...Miller’s play, The Crucible, one may conclude that the proceedings in Salem are the fault of Abigail Williams. Although some may blame John Proctor for the proceedings in Salem, in fact it is Abigail Williams to blame because Abigail was often lying or changing her story, she performs acts of witchery to end Elizabeth Proctor, and she falsely accuses others of witchery to take the attention off herself. Throughout the text, Abigail is constantly bending the truth to her own advantage. One of many examples of Abigail lying is when she is talking to her uncle Reverend Parris and says, “We did dance, uncle, and when you leaped out of the bush so suddenly, Betty was frightened and then she fainted. And there’s the whole of it” (Miller 9). She claims the story she told her uncle is the whole truth, but the audience knows that she drank blood because she thought it would help her end, Goody Proctor. Throughout the text, Abigail is constantly bending the truth to her own advantage. Abigail Williams is constantly lying to others or altering the truth to make sure her name is clear or to get her way....
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...In the court system today, we abide by the words “Innocent until proven guilty”, but in 1692, in Salem Massachusetts it was completely different, they did not believe in the quote “Innocent until proven guilty”. If you were accused, then you must be guilty, that’s how it was in 1692 in Salem. In the book The Crucible, John Proctor is admitting to committing adultery. In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, Miller uses John Proctor to show how someone can stand up for what he or she believes in, and how society should uphold the idea of “Innocent until proven guilty”. John Proctor has decided to admit that he had committed adultery. John has kicked Abigail out of his and Elizabeth’s service. John says him and Elizabeth asked Abigail to leave, John says it is because what him and Abigail are doing. John starts going to the court, then he decided to admit to what he had done with Abigail. Why did John confess to committing adultery? Reverend Hale has came upon Salem, to join in the court. Hale has came to the Proctors home. Hale is asking them if they have anything to do with satan. John tells Hale “There is no love for Satan in this house, mister” (Miller Act II) Hale has John and recite the Ten Commandments, he...
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...John Proctor, one of the main characters in The Crucible, has a crucible moment after having an affair with Abigail. Although John and Elizabeth are married, he cheats on her with Abigail. Proctor’s crucible moment within the play happens when he has to make a decision to either tell his wife about the affair, or keep it a secret, and feel guilty for the rest of his life. Because John can not forgive himself after the affair, he decides to tell Elizabeth about what happened. John Proctor passes the crucible test because he did the right thing even though his relationship with his wife will never be the same. Now that Elizabeth knows the truth, John now feels guilty about what he has done because his wife is upset with him. The wrong thing John...
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...Jealousy and Greediness in The Crucible Have you ever been involved in an action that led to a tragic consequence because of someone’s jealousy or greediness? The quote by Victor Hugo stated, “Society is a republic. When an individual tries to lift themselves above others, they are dragged down by masses, either by ridicule or slander.” This means he strongly believes that when someone tries to act better than other people they feel like the need to put others down by making fun of them. Therefore it can led into bad consequences. In the book, The Crucible by Arthur Miller shows this by the character named Abigail who tried bringing down everybody because of her jealousy, Putman who showed greediness with land, and also in my experience this has happened to a close friend of mine whom was very selfish. The Crucible also can relate to the real world. We’ve at least witnessed a person's flaws on human nature that went wrong at the end. A old friend of mine seemed to have jealousy of a girl that happened to be taken by a guy...
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...Unconditional John Proctor, the protagonist of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, risks everything due to loving two different women. As the play starts readers find out that John is having an affair with the town tart, Abigail Williams. He does not believe in the idea of witchcraft. Proctor is very selfish about the affair with Abigail and states to judge Danforth “A man will not cast away his good name. You surely know that.” Many things motivate John to change throughout The Crucible such as Abigail charging his wife with witchcraft and Elizabeth becoming pregnant. John ends up risking everything to save his family. John Proctor’s change was motivated by the love for his wife and family. At first, John was not going to admit to having an...
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...Having someone executed for a false accusation is an extremely horrid offense. Although, in 1692 to 1693, it was a trend upon the people of Salem. Arthur Miller specifically wrote The Crucible about The Red Scare so this generation could know how there was a lack of knowledge among the men and women in the court. “It would probably never have occurred to me to write a play about the Salem witch trials of 1692 had I not seen some astonishing correspondences with that calamity in the America of the late 40s and early 50s. My basic need was to respond to a phenomenon which, with only small exaggeration, one could say paralyzed a whole generation and in a short time dried up the habits of trust and toleration in public discourse,” Miller states...
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...Condemned Do you know the story of the crucible, if so do remember abigail williams. I just wanted to tell you do you think that abigail is guilty for the lies she made. She has committed in the town of salem. Is Abigail to blame for everything is she responsible? Abigail in the crucible is a very chaotic girl. She is a girl that hates everyone she wants everyone to do what she wants to do. She is a girl who will do something bad and she will get in trouble and she won’t get in trouble. Abigail is a horrible girl she made up a lie to get out of trouble and it cause many of innocent people to die for it. How much is Abigail to blame for the events that took place? She is all to blame for all of the horrifying events that happened in the town of Salem. She did...
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...The Revolution in Salem: John Proctor The Crucible was a pay that was written by Arthur Miller in 1952 because he was accused of being a communist and he didn't agree with McCarthyism. During the Cold War many were accused of McCarthyism, which is making accusations without proper evidence, and Arthur Miller was a victim of this. Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible as an allegory to McCarthyism. Arthur Miller wrote about people being accused of involvement with witchcraft. Throughout the play The Crucible many of the characters are changing because of what is happening around them, with everyone getting accused of witchcraft. One of the main dynamic characters, a character that has a significant change in attitude, personality, or behavior, in this play is John Proctor. John Proctor is a considered an honest man in Salem. In the first two or three acts we see that John Proctor could be considered non-religious. John Proctor wasn’t very religious...
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...The Crucible and The Scarlet Letter are two books that are similar, but also different. Both books are set in early America and the main religion is Puritan. They also have characters who are “rebels” and do something against society’s standards. There are also differences in the books such as, the characters who rebel against society changing their ways and becoming better people vs. characters who don’t change their ways. There is also a difference in how the towns treat the people who sin. The two books have similarities and differences, which I will discuss in this paper. The Crucible and The Scarlet Letter are both set in a Puritan community in early America. “...the people of Salem developed a theocracy, a combine of state and religious power whose function was to keep the community together…” (Miller). “...at a later period in the history of New england, the grim rigidity that petrified the bearded physiognomies of these good people...” (Hawthorne). The Puritan standards are very rigid. They believe that if you commit any sin you should be put in jail or killed. Both books contain characters who are accused of a sin that wouldn’t be as big of a deal now - and punishments that would be considered cruel and unusual punishment now - such as public shame and hanging. Abigail in The Crucible and Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter both commit similar sins. Abigail is intimate with a married man and Hester is intimate with someone who isn’t her husband. “I look for John Proctor...
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...In the Crucible there were a lot of darkness in people and secretive things going on throughout the story. With all of these things happening it allowed the witch trials to happen. If a person gets caught dancing in Salem Massachusetts then they get punished. In different ways the person can get punished, hung, pressed, and drowned. There is also no reading other books, besides the bible. If someone tells on one another or gets caught reading a book besides the bible, they get into a lot of trouble. There’s a list of possibilities to why a person gets accused. Talking to yourself, behaving different, not going to Church or even going to the wrong church, even speaking different languages. In the story Crucible they used different ways to get out of being accused. Accusing someone else is what Abigail did to Elizabeth and a bunch of other people, she didn’t want anything to be on her. Abigail did do things wrong though she slept with John Proctor. When John Proctor was still married to Goody Proctor. Abigail lied throughout the story, she had greed and selfishness. Abigail wanted Goody Proctor first name Elizabeth to die so she could marry John Proctor. She wished to “dance upon” Elizabeth’s grave....
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...In the Crucible, by Arthur Miller my character Abigail is seen as a selfish person who only looks to do things for her own convenience. Throughout the book we can see Abigail do many actions to benefit herself rather than helping others. The reason she acts this way is because she is worried about her reputation. She also fears being singled out from the Christian community. The only thing she has left is her reputation which is why it is so important that she keeps it. In the phrase “She made me do it! She made Betty do it!,” she tries to act as if she was also a culprit in the situation. In another part of the book she threatens Betty to not speak a word about the accusations. “Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you.” Abigail will go to any extreme to save her reputation even if it means using violence to protect herself....
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...Icelic 1 Marija Icelic Garica, Joshua English III 19 October 2015 Reputation in the Crucible The characters in the play The Crucible have a lot of things about reputation. They are all known as good citizens, for one reason or another, and they all would like to keep their good name. John Proctor would like to be known as the man who sticks up for the little person and always does the right thing. Judge Danforth wants to be known as a good judge who always makes the right decisions. Abigail and girls want to be known as good girls who are not witches and believe in God. All of these characters choose to keep their reputations rather than do the right thing or saving their lives. The importance of having a good name is a one of the biggest thing in Crucible. John Proctor is the model citizen. He has good morals and tries to do the right things. He protects the innocent people. He has built up a lot of respect for his name. That is why it is hard for Proctor to give up his good name. Everyone sees him as the good guy. For example, Proctor had an affair with Abigail. He can use this evidence in court to show that she is guilty, but he doesn’t want to. He tries to find other ways to prove her guilty without losing his respect. Also, Proctor is able to get away free if he agrees to sign a paper saying he was an ally of the devil. He struggles to lie that he did work with the devil. When he is asked to sign a paper saying this, he can’t.This is the quote from the book that...
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...Abigail Williams drives The Crucible. She is Reverend Parris’ niece who initiates witch trials by falsely accusing others of witchcraft. She acts as though she sees spirits along with instructing the other girls to act as well. Abigail at first wants to avoid punishment. When she sees how the adults react to others crying witch, she sees this as an opportunity. Once things get started, she sees an opportunity for self-interest (John Proctor). Abigail is the most responsible for the girls being in the woods. Once the girls were caught by Reverend Paris, Abigail tries to hide her behavior because it will expose her affair with John Proctor if she admits to casting a spell on Elizabeth Proctor. Abigail found herself attracted to Proctor while working in their...
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... 11/3/13 The Crucible as an Allegory English 101 In 1953, American playwright Arthur Miller produced a play titled, The Crucible. It takes place in 17th century Salem, a small town in colonial Massachusetts. The play focuses on the actual events known as the Salem Witch Trials, in which dozens of people in and around the town of Salem were wrongfully and chaotically accused of witchcraft, Satanism, and devil worship by a group of teenage girls. It is firmly established that the play is an allegory of the hysteria and chaos that took place throughout the events of the Red Scare in the United States during the Cold War; a period in which politicians and ring leaders also wrongfully accused numerous amounts of people for supporting communism. It makes perfect sense as to why Miller wrote The Crucible allegorically to these events, 1953 was a time in which American fear and madness concerning communism was frankly getting out of control, just as the experiences in Salem were in the 1690s. The Crucible is a historically fictitious adaption of the Salem Witch Trials which as previously stated, was an episode of unjust accusations of witchcraft/devil worship carried out by a group of female teens. In the play, the group of accusing teens is led by girl named Abigail Williams. In order to refocus the “heat” on another source in order to...
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...during McCarthy era, Communism haunted America. During the McCarthy era and the Salem Witch Trials, people became so scared of accusations of witchery or Communism that they proceeded to try almost anything to keep themselves out of harm. The Crucible shows a symbolism of McCarthyism in the 1950’s In the beginning of The Crucible, flaws in the Puritan religion shine through Parris. Parris, too drawn up in himself, worried only about his reputation, so when Abigail won’t tell him what happened he yells to her, “I have sought here three long years to bend these stiff-necked people...
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