The play The Crucible is set in a puritan society; a society which is a theocracy, where priests and church figures have all the power. Abagail; a servant girl becomes the antagonist of the story. Abigail’s character is the victim of the Puritan society in which she rebels. Abigail’s character is one of extreme manipulation; however it does not start out like this. In the beginning Abagail is an unwedded “orphan” (1.8) who lives with her uncle. This means she is only a little higher than being deemed a slave. This low social status is what drives her lust for John Proctor. Abigail’s main goal is to marry John Proctor and doing so displace his current wife Elizabeth. Abagail and John become seduced by each other and have an affair. “I look …show more content…
In proctors presence a fool felt his foolishness” (1.20) But in the beginning his motivations contradict his moral character because he lives with the fact that “He is a sinner, a sinner not only against the moral fashion of the time, but against his own vision of descent conduct.” (1.20) Proctors behavior and motivations are affected by his affair with Abigail and his broken moral code. In the beginning John does not want to testify against the witch trials because it would expose his sinful relationship with Abigail. Elizabeth tries to persuade John “God forbid you keep that from the court, John. I think they must be told.” (2.53) John knows that if he ever went to the court it would ruin his name in the village. Eventually his motivations change when his wife, Elizabeth becomes convicted of witchcraft. He feels that the situation has gotten out of control and admits to the court that Abigail’s doing “is nothing but a whore’s vengeance.” He has now exposed his sin to the village, but by then it’s too late. In contrast Abigail’s character is one that is selfish and only looks to her pleasure. While John is one that will sacrifice his good name to save his wife and …show more content…
This however is not the case once the word of “witchcraft” spreads. This allowed “Long held hatreds of neighbors openly expressed, and vengeance taken” (1.7) the town’s people then manipulate the situation opening up the door for chaos and causing the collapse of order, while Abigail is at the center of this holy mess. The witch hunt begins when Abigail and Betty began shouting out names of villagers “I saw Sarah good with the devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw George Jacobs with the devil!”(1.48) to free themselves of trouble. Once the witch trials emanate any rationality in the court was displaced by the words of the reborn again girls who now were doing the duty of God to point out the devils helpers. This leads to mass hangings in the village, untended farms, and orphaned children. The irony in all of this is that in trying to follow Gods word Danforth, the high judge blindly puts human accusations before God as reason to kill, thus breaking one of the Ten Commandments in which Puritans religiously follow. Ultimately all order is lost and cannot be redeemed by the high court because Danforth “cannot pardon when twelve are already hanged for the same crime” (4.129) Chaos wins the battle against order and thus breaking the power of theocracy in
The Crucible was set in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. It was set in a little country town full of what everyone thought were good people. When we started reading The Crucible we were introduced to many people from this small town of Salem. There are many pros and cons to living in a small town, but this book shows us many of these pros and cons. The three main characters that we were introduced are Abigail Williams, John Proctor, and Reverend Hale. In this story these characters contributed some of the most irrational things that caused most of the problems in this small town.
1. Bowers, Kristen. The Crucible by Arthur Miller: Literature Guide. San Dimas, CA: Secondary Solutions, 2006. Print. 2. Leveritt, Mara. Devil's Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three. New York: Atria, 2002. Print.
Authors often have underlying reasons for giving their stories certain themes or settings. Arthur Miller’s masterpiece, The Crucible, is a work of art inspired by actual events as a response to political and moral issues. Set in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, The Crucible proves to have its roots in events of the 1950’s and 1960’s, such as the activities of the House Un-American Committee and the “Red Scare.” Though the play provides an accurate account of the Salem witch trials, its real achievement lies in the many important issues of Miller’s time that it dealswith.
Abigail was able to easily deceive and manipulate the court to try and get what she had set her eyes on, being John Proctor; a much older, married man who had had an affair with Abigail once when she was a sort of servant in his household. After finding of this, his wife Elizabeth had banished Abigail from their house. Abigail sought revenge...
This reveals that the lies and deceit told throughout the play drive the plot, as characters, such as Elizabeth and John Proctor, in the play are significantly affected by the accusations made against them. This is revealed, as Proctor is too concerned with his reputation to confess his affair with Abigail and end the witch trials. Throughout the play, the imagery of God and the Devil is directly tied in with lies and deceit. The Crucible is set in a Puritan theocratic society, where every citizen is concerned with religious piety and purity.
This shows how Danforth is desperate to protect his power, authority and his good name because if he postpones the hangings, the citizens of Salem would begin to cast doubt
She does everything that is physically possible to get rid of her. She drinks a charm to kill Elizabeth, she stabs herself with a needle to accuse Elizabeth of a crime, Abigail also accuses Elizabeth of being a witch. The whole play, those were the only intentions that Abigail had, exterminate Elizabeth Proctor. Even though John decided to attempt to make the court look differently at Abigail and see what she has done to many people in the city of Salem. The misleading trait that Abigail has, helps her get out of a rocky situation without harm. The threatening of the girls, drinking a charm, stabbing herself with a needle, and accusing Elizabeth Proctor of witchcraft are all the reasons that Abigail is also an evil individual. Abigail was the most misleading and evil character in the play written by Arthur Miller.
The most important trait to prove that John Proctor was a good person was his honesty. In every scene in the play that John Proctor is in, his commendable honesty stands out. It didn't matter how much trouble he would bring himself into, his philosophy was "I may speak my heart" (Miller, p.30). Proctor's honesty eventually lead to his downfall and death.
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 desire for power and authority has always been a part of the human nature. Today’s society most often use power to dominate one another and fulfill one’s personal intentions, which can affect other people in many ways. Having power and authority is truly gratifying but it is terrifying if abused and used for selfish acts. The play, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller is an example to illustrate the consequences of abuse of power. The characters Abigail Williams, Deputy Governor Danforth and Reverend Parris use their power over society by manipulating people and using their authority to fulfill their personal intentions, like material gain, vengeance, maintaining social status and reputation, and attention, which eventually lead into a mass hysteria.
The Crucible – Human Nature Human nature was fully to blame for the disaster which took place in Salem in 1692. Human nature is what your character is made of in trying situations, and in 1692 scientific knowledge was extremely poor by today's standards and so all reoccurring problems were blamed on an evil force, whether it be the devil or witches or anything the imagination could conjure, hence human nature was being tested regularly. The decisions people made were critical to the disaster's progression, in today's scene in would have been dismissed within minutes, but the paranoia floating around in the town kept the ball rolling. People were so terrified of the thought of evil that any suggestion of it would create a preordained judgement in the mind of anyone, especially those who made judgement of the accused. To get to the supposed
Crucible- a severe test, a hard trial or also could be define as a pot for melting metals. A severe trail could be as other then a physical it also could be mentally a severe trial like person verses self. In The Crucible, Miller reflects the theme that pressure can force people from there can force their morals. The characters in The Crucible have morals that they must up hold to be accepted into the town and church. It is a struggle to keep these values when there are moral hazards like desires, greed, hate, and obsession.
The issues of power, that Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, portrays are concerned with, who has the power, the shifts of power that take place and how power can consume people and try to abuse it, for either vengeance, jealously, material gain or sexual desire.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller raises many thought provoking issues throughout the play, including the importance of personal integrity, injustice in society and the rights of the community versus the rights of the individual.
Arthur Miller wrote plays as a way of showing people the real picture of what life was really like during the Great Depression and after World War II. Before the Great Depression many Americans were living in a significant time period, the Roaring Twenties. People had radios, automobiles, and movies with sounds. Then it all suddenly came to an end with the Stock Market Crash, leading to the Great Depression. During the Great Depression, Americans faced poverty, and had no income because jobs weren’t available. Throughout his life Miller influenced many people with his plays, and his contributions to this day because people want to read and understand what was truly happening in past history. For example, “The Crucible” is a play about the Salem Witch Trials, giving a good understanding of the basics that went on in this time period. Another example of Miller’s influential work is “The Death of a Sales Man”, which is his way of showing what life was like when people were struggling financially during the Stock Market Crash. Overall, Arthur Miller is one of the leading American playwrights of the twentieth century.