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Literary criticism of the crucible by Arthur Miller
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Personal character traits are the attitudes you have toward your activities and the challenges they present. These traits may be positive, negative or often in between, depending on the situation. Many negative character traits were depicted in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. He discussed the guilt of personal private sin, loss of emotional control and the worst of all jealousy. Negative personal character traits can lead to failure or frustration. These characteristics will affect you throughout your life. The story revolves around Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. The author converses about witchcraft and displays many issues in the town of Salem. These above traits are still found in our times because we don’t live in an ideal society.
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Many people live their lives consumed by guilt about things that they have done in their pasts. John Proctor had everything an average Puritan man could want: a successful farm to ceaselessly toil upon, three sons to discipline, and a beautiful wife with whom to make a home. Proctor was a stand-up guy who spoke his mind. Around town, his name was synonymous with honor and integrity. He took pleasure in exposing hypocrisy and was respected for it. Most importantly, John Proctor respected himself. Then came Abigail Williams, who he made the mistake of his life with. John made the mistake of committing adultery with her. To make things worse, it was also lechery, as Proctor was in his forties and Abigail was just seventeen. All it took was one shameful encounter to destroy John's most prized possession: his self-respect. John Proctor is extremely guilty of his affair with Abigail. He confessed to this guilt in court. Proctors confession only succeeds only in leading to his arrest and conviction as a witch. He doesn’t admit to being a witch and does not want to write the confession. He doesn’t want to lie because he knows its not something he should do. Instead he rather gets hanged then to lie and lose his respectability in the society. Another character that displays this trait would be Mr. Putnam. He was very greedy wanted more and more land. He accused many people of witchcraft, and once they were hanged, he would buy their land. Thomas Putnam uses witch trials to increase his wealth. Mr. Putnam accused George Jacobs of witchcraft so he can buy up Jacob’s land. Giles Corey claims that a reliable witness overheard Putnam making an incriminating statement. However, when Corey refuses to name the witness for fear that the witness will be arrested, Danforth jails Corey. Corey was held in contempt of court and went to jail for this reason. He
John Proctor a well-respected man in the city of Salem has a deep secret that plays a major role later on in the story. He had an intimate affair with a younger single girl named Abigail which he regrets greatly. Proctor shows his disgust when he argues with Abigail by insisting, “Abby I never give you hope to wait for me” (page168). Proctor exclaims that he surely regrets his sin and doesn’t want Abigail to think that he loves her and not his own wife. Although Proctor may still have feelings about Abigail he reassures her that he will never have emotional relationships with her ever again. He had the ultimate opportunity to get back at Abigail and stop the witch trials from happening when he meets Abigail alone in the woods; upon their encounter she confesses to John, “We were dancing in the woods last night and my uncle leaped in ...
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.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller is set in Salem in a Puritan community. John Proctor, Elizabeth Proctor, Reverend Hale, Reverend Paris, and Abigail are the main characters. The book is about witchcraft or what the town thinks is witchcraft. John Proctor is the tragic hero because he is loving, loyal, authoritative, but his tragic flaw is his temper.
John Proctor: “God in heaven, what is John Proctor, what is John Proctor”. John is a man of strong moral beliefs, concerned only for the safety of his family and personal welfare. He cares of nothing for the beliefs of any of the other people in the town and what his supervisor which is the Reverend, thinks either. After trying to avoid involvement in the witch trials he is later prosecuted for witchery and sentenced to hang. John trys to avoid any involvement in the Salem witch trials. His reason for doing so is to protect his image because he is afraid he will be committed of adultery with Abigail Williams. Following these events he trys to save everyone’s lives by admitting to this horrible offense adultery and ends up losing the trial along with his life. He did have a chance to live but instead of signing away his name and his soul to keep his life, he wanted to die honorably with his friends not without a name, a soul, and with guilt. “John Proctors decision to die is reasonable and believable”. Reverend Parris, the Salem minister and Proctors immediate supervisor, which says “ there is either obedience or the church will burn like hell is burning.” “The church in theocratic Salem is identical with the state and the community and will surely crumble if unquestioning obedience falters in the least.” Proctor, on the other hand, “has come to regard his self as a king of fraud,” as long as he remains obedient to an authority which he cannot respect.
Abigail Williams is manipulative and wants everything to go her way. She is the main character and causes trouble everywhere she goes. The Salem Witch Trials is about hearings and prosecutions of people who were accused of witchcraft. In The Crucible Abigail is a no good villain. Abigail first commits adultery with Elizabeth’s husband.
Life as a human is dictated by an inborn hunger or purpose, and people, in general, will act on this hunger for their own personal gain in their individual ways. This hunger, be it for wealth, land, love, power, revenge, or pride, can, and will be the undoing or failing of all mankind as Miller so clearly points out in his play 'The Crucible';. This essay will explore the motives of characters within the play and even the motives of Arthur Miller himself and therefore show how conflict stems from certain recognisable human failings including those mentioned above, fear, and hysteria.
The problem is that this caused him to be the main one to fight the court because he was not friendly with the people who made up the court. His motivation in the play is the search for the truth. He values his wife's love and the concerns of his children so he wants to be a good man and to him the truth is very important in being a good man. His conflict though is his past affair with Abigail and because of this he is hesitant to fight the witch hunters and expose Abigail as a liar.
One definition of "crucible" is "a severe test of patience and belief, or a trial". This definition pertains to Arthur Miller's four-act play, "The Crucible." The definition is suiting, because it is during this play that the wills of innocent women and men are put to the test when they are accused of things they did not do. It was the ultimate trial of determination and willpower to withstand such a wretched ordeal. Abigail Williams, Elizabeth and John Proctor, Mary Warren, Reverend Parris and even Reverend Hale had changed drastically because of what they had to go through during the course of the play. However, other characters such as Ezekiel Cheever and Marshall Herrick did not really change noticeably. Reverend Parris and Reverend Hale are two characters in "The Crucible" that did change, and Ezekiel Cheever is one that did not.
What is the cost of ambition? For as long as history tells, ambition was a way for people to move forward with their lives and advance past others. Whether it means competing for a promotion or fighting to stay alive, this emotion gives people the motivation and perseverance to work through their obstacles and reach their goal. Although ambition allows many great opportunities and rewards, it can create selfish, egocentric people who do not take much consideration of others. Ultimately, if ambition consumes one’s thoughts and desires, their actions will not only cause chaos within themselves, but also within the lives of the people around them. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, ambition played a significant role throughout the play. Lady Macbeth was
John Proctor is portrayed throughout the play to be a man who has high moral values that he must abide by. He can spot hypocrisy in others easily and judges himself no less harshly. Elizabeth Proctor says to him in the second act:
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.
“I want my life, … I will have my life” (137). In the drama of the “Crucible” John Proctor is accused of being a witch. John is unaware of the reason he is accused, but it is obvious that every time someone comes close to getting to the bottom of the girls lie that is the person the girls accuse. Before the beginning of the play John had committed lechery with Abigail Williams. John Proctor is almost ready to admit that he is a witch even though he is not, some reasons that he doesn’t admit it could be that it could help to make the girls seem like they are telling the truth, because he doesn’t want to live a lie and because he doesn’t want other people to look at him as a witch, nor does he want people to follow his lie and start admitting to things when they didn’t really do it. John Proctor would rather die honest than live a lie!
Few people are willing to stand up to the overwhelming power of authority, especially during a time like the Red scare. Hardly any authors are able to recognize meaningful similarities between the present times and an event that happened many years ago—and write about it effectively. Only one has had the courage and intelligence to do both. Arthur Miller was an American author who wrote plays, essays, and stories and has published works dating from to 1936 through 2004. The Crucible, one of his most famous plays, premiered in New York on January 22, 1953 (InfoTrac). It is a historical-fiction story set in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. The witch hunt described in this play is similar to the Red Scare, an anti-communist movement led by Senator Joseph McCarthy that lasted from the late 1940s to the late 1950s (Broudin). During both time periods, most people respected high authority while a few dissenters challenged conformist views. The public was censored in what they could say because of the fear of being accused of witchcraft or communism. The hysteria of the times triggered a mob-mentality to emerge among the citizens, which influenced nearly everyone to join the terrible movements. Miller presents all of these ideas in The Crucible using his own experiences as influences. He incorporated many of his own traits into the characters’ dispositions. He also described many situations in the play that were similar to the ones he was in, including how he was censored by the Red Scare. Many people will often conform while only a few will challenge authority, will use censorship to prevent others from expressing their views, and are easily affected by hysteria; these characteristics influenced Miller’s life and are reflected by him in Th...
The narrator of “Black Men and Public Space” takes a similar approach of exemplifying his helplessness. This narrator explained how he understood the stigma associated with his appearance and did his best to circumvent it, but unfortunately some situations rendered him helpless. In the opening paragraph, he describes a woman’s extremely cautious actions when she became aware of his presence one the dark and desolate street. He later explains how the encounter
Soon after completing this heroic task, Ishtar, the goddess of love and war sought to marry Gilgamesh. As a king who should abide by the gods, Gilgamesh had an outburst of denying Ishtar 's proposal because of her infidelity and cruel relationships with her past lovers. "[Who is there] would take you in marriage? [You, a frost that congeals no] ice, a louvre-door [that] stays [not] breeze nor draught, a palace that massacres...warriors," (Tablet VI 32-35). Because he denied Ishtar, this further shows how Gilgamesh is immature and not ready to accept his responsibilities as king by marrying Ishtar. As a result of her denial, Ishtar requests from her father Anu to send down the Bull of Heaven. His denial in taking part of the sacred marriage ceremony and his eagerness to disrespect and dishonor the gods ' wishes to punish his city of Uruk exhibits Gilgamesh 's fault in taking up his role as king. Gilgamesh took this opportunity to slay the Bull of Heaven to, again, have another event to add to his repertoire of heroic deeds. He arrogantly completed these heroic acts of the killing of Humbaba and the killing of the Bull of Heaven. Without humility, a ruler will be looked down on by both the people, and in this situation, by the gods. Since Gilgamesh focused entirely in trying to be a great