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The Greatest Story ever told
Arthur Miller is the author to The Crucible; a play set in Massachusetts during the witch-hunts of the 1690s. The townspeople accused others of being witches they would later be tried and hanged. If they agreed to being a witch they were to be set free. One main character is John Proctor. Due to his high pride, when he was accused, he would not give up his own name and say that he was a witch. He is a true tragic hero because of one error in his life which he made led to his downfall.
First, the most important event of the play is John’s sin of adultery. In lust of passion John wandered from his sick wife and found himself in bed with Abigail Williams, his house servant. His wife, Elizabeth, would later of his infidelity and forgave him, but he never forgave himself. Also, Abigail was in love with John and believed that he had feelings for her also, but John was happy with his wife. Abigail and some of her friends went to the forest to call upon the Devil that was how the whole thing got started. Abigail thought that if John’s wife was dead John would come running with open arms. Abigail knew of only one way to kill Elizabeth and that was through the devil and attempted witchcraft. John knew that the girls had been dancing in the forest, and Abigail told him that it was all fun and games. John knew that Abigail had been up to no good but he didn’t try to stop the girls from lying about the many people they claimed to “see walking the devil”. John allowed the girls to go on accusing innocent people when he knew that they were lying. This is also one of John’s mistakes by letting them get away with this; it ultimately led to his demise.
John had to now battle evil and was defeated. For exa...
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...n Proctor is not perfect. John showed his beliefs by taking responsibility for his actions, risking his life in the battle against Abigail Williams, and doing none of it out of selfishness. John was not trying to save himself at first, dishonoring his name did no good for him. John stood up for the innocent townspeople that were wrongly accused by the girls of the town. John Proctor is as true a tragic hero.
Book Sources:
Miller, Arthur. The Crucible (Penguin Classics). New York: Penguin Classics, 2003.
Rovere, Richard Halworth. Senator Joe McCarthy. Berkeley: University of California, 1995.
Wilson, Lori Lee. Salem witch trials. Minneapolis: Lerner Pub., 1997.
Internet Sources:
WWW.THECRUCIBLE.COM. Web. 12 Jan. 2010. .
SparkNotes: Today's Most Popular Study Guides. Web. 13 Jan. 2010. .
The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, focuses on the Salem witch trials and the extreme behavior that follows the trials. Miller shows how the dark desires and hidden agendas provokes such extreme behavior. The Crucible was written in a time when the anti-communist movement was strongly protested. During the Salem witch trials, a person was guilty until he proved himself
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The Crucible is a famous play written by Arthur Miller. This play centers around the witch trials that took place in Salem, Massachusetts. In Act II, Abigail and her friends accuse several innocent people of witchcraft. Once they leave the court, Reverend Hale goes to John Proctor’s house to inform Elizabeth Proctor that people in the court have mentioned her name. Then officials of the court, Herrick and Cheever, arrive at the Proctor’s house. They claim to have a warrant for Elizabeth’s arrest because the court declares she practices witchcraft. After, Herrick and Cheever take Elizabeth to jail. Injustice in Act II prevails because of the inability to see the truth. Reverend Hale and John Proctor illuminate the theme that closed-mindedness
The Crucible is a very popular novel/play written by Arthur Miller. John Proctor is a common, angry, and stubborn farmer who works very hard to get by; until his wife Elizabeth is accused of witchcraft. Elizabeth Proctor or John's wife is an average, jealous, and insecure housewife in the town of Salem when she receives claims of witchcraft on her name. John and Elizabeth are common people who have to overcome a great trial.
Purist Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 suffered from a rapidly increasing phenomenon: witchcraft accusations and trials. The Crucible is a play that recounts the times of this incident. For the most part, it follows a man known as John Proctor. He is a sensible, honest, and hardworking man who made the mistake of succumbing to lust which sets off a chain of events that leads to the witch trials, and to his own demise. Arthur Miller’s The Crucible’s protagonist John Proctor proves to be a flawed human being who struggles to make sense of his past relationship with Abigail, his love for his wife, and his pride.
Early on in the play, the reader comes to understand that John Proctor has had an affair with Abigail Williams while she was working in his home. Abigail believed that if she got rid of Elizabeth Proctor, then John Proctor would become her own. John Proctor had an affair with Abigail, but for him it was just lust, while Abigail believed it to be true love. She told John Proctor that she loved him, and once she destroys Elizabeth, they would be free to love one another. John is horrified at this, but can do nothing to convince Abigail that he is not in love with her. Because of Abigail's twisted plot to secure John for herself, Elizabeth is arrested. John Proctor has to wrestle with the decision of what to do. He knows that he has sinned; yet he does not want to hurt his beloved wife. This is partly why he is willing to die. He knows he has already sinned.
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The Crucible is a novel based on the Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts, written by Arthur Miller. The Crucible demonstrates forbidden temptation between John Proctor and Abigail Williams, honor and dishonor in the town of Salem, ruthless revenge, and the strive for high social status. The narrative style of this play is standard 1950s everyday language. The Crucible is set in a theocratic society of Puritanism in 1692.
Arthur Miller’s dramatic play The Crucible, takes place during 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts. The setting is important because it takes place during the time of the Salem Witch Trials. The play begins with the town’s girls, led by Abigail Williams, gathering in the forest and starting to dance around a fire, chanting. Reverend Parris catches them dancing, sending the girls into a panic and causing two of the girls to go into a coma-like state. The townspeople spread rumors that there are witches lurking throughout the the town that have put the girls under their spells. This causes Reverend Parris to send for Reverend Hale, an expert in witchcraft and the devil's work, who hopes to rid the town of all witchcraft. John Proctor, a local farmer, asks Abigail to stop accusing innocent people and start telling the truth about what happened in the forest. Elizabeth Proctor, John Proctor's wife, excused Abigail from their house because she found out about an affair between Abigail and John. She lies to the court when she is asked about John’s affair to save him from any punishment. In doing so, they were both sent to jail for witchcraft because they knew she had lied. Abigail and the girls continued to lie about people in the town being witches, causing many innocent people to be killed, including John Proctor. Miller shows the dangers of scapegoating when lies that are regarded as the truth, and can kill innocent characters.
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.
John Proctor was a hero because although the consequences he faced were very bad and could affect him badly he kept his word and accepted his sins. Moreover, he cheated on Elizabeth with Abigail and that was a very bad sin in the Puritan way of life back then. Although it was a very bad sin John Proctor still confessed about what happened with Abigail to the court and accepted the consequences. However, The court later on wanted him to confess and say he was doing witchcraft and was seeing the devil but he kept his word and didn’t lie about it and remained loyal to god and himself.
First John Proctor is a tragic hero because he is loving and loyal . “I will bring you home. I will bring you soon” and “I will fall like an ocean on that court! fear nothing Elizabeth.” John says this when Elizabeth is brought to jail from their house. It shows the love he has for her and he will do anything for her to get her back home. John goes to the court to tell judge Danforth that Elizabeth is innocent and that Abigail is lying and wants Elizabeth murdered “I do, sir. I believe she means to murder.” John going to the court is showing his loyalty and love towards Elizabeth knowing she is innocent and never tell lies she always tell the truth. John says “In her life, sir, she has never lied. There are them that cannot sing, and them that cannot weep-my wife cannot lie. I have
John Proctor is a very good man or he seems like a very good man. He is hardworking, nice guy, never lies or people thought he was that guy. In my opinion, he wants to be thought of a great guy and he is, but up until he makes a very bad life decision with Abigail. At one point he was possibly bored with his good wife, Elizabeth. As the book goes on, Abigail gains power in Salem and people that live there view her as a saint. John has no worry about what is happening in Salem. His reputation is good still, but his wife knows what he and Abigail did, but as nice as Elizabeth is she has forgiven him. When Abigail has power and she is running around Salem accusing people, she accused Mrs. Proctor. John goes to Salem, sees what is going on and talked to Abigail. John is mad, it was just Abigail and him alone, she confesses that she just wants to get John to
Another important work Miller wrote, The Crucible, takes place in Salem, Massachusetts, during the 17th century. It is a time when jealousy and suspicion poisoned the thinking of an entire town. Neighbor turned against neighbor when events happened that could not be explained. Accusations turned into a mad hunt for witches who did not exist. One of the main characters of the play is John Proctor, a well-respected man with a good name in the town. As the play develops, John Proctor’s moral dilemma becomes evident: he must decide whether to lie and confess to witchcraft in order to save his life, or to die an honest man, true to his beliefs.