decisions of the group of girls, and basically the whole community. She was able to successfully manipulate anyone’s life that she chose. If
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Not only does Abigail accuse her of witchcraft, by framing her with a needle and poppet, but Elizabeth is pregnant while stuck in the nasty jail with all the other accused. All seems to be lost for Elizabeth. Until suddenly, all of the power in this story is shifted to her shoulders. Judge Hathorne calls her into the meeting room and must answer some simple questions. Without looking at John, Abigail, or anyone else except the judge, she must say why she kicked Abigail out of her home. After saying that she was dissatisfied with Williams’s work, the judge asks if John Proctor is an adulterer. By saying yes, she could end all the madness. Abigail and the afflicted girls would be caught in their lies, she could go home with John and be guilt free, all the other accused could go home, and justice would be served. Instead, Elizabeth goes against everything she has ever stood for. She lies. She says that John did not commit adultery, and Abigail steals all of the power again. Elizabeth and John are left powerless, and Abigail ultimately
Among these are the adulterous relationship between Abigail Adams and John Proctor, Abigail’s intense hatred of Elizabeth, numerous accusations towards Salem citizens, and the pressing of Giles Corey‒ only to name a few. Abigail and Proctor’s relationship has a major influence on the play as a whole. This conflict is the driving force of the plot. Abigail’s loathing of Elizabeth is also portrayed in the film. Abigail claims that Elizabeth’s possessed spirit stabbed her with a needle; this needle was found in the poppet gifted to Elizabeth by Mary Warren. Abigail forms a devious plot in hopes that Elizabeth will either be arrested or killed, so she can take her place as the wife of John Proctor. What Abigail does not intend is for John to be the one hanged. Giles Corey is pressed to death for his refusal to give a name. Without these events, the themes of injustice and selfishness would no longer be important to the
Elizabeth and John start to feel the tension when Elizabeth tries to convince John about going to court and persecuting Abigail but he refuses. When he disputes with his wife he argues, “you will judge me no more Elizabeth I have good reason to charge fraud on Abigail and I will think on it” (193). Proctor is not completely satisfied about throwing Abigail under the bus because he doesn’t want to initially hurt her and he would lose his respect in the town if he did. So he isn’t convinced about the fact that his wife is trying to get him to charge fraud at this point of the play. Soon afterward Mary the proctor’s servant comes home with news that Elizabeth has been convicted of witchcraft as well and was arrested by the sheriff in town to be brought to the trials.
Power and fear can affect people´s sense of what's wrong and what's right. In “the Crucible” by Miller, we can see how the trials affected every individual in a negative aspect. people suffered because of such power and unfairness the authority had. The witch trials affected a lot of individuals from an emotional aspect to a psychological trauma.
As the town uncovers the antics of the girls and are outraged, the girls start to cry out names of others they have supposedly seen with the Devil in order to save themselves. Therefore, the audience perceives that the affair between John and Abigail is the instigator of all the hysteria surrounding the witch trials, signifying the consequences of a small human error. The affair also caused Elizabeth to distrust John, who for seven months was trying to get into her good graces and is tired of her suspicion. He bluntly tells her "... I have not moved from there to there without I think to please you.
"Power tends to corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely" - Lord Action. In "The Crucible" composed by Arthur Miller control, power, fear and greed were the main factors that began the Salem witch trails. Power brings out the true nature of a person and we see that happening to Abigail throughout the play. That brings me to my next point fear, Abigail used the fear of accusing people of being witches to gain power and control. It all started with Abigail misunderstanding lust for love. John Proctor thought softly of her and she began dreaming of replacing his wife willing to go to any needs necessary.
The Crucible is a play with many underlying messages and themes. One of which is the idea of power. Power is a very important term in this play in that whoever holds the power, holds the fates of others. The hysteria within Salem has directly effected society. Everything has turned upside down and has gotten distorted. Arthur Miller is telling us that all the power in Salem is given to those who are corrupt and their abuse of it is directly shown through: the actions of Abigail throughout the play, the corruption and desires of Parris, as well as the witch trials held by Judge Danforth.
Explore Miller’s dramatic presentation and development of the theme of power and authority. Even though The Crucible is not historically correct, nor is it a perfect allegory for anti-Communism, or as a faithful account of the Salem trials, it still stands out as a powerful and timeless depiction of how intolerance, hysteria, power and authority is able to tear a community apart. The most important of these is the nature of power, authority and its costly, and overwhelming results. “But you must understand, sir, that a person is either with this court or against it,” says Danforth conceitedly. With this antithesis, Miller sums up the attitude of the authorities towards the witch trials that if one goes against the judgement of the court
All the girls confess and accuse other women in the village as “witches”. Proctor and his wife Elizabeth know that Abigail is behind these accusations, and know that Elizabeth will get accused. Elizabeth still doesn’t trust Proctor after his affair with Abigail so she’s bitter towards him. Mary Warren comes home to the Proctor’s and gives Elizabeth a poppet and claims she saved Elizabeth’s life because her name came up in the trials that day. Reverend Hale comes to the Proctor home looking for proof to arrest Elizabeth because Abigail says she was pinned with a needle and had accused her. Mary’s gift is found with a needle in it and Elizabeth is arrested. John Proctor takes Mary to the courthouse to confess that she never saw the Devil and the other girls have been pretending and following Abigail. Abigail get the girls to turn on Mary and accuse her of witchcraft. They act like Mary is possessing them and then Proctor yells that Abigail is making this all up because she is a liar. He confesses that they had an affair to show she’s not credible but Abigail denies. They bring Elizabeth to clarify because John says she will not lie. Yet, she lies. So they still believe
To further complicate matters, John decides not to reveal to the court that Abigail has admitted to him in private that they were just sporting in the woods. Abigail spreads additional accusations and false rumors about her neighbors. These accusations have no basis in truth and their only purpose is for Abigail’s own benefit. Furthermore, Abigail is jealous of John’s wife, Elizabeth, and she schemes to get rid of her in order to take her place. Abigail’s plot is to accuse Elizabeth of witchcraft.
John Proctor committed lechery with Abigail Williams. Abigail Williams wants John Proctor to love her, but he is married to Elizabeth, and he doesn’t want to leave her for Abigail. Abigail knows that John doesn’t want to leave his wife, so she tries to get rid of her, first by drinking a charm to kill her, and she then accuses her of witchcraft. John knows that Abigail is trying to get rid of his wife so he knows that he has to tell the courts about what happened between the two of them so that they will realize why she is making the accusations on his wife. When he admits his fault to the court the girls turns around and accuse him of witchcraft in order to save themselves. John is put in jail for three months because of this accusation. After all of this time he nearly decides to admit to it, but he then realizes what it would do to himself and his name.
“Life, woman, life is God's most precious gift; no principle, however glorious, may justify the taking of it” (Miller, 122). Life is said to be God’s most precious gift, we have the power to do anything we may please. Each one of us is different and unique, but lives can be riddled and swayed through waves of burdensome conflict. At an individual standpoint, one should feel the need to express their anger and hate towards other people. It is when the individual is faced against the opposition, or the collective group, they can be put under pressure or stress that may cause them to act in an unnatural way. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, there are many instances in which the individual is disregarded and oppressed due to the lack of power.
The most skilful composers will be able to effectively represent the deception which can arise from the ulterior motives behind politics. The indication that political motivations may be ambiguous but control is the ultimate goal, is represented in Author Miller’s play The Crucible and Richard Eyre’s 2006 film, ‘Notes on a Scandal’. Both textual forms are able to demonstrate relationships which revolve around political influences for the motivations of power and control over a desired companion. This, in turn, displays an authoritative status that often comes into concern over the wellbeing of others. Knowledge of the truth has the ability to bind relationships into a manipulative and controlling state with the power to disassemble an individual
The issues of power, that Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, portrays are concerned with, who has the power, the shifts of power that take place and how power can consume people and try to abuse it, for either vengeance, jealously, material gain or sexual desire.
Abigail accuses innocent people of witchcraft, including John’s wife, Elizabeth. She does this so her and John would be together and Elizabeth wouldn’t be in his life, even after John told Abigail he does not love her. He faces this crucible throughout the play and changes his demeanor towards Abigail. John becomes infuriated and he wants to expose Abigail for making false accusations of witchcraft, although it might include his confession of adultery. John eventually confesses his sin of adultery but refuses for it to be made public and posted on the church door, resulting in his
Elizabeth Proctor has many moments which show how she is changing throughout the play. When she is trying to persuade Proctor to tell the court that Abigail said the girls were not practicing witchcraft, Elizabeth blurts out, "John, if it were not Abigail that you must go to hurt, would you falter now? I think not." Elizabeth is confessing that she believes Proctor had an affair with Abigail. She is giving him no mercy by showing that she will never forget what happened. When Elizabeth is being accused of stabbing Abigail, she instructs Proctor to go to court, and tells him "Oh, John, bring me soon!" Elizabeth is gaining trust in John. She is forgetting his act of adultery and now has faith that he will defend her. At the end of the play, when Proctor is sentenced to death, Elizabeth says that "he [has] his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him!" Elizabeth is admitting that John was righteous to confess his sin of lechery, and she should have pardoned him. She considers herself impure for not showing mercy, and does not want to take away from his glory. Elizabeth has transformed from an ignorant victim of adultery, to a forgiving, loving wife.