Literary analysis paper-The crucible-prompt 1 In the crucible, I believe reputation and respect was interwoven in the term of the play the ‘‘crucible’’. Reputation and Respect can also be a theme or a thematic idea in the play, reputation is very essential in a town where social status is synonymously to ones competence to follow religious rules. Your standing is what enables you to live as one in a community where everyone is bound to rules and inevitable sequential instructions. Many characters for example, john proctor and reverend parris, base their action on the motive to protect their reputation which is only exclusive to them. People like reverend parris saw respect as what made them important or valuable in a town like Salem, this additionally imprinting to his character as a very conventional man. …show more content…
In the beginning of scene 1, we notice him positioned at his daughter (Betty) sick bed. Appearing sad at first people might be feel remorseful for him, but after a while we notice that he is just reminiscing and thinking about his reputation, unconsciously think about his daughters wellbeing , he is fearful of what the people of Salem will think about him and thinking about the consequences of there being witch craft in his household, he will be relinquished from his status as the minister of Salem textual evidence state,”parris (studies her, then nods, half convinced) Abigail, I have fought here three long years to bend these stiff-necked people to me, and now, just when some good respect is rising for me in the parish, you compromise my very character”(crucible 144). This reveals that he is only worried and concerned about the respect he has gained and the concern he has about protecting
Throughout the story, Reverend Parris is shown to be on edge when he speaks, often because he is afraid of what others might think, say, or do to him. An example of this is when Parris is speaking with Abigail and says, “But if you trafficked with spirits in the forest I must know it now, for surely my enemies will, and they will ruin me with it” (Page 10, Miller). This shows how Reverend Parris is afraid of what his enemies will do to him and his reputation. On page 14, Parris is shown to again be very frightful, as he says, “They will howl me out of Salem for such corruption in my house” (Page 14, Miller). He jumps to conclusions and assumes the worst that he will be thrown out of Salem, which characterizes him as fearful.
The Crucible is an incredibly influential play no only in the fact that it displays many important themes, but it also portrays how a theocracy impacts societal actions. The Salem witch trials were the culmination of the problems with theocracy. The actions of society, not only are impacted by their personal thoughts, but also in religious undertones affect them. Act two in the play portrays not only all of these themes, but also some important events leading towards the witchcraft hysteria. Act two in the play portrays how theocracy ultimately leads to chaos.
Reverend Parris has always been a character who cares more about his own reputation and his own well-being than anyone else in the play, possibly even more than he cares about his own daughter. In the first act of the play, you can tell just how self-centered Parris is and how scared he is about the chance of word getting out that witchcraft is in Salem and was found first in his house. He seems fearful for his position in Salem as Reverend. Also in Act one, Susanna Walcott returns to Parris from the Doctors with news about Betty, who is his daughter that her illness is related to unnatural causes and he is quick to tell everyone how there
In “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller, I found myself struggling to grasp the full intensity he portrayed. One intense subject he really pinpointed was reputation. Reputation seemed to be a major focus of almost all they characters in this literary work. Whether it be reputation as a good member of the Salem Massachusetts community, or reputation as most successful preacher, the townspeople seemed to revolve around reputation. Many townspeople including John Proctor, Reverend Parris, as well as Giles Corey. This was not always necessary a bad thing, as it kept them in check, but in this case, the longing for a good reputation overpowered many lives, literally. Too much want for a triumphant
In act one in the crucible we meet multiple characters. I will specifically talk about two characters, John Proctor and Abigail Williams. I will discuss both of their motivations throughout act one. Act one is very confusing at first because you do not know what is really going on. Or if what the characters are saying are true.
“Well, all the plays that I was trying to write were plays that would grab an audience by the throat and not release them, rather than presenting an emotion which you could observe and walk away from.” by Arthur Miller. All great works provide a way to reach in and grab the audience through the reoccurring themes like, greed, jealousy, reputation and hypocrisy. Arthur Miller had one of those great works and it was called “The Crucible”. The play was based off of the witch trials that happened in Salem in the year of 1962. Some of the characters were actual characters involved in the witch trials. Arthur Miller wrote this play during the time of the “Red Scare”. Miller wrote The Crucible because he wanted to turn the The Salem Witch Trials into
Charlie’s intellect increases as the book continues where as his emotional level stays the same creating somewhat of a nightmare for Charlie. However, his intelligence then decreases as the book concludes and his emotional level continues to stay put. This trait gives off a vibe that Charlie is very immature and it shows more and more as the book goes on. Charlie, at the beginning of the book seemed very innocent and unaware of why people laughed at his actions and words, so he laughed along with them. “We had a lot of fun at the bakery today. Joe Carp said hey look where Charlie had his operashun what did they do to you Charlie put some brains in. I was going to tell him about me getting smart but I remember Prof Nemur said no. Then Frank
The Crucible by Arthur Miller covers the red scare in a way of comparing it to the salem witch trials. This play can be read or watched live in a theater. The portrayals of the characters are drastically different in each version. The ways of expressing emotion and intensity also changes with each portrayal. Atmosphere and expression also plays into the experience as well. Each comes with its own pros and cons all depending on the watcher/readers preference.
Throughout the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller there are various themes throughout the novel such as hysteria, intolerance and reputation. Out of all the themes the one that sticks out the most to me is reputation. Reputation sticks out the most to me because I feel like it is the most important and shows in most of the main characters. Reputation shows what a person values and what is most important to them.
The Puritan obsession with reputation generally prompts a person into taking selfish actions in order maintain a good reputation among their peers. Two characters in The Crucible who are portrayed as more obsessed with their reputations than most are Reverend Parris and Tituba.
There are two stories to be compared. The first one will be “The dying girl that no one helped.” This article was about a 28 year old lady who was killed early in the morning. The man who had killed her was a man who would stalk and rape her. This lady was brutally murdered in a New York residential area while at least 38 people watched the action and failed to help her. She had cried out for help so many times, but nobody reached to help nor called for help. The man stabbed her so many times until he heard no more cries. The bystanders now say “Everytime i look out here now, it’s like looking out at a nightmare. How could so many of us have had the same idea that we didn’t need to do anything? But that’s not all that’s wrong.” The second story is “The Crucible”. This story was about how a group of young girls would sneak out at night to go dance and communicate with spirits. Mr. Parris seen the ladies dancing and they had gotten caught by the village too. This situation was sent to court, and the ladies
Why is it such a big deal if they tell Parris about the charm of killing Elizabeth Proctor? I think that Abigail doesn’t like Elizabeth Proctor simply because she is married to John Proctor, whom Abigail is in love with. I think that the author’s intentions are to show that Abigail is the leader of the witchcraft related activities that were taken place in Salem. In Act 1, we haven’t met every character. We don’t know all the opinions of everyone yet. We know Abigail’s and Parris’, which are two of the most important ones. I think that John Proctor’s will be another important point of view.
One of the main themes in The Crucible is reputation. With so many of the townspeople yelling accusations of witchcraft and pointing fingers, a person's reputation became a thing of utmost importance because it was who you were and how you were viewed. However, as the trials went on, reputation no longer mattered to the courts as even the ‘best’ and most upright citizens were brought in on accusations and then later tried, and hanged. One such example is Rebecca Nurse. In the end John Proctor recognizes that reputation is still a representation of who you are. Personal integrity is the only thing that can stand against mass corruption, as illustrated by John Proctor, who had decided to hang rather than confess to crimes he did not commit.
I attended the Edythe Bates Old Production of The Crucible at Moores Opera House a couple days after I went to Swingin’ In The Opera House. After being exposed to the great show that Swingin’ In The Opera House put on, I set the bar high going into this opera. As soon as I walked in, I saw a giant closed curtain running through the stage and “The Crucible” projected up ahead. From the setup they had going on in the beginning, I was expecting a great production already. The Crucible had a great story to it when I read it back in high school, so seeing how it would play out with a music accompaniment was interesting.
¨When societies come under stress these kinds of things happen. People start looking around for essentially human sacrifices. They start looking around for somebody they can blame.” Margaret Atwood proposes this in an interview with Bill Moyers. The kinds of things she is speaking of is exactly what we observe in The Crucible by Arthur Miller which tells the story of the Salem witchcraft trials where many were punished and killed. In Arthur Miller’s ¨Why I Wrote The Crucible¨ we witness innocent people being blacklisted for conspiring with communists. All of these defend what Margaret Atwood declared in her interview. When a society comes under stress, we always find someone to blame.