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Characters and their characterisations in play Crucible by Arthur Miller
Characters and their characterisations in play Crucible by Arthur Miller
Characters and characterisation of the crucible
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In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, many people's actions are brought under question. After consideration many people were accused of having some tie with the Devil or witchcraft. Some of these people choose the option to opt out of punishment and take the heat of being associated with witchcraft. A few of the others decided to stick with the commandment ‘do not lie’, and gave their own life to obey God’s word. Everyone can get caught up on vanity every once in awhile, but sometimes it can cost them their life. One’s honesty can cause them to lose their life, or it can keep them out of trouble. The weight between these two options is on everybody's shoulders everyday. Honesty is a huge part of everyday life, and carries a lot of burden in …show more content…
Rebecca Nurse is one of the few people left in Salem that has held her own on the grounds of dealing with witchcraft. Many people that were accused, along with Goody Nurse, changed their story to benefit them, but Rebecca Nurse kept her same story all through the trials. Some look at Goody Nurse’s determination as a front that she is putting on to save her reputation from being tainted with the association with witchcraft. Along the lines of Goody Nurse’s situation, people believe that Caitlyn Jenner is just putting on a face and trying to keep her reputation up. Different people look at Caitlyn Jenner’s way of life and say that she is doing all of this for the fame and attention that goes along with her decision. On talking about her new TV show she says,” I’m not doing it for the money. If I can make a dollar, I certainly am not stupid. I have house payments and all that kind of stuff. I will never make an excuse for something like that” (NYMAG). During this interview she is trying to justify that she is doing this for herself, and not so she can get anything out of the whole ordeal. Vanity is not a good thing to be associated with, but everyone has dealt with it in some part of their life at one point or another. Having the gift of extreme conviction when you don’t tell the truth, or aren’t honest, is a blessing. One should always tell the truth, even if it means you get killed.
The tragic tale of the Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts was re-written by Arthur Miller in the form of the play “The Crucible”. The trials have been studied to figure out what really happened, but no one will ever know since it happened decades ago. The play is the closest reenactment we have to help us see how people could have reacted to life. “The Crucible” shows how using others as a cushion to keep from being punished can go extremely bad. Amidst all the chaos a man by the name Reverend John Hale came to help but ended up with making it a huge amount worse.
During the salem witch trials a lot of people accused each others of being a witch or dealing with the devil most of them lied because they wanted something that person had people accused each other left from right and those who were accused felt to ashamed to lie and admit that they talked to the devil because no one would believe them.
There is an old adage: “The truth will set you free.” How true is this statement in relationship to The Crucible? In the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller, many characters are being testified against in court and are being punished, even sometimes by the death penalty. One example of someone who told the truth but still got hanged in court is John Proctor, he admitted to his affair and didn’t lie in court and he was still executed along with some others. Another example of somebody telling the truth but still getting hanged is Rebecca Nurse, although she knew she was going to die but she still told the truth because of her dignity. The last example of someone telling the truth but still getting hanged is Giles Corey, he called out the Putnams and the court for manipulating people but he still ended up getting stoned to death in the end. The saying: “The truth will set you free.” does not apply in this book, because everyone who tells the truth gets hanged or goes to jail.
In The Crucible, there are many examples that ambition can corrupt even the most steady and kind, through the use of characters such as Elizabeth Proctor, Reverend Hale and John Proctor as well as others. Rev. Hale, as an example, came to Salem with an ambition to rid the town of witchcraft, but at the same time disregarded the fact of the matter, innocent people are being put to death for the sake of reputation. As Hale says in Arthur Millers' The Crucible, book/movie/play,
Honor, dignity, and integrity are traits that are becoming more and more rare in our society. The Crucible, a play written in 1952 by Arthur Miller, is based on the Salem witch hunts of 1692 and parallels the Red Scare and McCarthyism in the 1950s. In the play, Miller attempts to focus his themes around traits such as honor, dignity, and integrity, and as a result, the theme "is it better to die honorably or live dishonorably" becomes vital to the story and well conveyed throughout it. The characters that exemplify this idea are John Proctor and Giles Corey, both of whom die by the end of the play, and Reverend John Hale and Abigail Williams, who live through the trials.
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is a play that discusses many issues and spurs contemplation within the reader. While reading this play, because of the controversy of many issues detailed within, it is difficult for one not to take a look at one’s own morals and determine what one would do if placed in a similar situation. The key issues discussed within this play, the effects of hysteria, marital betrayal, and the murderous powers of lies, are portrayed intriguingly and effectively. The lessons that can be learned from The Crucible are still quite applicable today.
People make life or death choices every day. In The Crucible, John Proctor and others decided dying honestly was better than living a lie. At this time, countless were accused of witchcraft and working with the devil in the town of Salem, MA. In this play, Reverend Hale told Elizabeth proctor “no principle, however glorious, is worth dying for.” He argued that living a life of dishonesty is better than dying for the truth, trying to persuade John to live, but as a devil's advocate. But John believed no life was worth living if it was full of falsifies information.
A lie can protect the integrity of someone when the truth is nowhere to be found. A lie becomes one 's reality when all hope is lost. Lies can protect bare emotions or embrace one 's false accusations, however once said the truth no longer exists. Spoken with words or depicted by actions, lies evolve from innate feelings within and conspire individuals to act in detrimental ways. The propensity of individuals to lie within the Puritan Society develops from the fear of not fitting within the standards and expectations a Puritan is expected to have. While a lie is a considered a vast sin in the Puritan community, many rely on this sin to covert other ones previously made. In Arthur Miller 's tragic play The Crucible,
The Crucible was a rather strong book, it had battles both internal and external, there were also betrayals and vendettas… but a few stuck strong to their morals of what was wrong, and what was right. After the girl’s acts were, undoubtedly, in the eyes of the law, seen as entirely real, people who would not otherwise have been accused of witchcraft were now eligible to be under Satan’s spell. One John Proctor, saw himself above the nonsense, that witches could not exist in Salem, his wife, his children nor him; But, when Mary Warren said to the court that he used his spirit to drag her into court to testify against the girls, the judges deemed her word more truthful than his. After actively and repeatedly denying the claims, he was sentenced to death, for only a witch could lie in the face of god.
The Crucible shows how honesty may not seem like the popular choice to make, but will always be the right one. Work Cited Miller, Arthur. The. The Crucible (Penguin Classics). New York: Penguin Classics, 2003.
In Arthur Miller's The Crucible, John Proctor, a proud and frustrated farmer of Salem, chooses to die rather than to give a false confession to witchcraft. Many might view this act as that of a selfless martyr; on the other hand, it can more readily be seen as the height of human stupidity in the face of vanity and pride.
People are always cautious when it comes to the fine line between deception and the truth. Throughout our lives we are told not to deceive anyone otherwise we would eventually lose them due to our deviousness. However, the same could be said about telling someone the truth. How often can we find someone who has honestly never deceived or lied to someone in their life even if it was unintentional? Why is it wrong to deceive someone? What if they are better off hearing a lie from your lips instead of the cold, hard, and brutal truth? Or what if they are in danger of harming themselves and you need to tell someone, but don’t inform the person in danger that ...
Reputation is the beliefs or opinions that are generally held about someone or something. A famous American poet once said: “Oh reputation dearer far than life”. James Russell Lowell highlights the importance of reputation by declaring it more important than even human life itself. This idea is also found in ‘The Crucible’ as many characters will be challenged between telling the truth and dying, or saving their reputation. In ‘The Crucible’, this theme beholds a key position in the unrolling of the story as an impression of control over the outcome of people’s lives is created by its importance.
The reason I agree with the statement is because telling the truth and being honest is much more accurate than telling a lie. Lying can cause you many trouble and can lose trust from someone that really trust you. If someone loses trust in you it will take time for them to trust you again. Once you tell a lie to someone you are really close to they would not believe one word you say. It’s always a good option to tell the truth instead of lying to someone you really trust.
Honesty is a characteristic that everyone should possess. However, being honest is a difficult task for many people. Living honestly means allowing a person’s true self to be exposed to others. Honesty is considered owning up to one’s wrongdoings and not lying, cheating, or stealing. Being honest is a trait that many people believe is obsolete. Even though every person interprets honesty differently, it all stems back to telling the truth. Being honest allows a person to earn respect from their peers. Honesty is allowing oneself to be completely exposed by being truthful.