...The Crucible: Who was Responsible In 1692, it was dark times for the town of Salem, Massachusetts, times where the phrase witchcraft spread like wildfire. A town where speculation overcame common sense and where chaos overcame order. The town was mostly composed of farmers, priests, and common folk, but there was one person who wanted more than the common life, she wanted power. Her name was Abigail Williams, the sole reason of why the events in Salem became reality and the fears of many became true. Abigail Williams is the most responsible for the events in Salem because of her lust for John Proctor, her jealousy, and her vengefulness. Abigail was quite a delusional girl when it came to falling in love, especially with John Proctor, one...
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...believe or think that we are one or the other- vice or virtue. But why is that? Do you come to think to question yourself that you’re either a good or bad person for possibly the littlest thing? Think about it. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Abigail Williams is the most despicable character because she obtains a power by starting to accuse innocent people of witchcraft, was involved in lechery with John Proctor, and ran away with her uncle’s money that she stole from a safe. To begin with, Abigail Williams may just be a young woman, but she is capable of many things. For instance, her and Mercy Lewis ran away with Reverend Parris’s money. They ran away, because they wanted to avoid getting accused for any sort of witchcraft, especially after what happened in the forest. In act four, Parris states to Danforth,”...my strongbox is broken into” (4.207*208), the only person who knew where his strongbox was Abigail, since she lived with him. This shows one of the many things that Abigail is capable of. In addition, Parris knew what Abigail was capable of and what she had on the...
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...responsibility for your actions is mature and the right thing to do. In The Crucible Arthur Miller creates a dramatic story about a small town in which the only way to get yourself out of trouble is to point the finger. If you were to point your finger and blame someone else it saved your life but also possibly ended someone else's life. In The Crucible Abigail is the one to blame because she is a liar, inconsiderate, and a manipulative young woman. Abigail is not only just a liar she is a pathological liar, and she demonstrates this trait many times throughout the play. When Parris and Abigail are talking in Betty’s room she says, (Miller 138). This shows us how Abigail is a pathological liar because, Abigail knows she didn’t just dance...
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...The prevalent theme in The Crucible is reserving one’s reputation. There are many characters who demonstrate concern for their reputation as well as a change in the way they act. Two characters who validate concern for their reputation are Abigail Williams and John Proctor. To begin, Abigail Williams continues to accuse people to save her own reputation. The woods marked the foundation of Abigail’s lies. When asked by Danforth about the activity in the woods, she tells him that dancing was the only commotion that occurred. Many people in the community believe the girls encountered witchcraft. Abigail gets the girls to remain quiet about the night in the woods by saying: “Now look you. All of you. We danced. And Tituba conjured Ruth Putnam’s...
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...7 11 December 2015 “The Crucible” Argument Essay Does accusing the people around you to be arrested and hanged to get whatever you want be considered as selfish and wicked? In “The Crucible” by Author Miller, Abigail Williams is a vicious and vindictive person who used the witchcraft hysteria around the town of Salem in 1692. Abigail Williams is a 17 year old orphan who is strikingly beautiful but she is a liar and a fake. She saw an opportunity to seek vengeance upon John’s wife for kicking her out of their house and wanting to take her place in John’s bed. Although some may say otherwise and beg to differ on that because she was young, taken advantage of, immature, and also confused. Although in “The Crucible”, Abigail’s words, actions, and decision making legitimately shows that she does not care about who she hurts in the process to get what she wants. According to Abigail she says”… I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you…” (1244). This quote here has explains that, if any of the girls betrays her on what she has said and reveals that they had been dancing in the woods and also she drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor, she would kill them like the Indians had killed both of her parents. Abigail is a manipulative person. She is a manipulative person she tried to frame Goody Proctor for sending her spirit and stabbing a needle in her stomach two inches deep. In The Crucible, Mary Warren was sewing a...
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...The Crucible Essay “Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does no feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear” (Nelson Mandela). In simpler terms, courage is when something that a person believes in, is more important than the fear that comes with the consequences of that belief. The Crucible has many key themes, but the theme that has the broadest effect on the reader is courage. John Proctor is a great example of the courage shown. While, Abigail Williams shows immense cowardice. Throughout the Crucible many characters have to face the horrendous decision of whether to confess to have ‘been with the devil’ and lose their ‘good name’ or bee executed for that of which they did not do. John Proctor is a great example of a character with extraordinary courage. John although pressured to confess and knowing that he’ll hang, refuses to ruin his ‘good name’ and he does not fully confess to the crime. When Judge Danforth would not give up the argument with John to sign the confession, he asked, “Then explain to me, Mr. Proctor, why will you not let me have it?” (pg.1231). Proctor answered, “Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! I have given you my soul; leave me my name!” (pg.1232). These quotes show how strong willed John is in not having a bad reputation and how John has great courage and doesn’t lie just to live. However that John may express great courage...
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...The Crucible Essay “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller is based on witch trials in Salem 1692. “The Crucible” was written because of McCarthyism which started in 1950 and ended in 1954. Senator Joe and his campaign accused US government and other organizations of communist. Many people lost their job because of McCarthyism. McCarthyism and witch trials in Salem of 1692 are both similar events. Many people had their reputation damaged because of false accusation. In “The Crucible” we see John Proctor character go from being bad to an heroic character. He is introduced to us as a adulterous man, but in the end of the play he is represented as a heroic man. Abigail and her friends start to accuse people of witchcraft. The who village goes crazy about witchcraft. John Proctor decides to go to Salem and talks to Abigail by himself to see what all this mischief is about. Abigail tells John Proctor they are just acting silly and it all sport. Abigail and John talk back and forth and this is when we find out what...
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...The Crucible Essay The play, The Crucible, takes place in Salem, Massachusetts during the Salem Witch Trials. The trials are started by a group of girls who do not want to get in trouble for dancing and conjuring up spirits in the forest. The theme that is brought about in this play is the nature of authority. In The Crucible, many characters present various views of the nature of authority. There are three examples of this theme: The authority of the church over the lives of the villagers, the control Abigail has over the people who are accused of witchcraft and her friends in the trial, and the power of the judge over the trials. The first example of the nature of authority is the church’s power over the villagers’ lives. The church and the everyday lives of its members are controlled by the preachers. Puritans were highly religious people. They had to live under a set of strict religious policies set forth by the church. The Puritans were governed by a theocracy, which is a form of government in which God or a deity is recognized as the supreme civil ruler. The Puritans in the late 1600’s believed that the preachers were the purest men on the face of the earth. Unfortunately, that is not so. As evident in the novel, even preachers can become corrupted. John Proctor puts it as “I like it not that Mr. Parris should lay his hand upon my baby. I see no light of God in that man. I’ll not conceal it.” (856). Miller proves that this is so with his depiction of Reverend Parris’s...
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...In this essay over The Crucible I will be talking about the concepts of weakness, courage, and truth that all play with the roles of characters in this story. These roles of the characters change throughout the story line and impact the outcome of the events. Weakness, courage, and truth were the main character traits of the story and those traits affected everything. First in The Crucible, weakness was showed numerous of times in many different characters. A person that showed weakness was Mary Warren. She wanted to stand up for herself and change all the bad things that the girls had done, but her weakness was being afraid of Abigail. When Abigail and the girls made it look like Mary Warren had control of them, Mary Warren wanted to be back on Abigail’s side due to her weakness instead of staying on John Proctor’s...
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...The Crucible Essay The play, The Crucible, takes place in Salem, Massachusetts during the Salem Witch Trials. The trials are started by a group of girls who do not want to get in trouble for dancing and conjuring up spirits in the forest. The theme that is brought about in this play is the nature of authority. In The Crucible, many characters present various views of the nature of authority. There are three examples of this theme: The authority of the church over the lives of the villagers, the control Abigail has over the people who are accused of witchcraft and her friends in the trial, and the power of the judge over the trials. The first example of the nature of authority is the church’s power over the villagers’ lives. The church and the everyday lives of its members are controlled by the preachers. Puritans were highly religious people. They had to live under a set of strict religious policies set forth by the church. The Puritans were governed by a theocracy, which is a form of government in which God or a deity is recognized as the supreme civil ruler. The Puritans in the late 1600’s believed that the preachers were the purest men on the face of the earth. Unfortunately, that is not so. As evident in the novel, even preachers can become corrupted. John Proctor puts it as “I like it not that Mr. Parris should lay his hand upon my baby. I see no light of God in that man. I’ll not conceal it.” (856). Miller proves that this is so with his depiction of Reverend Parris’s...
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...Arthur Miller wrote his essay titled “Tragedy and the Common Man” in 1949. This essay explains Miller’s definition of a tragic hero as well as why a common man has as much ability to be the hero of a tragedy as someone of nobility. The Crucible is a play written by Arthur Miller in 1953 that dramatizes the Salem witch trials of the late seventeenth century in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In the play, the town of Salem falls into hysteria after Reverend Parris finds his daughter, niece, and their friends dancing in the woods with his slave Tituba. The young girls claim they have been bewitched by people in the town to avoid punishment, although, the punishment then comes for the accused regardless of their innocence. A vital character to the...
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...Fernando Leyva English III/ Period 8 The Crucible Essay January 3, 2014 Religion is so strong it can lead to great unimaginable things,but the power of religion has the power to destroy good things and cause havoc amongst firm believers. Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible, takes place in the late seventeenth century a horrific event occurred known as the Salem Witch Trials in the town of Salem. Abigail and Elizabeth are perhaps two of his most important main characters in the play. These two represent the "good" and "evil" in the society of the town. Although these two characters were very distinct they shared something very big in common, which was the love for the man John Proctor. Perhaps the love for the same man led one of the two females to be of a greater evil than ever imagined. Elizabeth Proctor was a very more understand and good character in the play. Although she is understand and compassionate she is unforgiving and cold. In Arthur Miller's play, John Proctor says "Oh Elizabeth, your justice would freeze beer!" This quote clearly shows how John feels that Elizabeth is unforgiving and cold. For the past months John has been trying to please Elizabeth after his affair with Abigail. John shows his frustration after Elizabeth does not forget about the affair John had. Although Elizabeth is understand she does not forgive or forget easily. Abigail Williams is the "evil" character in the play. Her actions throughout the play caused a lot ...
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...Crucible Essay History repeats itself in many ways sometimes it will be a man making a simple mistake like a man forgetting to pick his dry-cleaning up or it can be something along the lines of people becoming paranoid and fighting and preparing for things that aren’t really there. The Red Scare of 1947 to the late 1950s is a perfect example of our nation repeating a history event from 1692, The Salem Witch Trials an event that our nation still remembers today innocent lives lost that definitely didn’t deserve it. One of the victims to the Red Scare Arthur Miller made a satire of it using “The Crucible” (A play based on the witch hunts) comparing the Red Scare to the Salem Witch Trials, he claims everything he was accused for is just as ridiculous and embarrassing to our country as the Salem Witch Trials were. In this Essay I will be comparing Arthur Miller's Crucible to the Red scare of the 1940's. There’s this Guy who basically claims our government is filled to the brim with communists and we need to weed them out, His name is Joseph McCarthy, he was born in Grand Chute, Wisconsin in 1909 and he died in 1957 on May 2nd due to Alcohol poisoning.(Joseph 1) On 9th February, 1950, at a meeting of the Republican Women's Club in Wheeling, West Virginia, McCarthy claimed that he had a list of 205 people in the State Department that were known to be members of the American Communist Party (late he reduced this figure to 57)(Joseph 1). Joseph McCarthy was a dirty man who in fact...
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...The Crucible vs. The Holocaust: Compare and Contrast Essay Throughout history, millions of people have been unjustly persecuted. In the 1940s, The Holocaust became one of the most famous genocides known to man. Also, the witch hangings that took place during the 1600s in Salem are another prime example of people being wrongfully accused and punished. Although the two circumstances have numerous differences, the amount of similarities is appalling. As the leader of the party, had an enormous amount of control over people and the decisions they made. Because had convinced them that the world would be a better place once all of the Jewish people had been killed, The soldiers were torturing and ing millions of Jewish people. In the similar situation written about in The Crucible, Abigail Williams convinced the town of Salem that select people throughout the town were practicing witchcraft. A trial was held to determine if the people were actually witches, and Abigail found she had great power when she blamed the people of her town. Despite the fact that Abigail was a child, the s listened to her accusations and were convinced that she was telling the truth. Amongst the children is where Abigail’s influence was the greatest. In every situation she found herself in with the others, Abigail only had to lead the way in order for the s to follow. Both Abigail and have parallel characteristics that enable them to have power over people’s ideas and opinions. Besides sharing similar traits...
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...Maria Blanco Period 2 The Crucible Essay Draft Fear and loathing can overpower all senses of reason. A doctor conducted that the children were suffering from the effects of witchcraft. Some people were actually innocent and they still hanged them because they thought that they were witches. Salem Reverend Parris attempted to capitalize on fear when he preached about the witches that abounded in Salem. Arthur Miller, in his drama “The Crucible”,illustrates fear through the actions and reactions of several of his characters. In Act III the characters show lots of fear. For example, Abigail William for instance, fears discovery of her deceit in the town of Salem and commits all sorts of heinous acts to prevent herself,regardless of the harm done to to others. Marry Warrens is innocent and she's trying to save herself from Danforth because he thinks that she is lying when really she isn’t. Proctor is scared because he doesn’t want his wife to be killed and because he had an affair with Abigail. Abigail shows many of her “acts” in many of the scenes to prevent herself from getting hanged. For example, in Act III page 1307, Abigail says “ A wind,a cold wind,has come. Her eyes fall on Marry Warren.” While Marry Warren pleases Abigail to stop lying . Proctor then says “They’re pretending” Abigail acts as if a soul went inside of her, but it is all pretend. In Act III Proctor,Marry Warren, Abigail, Hathorne, Danforth, and the girls are in the court room. This Act shows...
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