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Compare the crucible to the mccarthy hearings
Character portrayal of john proctor
How is john proctor presented as a hero
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Recommended: Compare the crucible to the mccarthy hearings
GCSE English Directors Notes on Act 4 of The Crucible by Arthur Miller
As the Director of this play, I feel it is my responsibility to offer you advice on playing the character of John Proctor. I'm sure you'll find it may help you to understand the character if you are aware of the social and historical context of the play.
The play is set in 1692 and is based upon the outbreak of accusations in Salem, Massachusetts. Arthur Miller wrote the play The Crucible, using the 17th-century case of witch trials (and fictionalising it) to comment on a 20th-century phenomenon-the hunting of communists as if they were witches. In 17th century Salem the inhabitants feared witchcraft, like America feared communism, both were exaggerated and both communities overreacted to an insignificant threat to their stability of life. Arthur Miller had always had a personal interest in the Salem Witch trials, but at the time he was writing the play, America was in the middle of the McCarthy political "Witch Hunt". Miller himself was called up before a committee for signing petitions, and he began to notice many similarities between the two trials, such as the naming of names and public confessions. This has meant that his play is seen as a political parable.
In 1692, the colonists in Salem were Puritans and very protective of their particular religion and would tolerate no other. They felt threatened by those who were different, witches were the most extreme in difference to their way of life and so everything from death to a poor harvest was blamed on them.
Proctor is presented at the beginning of the play as a stern, harsh-tongued man, however, he is well respected in the village. We soon learn of his affair with Abigail, his servant, who was dismissed because Proctor's wife found out about the affair. Proctor is involved in a disagreement about land and when he returns home in the evening it becomes apparent that he sees straight through the accusations of witchcraft being thrown about the village. Abby still loves John Proctor but her feelings for him are not returned. Proctor's wife Elizabeth is found to be pregnant but some doubt this, but Proctor says his wife would never lie. Proctor convinces Mary to go to court and tell the court that it is all fraud, but Mary becomes frightened and says Proctor is the one who has allegiance to the Devil; Hale who clearly doubt...
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...The court
collapses shortly afterward, undone by the refusal of its victims to
propagate lies.
Another one of the plays themes relevant to Act 4 is Reputation. ,
Proctor seeks to keep his good name from being spoilt. Early in the
play, he has a chance to put a stop to the girls' accusations, but his
desire to preserve his reputation keeps him from testifying against
Abigail. At the end of the play, however, Proctor's desire to keep his
good name leads him to make the choice not to make a false confession
and to die without signing his name to an untrue statement. "I have
given you my soul; leave me my name!" he cries to Danforth. By
refusing to ruin his name, he redeems himself for his earlier sins and
dies with integrity, another theme of the play.
In conclusion, you should reflect in your representation of Proctor
the many changes he goes through in this Act. From ashamed, to
righteous as he denies the court a false confession. Proctor is honest
and upright, but has made one mistake, which confessing to cost him
his life. He is very proud and his integrity is very important to him,
I wish you the very best of luck in playing this complex character on
stage.
Proctor has many character traits that contribute to him being so difficult to figure out. His crime of lechery against his wife, and his willingness to save her, are both intermixed in a tangle of ethics. After committing adultery with Abigail, John clearly has a guilty conscious. When
During the trial the girls and Abigail pressure Mary into conforming to them by pretending that Mary was bewitching the girls. When she plays along with the girls; Proctor screams at Mary with much rage, “Mary god damns all liars!”(224).Which is ironic because John Proctor has been lying to everyone about his deadly secret. Which he knows will eventually come out and ruin everything for him. Proctor finally comes out and tells the court when there seems to be no way out for Elizabeth he points out, “I have known her sir, I have known her” (220). Proctor finally confesses about his affair in front of Judge
For many reasons, John Proctor is an honest man. By no means is Proctor afraid to tell you what is on his mind.
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.
He regards himself as a fraud. These insecurities are the foundation of Proctors character development into an anti-hero.
Proctor concentrates on his name, because it would be destroyed of he signs. He finally comes to a true understanding of what a good reputation means, and his defense of his name enables him to muster the courage to die heroically.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller The Crucible is a fictional retelling of events in American history surrounding the Salem witch trials of the seventeenth century, yet is as much a product of the time in which Arthur Miller wrote it, the early 1950s, as it is description of Puritan society. At that particular time in the 1950s, when Arthur Miller wrote the play the American Senator McCarthy who chaired the ‘House Un-American Activities Committee’ was very conscious of communism and feared its influence in America. It stopped authors’ writings being published in fear of them being socialist sympathisers. Miller was fascinated by the Salem Witch Trials and that human beings were capable of such madness. In the 1950s the audience would have seen the play as a parallel between the McCarthy trials and the Salem Trials.
The Crucible: Hysteria and Injustice Thesis Statement: The purpose is to educate and display to the reader the hysteria and injustice that can come from a group of people that thinks it's doing the "right" thing for society in relation to The Crucible by Arthur Miller. I. Introduction: The play is based on the real life witch hunts that occurred in the late 1600's in Salem, Massachusetts. It shows the people's fear of what they felt was the Devil's work and shows how a small group of powerful people wrongly accused and killed many people out of this fear and ignorance.
John Proctor is portrayed throughout the play to be a man who has high moral values that he must abide by. He can spot hypocrisy in others easily and judges himself no less harshly. Elizabeth Proctor says to him in the second act:
The multi-causal model of drug abuse takes into account social and individual causes of addiction, both distant and immediate, that lead to a disposition to using drugs, drug use and the social and individual consequences. Why a person becomes addicted to drugs or alcohol is different for everyone. Some are genetically predisposed, some learn it from their environment (i.e. family or friends), and still others use it to avoid a trauma they have experienced. The case history describes a client that had both social and individual causes for her alcohol use and subsequent dependence.
...imself. Once Proctor commits adultery with Abigail, he loses his self-respect. Throughout the course of the play he attempts to find the best method for regaining this quality. In the end, he sacrifices his reputation to try and save his wife’s and to bring down Abigail in the process. He does not succeed, but dies an honorable man of strong character.
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.
... discussing whether either environmental or biological factors propose a more significant influence regarding substance abuse, it is clear that biological factors are significantly more influential.
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.
...h, his wife, does not want to admit her husband’s deceit, proctor is accused of lying to the court. When Proctor confesses his sin of lechery he feels better and his internal guilt is freed. This is different to the end of the play where he signed the confession to witchcraft. He later rips it up as could not live with himself if he were to allow Abigail to get away with her lies, through confessing to something he did not do. In ripping up the confession he is also able to keep his good name which he says at the end is all he has left, his name, and he does not want to give it away.