...Abigail Williams is the opposite of one’s thought of a Puritan. She is selfish, manipulative, ungodly, and especially fond of her adulterous relationship with John Proctor. In Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible, Abigail attempts to save herself from embarrassment by initiating a cruel witch hunt, accusing those who are innocent but are in the way of her own devious plan. She lies about her and her friends attempting to murder Elizabeth Proctor with witchcraft in the woods by turning the blame on others. Abigail continuously displays her intentions as the play goes on changing from lust to power hungry. Abigail is tried on her honesty and self pride, contributing to the theme of power given without judgement tends to corrupt. Miller uses Abigail's...
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...Individuals, subject to human frailty and motivation, exhibit inconsistencies among the greater collective human experience. In turn, preconceived notions of the audience are challenged by the exposition of humanity’s complexity to invoke personal assessment and reflection. As such, it is presented within Arthur Miller’s tragedy, “The Crucible”, and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s romantic fiction, “The Scarlet Letter”. Both works explore the contradictions of judgement and consider the inconsistencies of personal integrity, encapsulated under the guise of Puritanism within New England America, political agenda, and historical calamity. Therefore, audiences foster introspection and reflection by developing nuance surrounding the inconsistencies of human...
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...How is the theme of blame and motive established in Act One? In Arthur Miller’s ‘The Crucible’ the theme of blame and motive is apparent in Act One of the play. In this Act, we see the drama and hysteria of witchcraft begin to unfold, and during this blame is a dominant theme. In Act One we see Abigail Williams blame Tituba for the cause of Betty’s sudden illness. Abigail begins to accuse Tituba when she exclaims ‘I never called him! Tituba, Tituba’. Her claims are more believable due to her race, which puts Tituba at a disadvantage. ‘No, no, chicken blood. I give she chicken blood’ highlights the innocence of Tituba, however the blame is placed on Tituba with Hale’s response. ‘Are you silencing this child?’ establishes an accusatory tone and shows Hale’s alignment with Abigail in blaming Tituba. Parris's treatment of Tituba reveals his angry and selfish character. The incident also shows Tituba's powerlessness: she's entirely at her master's command. Tituba discovers that nobody wants to hear denials, just as Abigail earlier discovered. Because of this, Tituba knows she must provide a confession and so blames ‘Sarah Good’ and ‘Goody Osborn’. In response to this, Mrs. Putnam shouts out that she ‘knew it’, which shows a sense of satisfaction in getting someone to blame for the death of her children in infancy. During Act One the theme of motive is also a significant theme, in particular with the character’s Abigail Williams and Parris. Parris’s motive and main concern becomes...
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...In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the tone of irony boats from every corner you look, this story casts a mirror onto McCarthyism and reflects the outcomes of this ironic process. The Crucible depicts the reality of the Salem Witch Trials in a time of hysteria and fear. Miller uses a past event to emphasize the effects of unnecessary fear imposed by McCarthyism, indirectly relating to the Salem Witch Trials. Miller’s, The Crucible, is one of irony in which it obliquely equates to the consequences of fear and blaming others by relating the Salem Witch Trials to McCarthyism. Abigail’s intentions regarding John Proctor are nothing if not ironic, you can see this perfectly in which Abigail acted out in a complete façade so that she could be...
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...The Illusion of Justice One plus one does not always equal two. In the court of mathematics this arithmetic truism may be, yet in reality a courtroom is not pure, but laden with injustice. The courtroom in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, his recreation of the Salem Witch Trials in Salem, Massachusetts, is synonymous. The theocratic court reviews cases regarding witchcraft brought to the gavel by a group of hormonal teenage girls, who have been willing the court to arrest and execute whom they see fit. This literal courtroom is allegorical to the interactions of Senator McCarthy with potential traitors during the 1950’s. As the girls of Salem exploit the fears of their community, McCarthy capitalized on the fear of the entire U.S. nation: Communism. McCarthy’s tactics and actions were highlighted in a CBS broadcasting led by Edward R. Murrow titled, “We Will Not Walk in Fear”. The broadcast was received by the U.S. in 1954 during the Cold War, a decade dubbed ‘The Red Scare’. While the empowered teens of Salem and McCarthy were daunting, their injustices were matched by John Proctor and Edward R. Murrow, respectively. Proctor and Murrow fought against the false accusations and biased plaintiffs to stop the injustice posed. Proctor and Murrow combat their oppressors on the hollow claims made. Proctor is roped in to the Salem courts when his wife is accused. He points out to the judges that “so many of these women have lived so long with such upright reputation” (Miller 84). Proctor’s...
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...Relationships are a significant part of life that can alter your whole outlook on it. In The Crucible, there are a variety of different relationships, but the one most prevalent is that of John and Elizabeth. As the plot unravels one can see that their relationship is put under much stress. The Proctors clearly demonstrate that a couple can stay together even when life gets problematic. This is proven when John shows his morality, demonstrates his devotion and protective instincts, and when signs indicate that they truly love each other. John Proctor validates that his relationship with his wife can stay together through the use of his moral goodness. At one point in the story, he has an affair with Abigail Williams, their servant at the time. Immediately after the incident he...
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...QUESTION 1 01.) As an actor, the piece my group and I devised and performed was based on the issue of bystanders. The style of our piece was non-naturalistic and included devices such as freeze-frames. We chose to use freeze-frames to pinpoint key moments within the piece, highlighting the importance of these moments to our audience. Our piece was based on the ‘British bakeoff” in which one of our contestants cheated (me being the cheat) and somebody saw and nobody speaks up about it. The piece portrayed the importance of speaking up and not being a bystander. We also used lighting, for example a spotlight on the key moments to further highlight the important moments in the performance. The genre of out performance was Theatre in Education, and we performed it to a target audience of student’s aged 12-13, boys and girls. Therefore, we chose to set our piece in modern day as we thought it was easy for out target audience to relate to. The fact they could relate to the performance allowed them to be more involved which enhanced the performance overall. We showed this through our costume, wearing modern day clothing such as Juicy tracksuits and bright skater skirts. The performance stage was a thrust stage, creating a more intimate environment in which the whole audience was involved. 02.) When deciding how to perform our piece, we thought it would be effective to make it a comical performance as it would be beneficial as it would engage our audience whilst portraying a key...
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...The Crucible By Arthur Miller ACT I SETTING: A bedroom in Reverend Samuel Parris’ house, Salem, Massachusetts, in the Spring of the year, 1692. As the curtain rises we see Parris on his knees, beside a bed. His daughter Betty, aged 10, is asleep in it. Abigail Williams, 17, ENTERS. ABIGAIL: Uncle? Susanna Wallcott’s here from Dr. Griggs. PARRIS: Oh? The Doctor. (Rising.) Let her come, let her come. ABIGAIL: Come in Susanna. (Susanna Walcott, a little younger than Abigail, enters.) PARRIS: What does the doctor say, child? SUSANNA: Dr. Griggs he bid me come and tell you, Reverend sir, that he cannot discover no medicine for it in his books. PARRIS: Then he must search on. SUSANNA: Aye, sir, he have been searchin’ his books since he left you, sir, but he bid me tell you, that you might look to unnatural things for the cause of it. PARRIS: No-no. There be no unnatural causes here. Tell him I have sent for Reverend Hale of Beverly, and Mister Hale will surely confirm that. Let him look to medicine, and put out all thought of unnatural causes here. There be none. SUSANNA: Aye, sir. He bid me tell you. PARRIS: Go directly home and speak nothin’ of unnatural causes. SUSANNA: Aye, sir, I pray for her. (Goes out.) ABIGAIL: Uncle, the rumor of witchcraft is all about; I think you’d best go down and deny it yourself. The parlor’s packed with people, sir.--I’ll sit with her. PARRIS: And what shall I say to them? That my daughter and my niece I discovered dancing ...
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