During the late 1600’s, women had no rights and little say in the community. Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, takes place in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts. The practice of witchcraft was a very serious crime at the time of the Witch Trials. Nineteen men and women were accused of practicing witchcraft and were hanged. There were no in depth investigations into whether those who were accused were actually guilty or innocent. Abigail Williams, the niece of Reverend Parris, wants to marry John Proctor and kill his wife Elizabeth. The Minister caught his niece practicing witchcraft and doesn't want anybody to know, in fear that his reputation in the community could be ruined. Arthur Miller shows how the power of words used by Abigail and Reverend Parris enables them to sacrifice others in …show more content…
Reverend Parris knows that his niece is lying because he saw Abigail practicing witchcraft. “We cannot leap to witchcraft. They will howl me out of Salem for such corruption in my house” (13). If the town found out that the Minister's niece was practicing witchcraft they would strip him from his power and his position throughout the town. Reverend Parris knows his niece has a lot of power and influence over the townspeople. He would rather be with her then against her. The crucible, by Arthur Miller, show how the power of words by Abigail and Parris can be used to persuade people to get what they want. Abigail uses her power to get the town to believe what she saw is true. Once she built that foundation she used her words to kill innocent people. On the other hand, reverend Parris denies that his niece was practicing witchcraft to save his reputation in the town. Innocent people lost their lives because of lies. The words used to accuse the innocent had a big impact on what took place in Salem, Massachusetts, making
...than be accused of lying and lose all the power and adulation she has fought to hold on to. As soon as Abigail realized people were beginning to suspect her integrity, however, her initial instinct was to flee. Parris, her uncle, was the first to notice this, telling the court, “My niece, sir, my niece – I believe she has vanished.” This exemplifies her selfish behavior, because instead of taking responsibility for her actions, she would rather cowardly run from her problems.
The statement,“The Crucible is essentially about courage, weakness, and truth,” is proven true numerous times, throughout the play. The Crucible was written by Arthur Miller, about the true events that happened in Salem, Massachusetts, between the years 1692 and 1693. The Salem witch trials consisted of many hangings, lies, and complete mass hysteria. The citizens of Salem followed the religion of Puritanism, and the ideas of predestination. The root of the mass hysteria comes from their belief in the sense that in something happens then it must have been planned by God. In Miller’s portrayal of the story, Abigail Williams was the ringleader of the witch trials, and she used the idea of predestination to cover up her own sins. Abigail was a very manipulative girl and ruined many lives. John Proctor, Mary Warren, and Elizabeth Proctor were just a few of the victims in Abby’s game. John, Mary, and Elizabeth exhibit the traits courage, weakness, and truth, whether it was in a positive or negative way.
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
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.
Oppression; an extended treatment of cruelty or injustice towards an individual or a group of people. If looked for, it can be found in every society expressed in a number of different ways. Arthur Miller, the author of The Crucible, puts it in a way that is easy to understand. "It is still impossible for man to organize his social life without repressions." This is evident in his play, The Crucible, demonstrating that within a society, oppression will always be present due to personal motives, disputes and misuses of power, as well as distorted religious beliefs.
The play, The Crucible by Arthur Miller, took place in Salem, Massachusetts during 1692. The people of Salem were known as Puritans, which were people who followed God, the commandments, and were required to read the Bible in their spare time. Elizabeth Proctor was known as a “good” Puritan woman, while Abigail Williams was known as what a Puritan should not be. Elizabeth and Abigail were known in the Salem community for their attitude, personality, and their actions.
The Crucible is one of the most bizarre accounts of a historical event to date. The naïveté of the townspeople leads them down a road of madness and confusion, led by a shameless Puritan girl. Abigail Williams was a ruthless girl who showed no mercy upon accusing her victims of witchcraft. Knowing the entire town of Salem would believe her and the other girls, she would not hesitate at charging anyone she wished with the crime of the Devil’s work. However, a challenge arose to Abigail when she decided to accuse Elizabeth Proctor, and eventually her husband John, of witchcraft. The Proctor marriage was not just any simple marriage; it had its times of cold shoulders, heartfelt truth, and undying love.
The crucible, written by Arthur Miller, is about the Salem witch trials and how people react to hysteria created from the fear of witches. In the play, after hysteria breaks out, the Salem government starts persecute and hang people it believes are witches. This prompts people to start to accusing people of witchcraft. Some people who accuse others of committing witchcraft are Abigail Williams and Thomas Putnam. They do not accuse people of witchcraft to stop witchcraft, but for personal gain or to hurt others. Thomas Putnam, one of the many characters who takes advantage of the witch trials, is able to use the fear of witches to bend the court to his will. Hysteria causes people to believe claims that are clearly false. This allows Putnam to persecute his enemies. He and many other are able to get away with this because hysteria driven persecutions are not run like regular courts and the fact that witchcraft is an invisible crime allows evidence to be made up. The theme of The Crucible is when any persecution is driven by fear and people can and will manipulate the system so they can gain and hurt another.
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
Fear, an emotion based on the belief that someone or something plans to hurt someone else in a certain way, explains why the girls witnessed and accused people of witchcraft in the Crucible. The Salem Witch Trials was a tough time for the Salem city because people died from an accusation of portraying behavior as a witch, which no person had no way of proving. Some did it to eliminate the people who they did not like. While there are people that took the advantage of the trials, the people of Salem still feared that a witch lived among them because of their belief in the religion. Certain characters could have stopped the trails from the beginning; however, they did not because of their fear that their secret would come out or it was too late. A
In the story, The Crucible by Arthur Miller the character Abigail plays the victim card a lot in the story. Even though she is not and some people know that. However, some people do believe her and each time they are some who question her but she brings them back in her trap. To believe that she is the “victim”.
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.
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.
The year is 1692 in Salem, a small town in Massachusetts, and the Puritans community is in serious trouble. In the story “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller, the Puritans community is in the Salem court where John Proctor admits to committing adultery to Abigail Williams who at the time was very young. Abigail Williams is where the court started after she is involved in the case where John Proctor is accused of committing adultery with her. Abigail also lead the girls and their witchcraft accusations in court. Abigail truly believed that John Proctor still had love for her.
In the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller goes into detail about the historical event, the Salem witchcraft trials which took place in Massachusetts in 1692. The drama centers on John and Elizabeth Proctor and a young girl Abigail Williams, whom John Proctor has committed adultery with. In order to get rid of Elizabeth so that Abigail can have John to herself Abigail accuses John’s wife of witchcraft, a crime that was highly frowned upon. John proctor goes through a series of changes from being a horrible person who cheated on his wife to a tragic hero who will give up his life to say his wife. John proctor is viewed as many things in this play but at the end he come out an honest and noble man.