Arthur Miller writes about the tragic results of human failings in his play, The Crucible. He presents characters from the past and infuses them with renewed vitality and color. Miller demonstrates the horrifying results of succumbing to personal motives and flaws as he writes the painful story of the Salem witch trials. Not only do the trials stem from human failings but also from neglect of moral and religious considerations of that time. Characters begin to overlook Puritan values of thrift and hope for salvation. Focusing on the flawed characters, they begin to exhibit land lust, envy of the miserable and self-preservation.
Thomas Putnam establishes conflict by vying for land with other characters. From the outset, he is bitter and quarrelsome over his boundaries. He shouts to Giles Corey, "I'll have my men on you, Corey! I'll clap a writ on you!" (Miller, ) Greediness does not play a role in a time of close-knit societies and in seeking the salvation of God. Putnam displays a threatening tone towards Giles over land. By threatening Giles, Putnam begins a cause to get what he believes is his. He immediately becomes a danger to whoever owns land, particularly Giles. Putnam disregards all his values in an attempt to gain worldly possessions. As the play progresses, Giles explains in court, "If Jacobs hangs for a witch he forfeit up his property…" (Miller, ) Giles reveals Putnam's real motive for crying witchery. As Putnam continues his lie, he subjects innocent people to their deaths. This despicable act can only be defined as greed. Moral values are absent as Putnam convinces the courts of witchery. Eventually this leads to the death of Giles by pressing. Putnam personifies greed in The Crucible by neglecting the lives of others while attempting to acquire more worldly possessions without qualms. Contrary to Puritan beliefs, he concerns himself over worldly wealth while ignoring the wealth that may come in the life after.
Furthermore, many causes of the witch trials stem from the envy of people in lower positions. Envy motivates Abigail Williams and Anne Putnam to accuse their enemies as witches. After discovering that Abigail accused her, Elizabeth Proctor exclaims, "She'd dare not call out such a farmer's wife but there be a monstrous profit in it." (Miller, ) Elizabeth speaks of a monstrous profit, and she knows that it ...
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...rts them. We can note that all these characters are after the same goal. They concern themselves over issues and possessions that exist in their world. The worst aspect of human relations result from these trials. Although the actions in the book may not have truly taken place, many people fell victim to the horrific consequences of the real trials. The characters within The Crucible struggled with their status in society as did the real people of Salem. Their behavior shows what will happen if we succumb to our desires without realizing the moral wrong that we may subject to others and ourselves. In order to prevent that possibility, we should recognize the consequences of our actions before it becomes too late to do anything. Miller exhibits his understanding of human nature by revealing these characters to our face and forcing us to watch as they warp their values and ideals to uphold the acceptance of this behavior. As The Crucible is read, people are forced to see how wrong it is to place the value material things over the price of a human's life; and by knowing this, hopefully people will start to discover these aspects within themselves, and will gain the courage to change.
The focus of Miller’s The Crucible is an appalling witch trial that morfs the once-peaceful town of Salem into a cutthroat slaughterhouse. As a lucrative playwright and a not-so-subtle allegory author, Miller is a seasoned wordsmith who addresses people akin to himself, and is not secretive about that information. The Crucible best serves its purpose as a learning device and a social statement, especially at the time of its publishing. Miller‘s piece showcases the appeals in an easy-to-identify manner that is perfect for middle or high school students who are new to the appeals, or for English majors who have no problem pinpointing them, making this play ideal for a classroom setting.
Although this was not entirely true, his personal attachment to the trials swayed his judgement and impacted his ability to send innocent people to jail, based on his beliefs. Thomas Putnam played a crucial role in the Witch Trials, influencing many deaths and arrests. Elizabeth Proctor was the third wife of John Proctor, the first man accused of witchery.
In the Crucible there are two quotes Parris says “You will confess yourself or I will take you out and whip you to your death, Tituba!” So what this means is that anybody accused of witch gets hanged. People really do not have a choice. Putnam says “This woman must be hanged! She must be taken and
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.
Vengeance plays a key role in causing the mass hysteria of the Salem Witch Trials. Abigail Williams, who?s probably most to blame for the trials, acts out of revenge. She and John Proctor have had an affair and when Elizabeth Proctor finds out, she throws Abigail out of their house. During the trials, Abigail is still in love with John Proctor and goes after Elizabeth out of vengeance. Elizabeth tries to explain this to John, who is in disbelief: she ?thinks to kill me, then to take my place? (61). Abigail?s main motive for destroying Elizabeth is revenge for being thrown out of the house and for having John Proctor, the man that she loves. Another character who seeks revenge is Mrs. Putnam, who has had seven children die shortly after childbirth and blames her midwife, who has many children. Rebecca Nurse is charged ?for the marvelous and supernatural murder of Goody Putnam?s babies? (71). The trials are an opportunity for Ann Putnam to seek vengeance against Rebecca for having healthy children and grandchild...
The statement,“The Crucible is essentially about courage, weakness, and truth,” is proven true numerous times, throughout the play. The Crucible was written by Arthur Miller, about the true events that happened in Salem, Massachusetts, between the years 1692 and 1693. The Salem witch trials consisted of many hangings, lies, and complete mass hysteria. The citizens of Salem followed the religion of Puritanism, and the ideas of predestination. The root of the mass hysteria comes from their belief in the sense that in something happens then it must have been planned by God. In Miller’s portrayal of the story, Abigail Williams was the ringleader of the witch trials, and she used the idea of predestination to cover up her own sins. Abigail was a very manipulative girl and ruined many lives. John Proctor, Mary Warren, and Elizabeth Proctor were just a few of the victims in Abby’s game. John, Mary, and Elizabeth exhibit the traits courage, weakness, and truth, whether it was in a positive or negative way.
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.
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
The play, The Crucible, is a fireball of guilt, evil, and good compiled into one magnification. It is a play with tremendous feelings, with many inside twists hidden in the archives of the true story. It is a play with emotional feelings; feelings of anger, hate, and evil, yet also feelings of goodness, and pureness. Undeniably, The Crucible is a play illustrating good versus evil. The principal characters, Abigail Williams, John Proctor, Ann Putnam and Marry Warren all contain within them elements of good and evil.
Jealousy also played a big role in who was to blame for the deaths in Salem. The Putnams were a small family, whose seven children out of eight did not survive. Mrs. Putnam was a very jealous person when it came to families, and Mr. Putnam was a very jealous person when it came to land. Goody Putnam wanted more children and was jealous of Rebecca Nurse and her large family, so she blamed her for witchcraft.
...Putnam all played a major role in Salem witch trials, while none of their roles were positive ones they all did what they did for themselves. Abigail Williams did what she did so her and her friends could harvest attention from the people of Salem. Judge Danforth was ignorant to fact that verbal evidence is very unreliable just because he wanted to be correct about every decision in the trials. Thomas Putnam accuses several people in Salem all for personal gain of land and money. Many people were charged as guilty but in reality they were innocent, the only people who were actually guilty are Abigail Williams, Judge Danforth, and Thomas Putnam. The Crucible shows how honesty may not seem like the popular choice to make but will always be the right one.
All participants in the witch-hunt were influenced by the society that existed in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. Salem operated as a theocracy, a government ruled by and subject to religious authority. In a theocracy, people's sins are not forgiven, so that when they commit an indiscretion, they are left feeling guilty. "The witch-hunt was....a long overdue opportunity for everyone so inclined to express publicly his guilt and sins, under the cover of accusations against the victims." (p. 7) Characters such as Abigail Williams and Mrs. Putnam used the witch-hunts in the way cited above, as a method of confessing their sins without being accountable for them. Others used the chaos created by it for their own benefit. Thomas Putnam made his daughter Ruth accuse both George Jacobs and Rebecca Nurse so he could buy the resulting unclaimed land after they were hung. Any character that accused, confessed, or in any way joined the witch-hunt failed his or her test.
Thomas Putnam plays a major role in the Salem witch hunt in Arthur Miller's The Crucible. Inheriting a handsome amount of property makes Putnam a wealthy person; however, it doesn't seem to satisfy his ambition. After the town terribly rejected Putnam's brother-in-law, Bayley, Putnam's bitterness has increased. Finally his prodigious involvement in the relentless accusations places him in the center of the spot light, making him a salient character in both the play and the indignant period of the American history.
Giles Corey is an outspoken member of Salem Village, which can sometimes get himself and others into trouble. Giles, one could say, is infamous in the town for causing disputes and attempting to settle those disputes in court. In one instance, Giles is embedded in an argument with Thomas Putnam about land that he believes rightfully belongs to John Proctor. Putnam is informed that his grandfather had a history of willing away land that he did not own. While the argument does not involve him, Giles feels the need to interject when he supports Proctor’s claim by saying, “That’s God’s truth; he nearly willed away my north pasture” (32). The argument becomes so heated that Putnam threatens to clap a writ on Giles. This, of course, seems of little threat to Giles as he has been in court thir...
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.