Mistaken Identity in The Crucible by Arthur Miller

When a person hears Satan, a streak of fear, and the thought of evil arises. People fear Satan, and think of him as evil, but in John Milton’s Paradise Lost, he displays a thought of the Father being the evil being, and Satan a tragic hero. In Paradise Lost, Book 1 and 2, the minor areas where God is shown, He is displayed as hypocritical. He contradicts himself by creating the humans to be of free will, but when Satan displays free will, he is shunned. Satan could be described in many terms, and by many people, but all can be disputed.

The Crucible, a Play in Four Acts. New York: Viking, 1953. Print.

Proctor does not think he is able to sin which is why even though he “know[s] [h... ... middle of paper ... ...ondemnation as a Christian trial against witchcraft but as a case to save his prestige. In order to stop the hangings, Danforth will have to admit his mistakes and as a result, hurt his authority and the court’s validity. Danforth gains so much power from enforcing the law that he believes it justifies his corruption and the infallibility of his actions. Miller exposes events of the Witch Trial where flawed authorities disregard justice for power, reflecting their desperation to uphold their reputation and control. They overlook their faults because of the great amount of authority the “common” man has granted them.

The Crucible was written by Arthur Miller. In the town of Salem, the people’s obsession of trying to provide justice only caused injustice against the accused. The law of Salem was guilty until proven innocent. Their government was also a theocracy, and their obsession with religion also caused the injustice. The law in Salem was guilty until proven innocent, which was very unjust because in the constitution it clearly states that a person is innocent until proven guilty; and the court condemned people without providing the proper evidence to prove their innocence or guilt.

Milton is able to do this because it is always worse, and more shocking to see a liked individual reveal himself to be bad, than to always know a bad individual to be bad. Thus, the initial support that Satan gains from readers is designed to alienate him further when his evil side prevails. As the character of Satan progresses, the reader becomes less willing to accept Satan’s goal of freedom of choice. This is... ... middle of paper ... ...n. Satan’s goal of freedom of choice has been lost in his hate. This aspect of Satan serves as the final stage in a reader’s transition from viewing Satan as the brave leader of a just cause, to viewing him as a lowly coward.

Hamlet suffers from his own moral standards, the desperate need to seek the truth, lack of confidence and trust in his own impulses, self-hatred, and melancholy. Each of these categories contribute to Hamlet’s troubled mind. Hamlet based a lot of his actions on his religious moral standards. Although Hamlet had high morals, he still had many impulses that were against his moral standards that he wanted to carry out; such as the murder of his father and his thoughts on suicide. "His canon 'gainst self-slaughter!

(CM) To assume that one desires Oedipus’ position is a form of haughtiness , because it means that the protagonist is in a better position than the other and that the one who desires such power is a duplicitic man. CM) In this scenario, it also means that Oedipus is vainly assuming that others will act less humane to attain power. (CM) By accusing others of unjust crimes, the tragic hero will not gain any trust nor loyalty from them and may even be abandoned to fate due to a feeling of betrayal. (CS) Therefore, Oedipus’ ire is a flaw that dominates him and causes him to fall in a pit of

Dimmesdale’s public life and private life are radically different, but affect each other nonetheless. Dimmesdale’s private life destroys him mentally and physically. His affair with Hester violates his moral codes that he is supposed to abide by as a minister, which causes him to feel extremely ashamed of himself, resulting in self-inflicted abuse: “Oftentimes, this Protetant and Puritan divine had plied [the scourage] on his own shoulders” (132). All of his abuse is the result of the shame created by his private life. Moreover, Dimmesdale hides his wounds from his cong...

In Paul J. Hurley’s critical analyses Young Goodman Brown 's “Heart of Darkness.” In this analysis Hurley confronts other critics ideas head and supports the idea that the evil comes from the story 's protagonist. “...Insisting that Goodman Brown is misled by the Devil who conjures up apparitions to befuddle his innocent victim. The idea is comforting but not convincing. To take guilt away from human beings in order to place it on infernal powers is not a satisfactory explanation of the story... I believe the pervasive sense of evil in the story is not separate from or outside its protagonist; it is

Everyone makes a mistake in life that they regret; in Dimmesdale’s case, he kept his sin hidden. Hawthorne uses various methods to depict Dimmesdale’s struggle to overcome the oppressive Puritan society and reveal his true identity. The laws, religion, and members of the community set high expectations for Dimmesdale to live up to. He is pressured to please his people and obey the rules of his society, but he knows that they will not accept who he really is. The community’s expectations cause Dimmesdale to punish himself for his sin instead of confessing.