...The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a play where the town of Salem conducts witch trials and exhibits extreme behavior resulting from dark desires. One notable character, Abigail Williams, was the cause of the mishaps within Salem and displayed an erratic behavior to the townspeople. Her distinct personality and persona have stood out within the plot and ruined John Proctor’s reputation. Abigail Williams actions and dialogue portray her, not only as manipulative but bossy and selfish. Abigail’s physical description ties into her manipulative nature. For instance, she is described as “a strikingly beautiful girl, an orphan, with an endless capacity for dissembling” (Miller 8) This suggests that she is powerful in regards to her lies and is tactical...
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...Alexis Wauford Mrs. Hollewell The Crucible 11 May 2017 Importance of Reputations in The Crucible The desire to maintain an upstanding reputation greatly affects characters in The Crucible. During this time period, people were very concerned with their positions in society. They were in a very judgemental community where everyone knew each other, and because of this, people were very worried about how others perceived them. A poor reputation could cost someone their social life and many characters made decisions based upon this. The decisions that the characters made affect not only themselves, but the characters around them. A few examples of characters who worry about their reputation are John Proctor, Abigail Williams, and Reverend...
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...The Crucible Act Three Questions Short Response Answer the following questions based on your knowledge of the drama. Write a response on a separate sheet of paper. 1. Describe one piece of evidence that Giles, Francis, or Proctor bring before the court to show that the girls are lying. 2. What does Abigail do to distract Danforth from Hale’s accusations that she is lying? 3. How does Hale show that he believes that the court is not doing the right thing? Use three details from the text in your response. 4. Danforth explains that “. . . a person is either with this court or he must be counted against it, there be no road between.” What conclusion can you draw about Danforth’s character from this line? 5. How does Hale excuse Elizabeth’s lie about Abigail’s affair with Proctor? 6. Danforth explains that witchcraft is an invisible crime and that only the victims are reliable. How does his philosophy flame the hysteria? Use details from the drama to support your response. 7. How do Hale and Parris try to thwart each other, or act as foils, in regards to Danforth and the court? Use details from the drama to support your response. 8. Describe the point at which you think the plot reaches its highest intensity, or climax. 9. After the outbreak in court, Mr. Danforth makes the following short statement to Mr. Hale: I will have nothing from you, Mr. Hale! In your own words, describe what Mr. Hale has said or done to instigate Mr. Danforth’s...
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...Fear affects everyone in different ways. In The Crucible, terror dominates the town of Salem. Titiuba along with several other girls sneak out at night and dance around a caldron with a concoction in it. Reverend Parris catches the girls and accuses them of witchcraft, and he brings them to talk to Reverend Hale. Reverend Hale makes witchcraft a reality, and panic engulfs the whole town. Everyone is afraid that they too, will be accused of witchcraft. Throughout the story, fear causes people to act out in ways that lead to destruction. This idea is shown through Abigail Williams, Marry Warren, and Elizabeth Proctor. Abigail shows and causes anxiety several times throughout The Crucible. After the girls get caught, they are brought to court to figure what exactly happened. All of the girls start to point fingers to make themselves look better: “She comes to me every night to go and...
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...The Crucible is about a town with people who do court judgement based on what god would do. Religion is very important to most of the town. Throughout this play there are some characters who realize the truth on what is going on in Salem an change there point of view in this situation. For example Mary Warren she changed. Also brought shocking news in the court house and she was good for lying. I will get into her weakness and courage and where she told truth. Mary Warren's weakness was Abigail. She put fear into Mary's eye without even looking at her. She knew Abigail's plan and Mary was scared of so she played along about the witchcraft. Together with other girls they caused a serious problem in Salem. These girls don't realize that doing...
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...and brutal societies. One of these societies, Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692, is described in the play, “The Crucible.” Written in the McCarthy era, this play highlights the injustices during the Red Scare in America. As history continues to unfold, more links can be drawn between the message of “The Crucible” and today’s discrimination. The allegorical qualities of Arthur Miller’s, “The Crucible,” relate strongly to McCarthyism, but still have relevant connections to...
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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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...violent angry teenage girl which could in fact be caused by the outside forces. Abigail's parents death had a major impact "I saw Indians smash my dear parents' heads on the pillow next to mine,…" (Miller 19) With seeing the death of her parents not only left her scared and angry towards the Indians but the world as well for leaving her an orphan. With no father or mother figure in her life she did not have much love as child therefore she found it somewhere with someone else being John Proctor...
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...raw and unperfect people. Through these effects he establishes the foundations of The Crucible: courage, truth , and weakness which are represented by many characters throughout the play. Elizabeth Proctor, one of the plays most important characters, resembles truth like no other in the play. The part where she reveals her honesty and character is when she is called in front of the court to testify against Abigail Williams for comiting adultery with her husband. In this moment, she lies to protect her husband. Here she is honest to her husband and to her marriage. She is honest and tries to the bigger person in times of trial which is something we can all admire her for. John Proctor, like his wife, has not only superior morals and character, but more courage than the average man. Proctor shows us multiple times that he is more than willing to stand up for...
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... Critical Lens Someone once said “Evil triumphs when good men do nothing” meaning that when a good person decides to do nothing evil will succeed. For example if someone was getting bullied and an onlooker decide to do nothing than evil would prosper. This quote id false because there in no way to know who is “good” and who is “bad” due to everyone having a different understanding of what is good and what is bad. Some people believe that those who don’t go to church are bad but in reality many people who don’t go to church have better morals than those who do go to church yet the fact they don’t makes them seem bad. Another way this quote is false is that if someone were truly “good” then they wouldn’t stand around and watch as evil prospered. One piece of literature that proves this quote true is The Crucible by Arthur Miller through his use of characterization and conflict. As stated above the quote “Evil Triumphs when good men do nothing” is false due to the elusive from in which “good men” is used. In The Crucible Arthur Millers’ use of characterization proves this quote false. The Crucible is a play about the domino affect which wild accusations about witchcraft caused in a small religious town known as Salem’s Village. In The Crucible Arthur Miller shows that people are ignorant and only care about their well being. Arthur Miller shows this through the characteristics of Parris, Abigail, Marry Warren, and the town’s people....
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...John Proctor from “The Crucible” written by Arthur Miller and Arthur Dimmesdale from “The Scarlet Letter” written by Nathaniel Hawthorne are two very similar characters that lived in the same time period. John and Arthur were highly respected men in their villages, but served different roles in their communities. Despite their highly regarded place in society and their morals they both commit the sin of adultery, choosing different paths of dealing with their sin. In the conclusion of the two pieces both characters face death; however John is executed and Dimmesdale dies freely. Although Proctor and Dimmesdale prove to be very similar, they appear to possess many differences. Arthur Dimmesdale is a respected local minister with no family...
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...Self-preservation and the downfall of Salem Self-preservation is the act of protecting one’s self. It is often correlated with pain and fear and it is regarded as a basic human instinct. People often use self-preservation to protect their image and reputation in society, thus potentially having to lie and hurt someone else’s status in the process. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, many characters demonstrate self-preservation to avoid the consequences of their own actions. This results in prolonging the witch trials in the town of Salem, causing the destruction of the community. Reverend Samuel Parris is a prime example of a character that uses self-preservation throughout the play to maintain his high position in society. When he realizes that his daughter Betty and his niece Abigail danced in the woods and potentially performed witchcraft, he knows it can hurt his reputation to be associated with them, especially if the rumours of their blasphemous actions are proven to be true. In act one Parris speaks with Abigail and says, “I have fought here three long years to bend these stiff necked people to me, and now, just now when some good respect is rising for me in the parish, you compromise my very character" (Miller 11). The townsfolk already question his values and see him as an unfit minister for the town. Parris is afraid that the actions of his rebellious daughter and niece will destroy the name he has worked to build over the years and thus give the community...
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...In Arthur Miller’s play, “The Crucible,” Abigail displayed one of the strongest human drives; the desire for power. Abigail created chaos in her struggle for power. She lied and deceived those around her and wrongly accused people of witchcraft. An example of this would be when Abigail Williams, the niece of Reverend Parris, tells the other girls that if they say anything that happened that night she will “bring you a pointy reckoning that will shudder you” and “make you wish you had never seen the sun go down!”(pg. 1097, para. 17) This Shows that Abigail holds power over these girls with her threats.The syntactical arrangement of the sentence shows that she was trying to threaten the girls into complying. Another piece of evidence is when...
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...In Arthur Miller's The Crucible, Self-Preservation is very common in the town of Salem. Self-Preservation is when a person protects themselves or someone else, whether it be by telling the truth or a lie. In the town of Salem many people use Self-Preservation to protect themselves from the consequences of performing witchcraft. However, others may use Self-Preservation to protect their reputation or image in society, such as Reverend Parris. He himself started, what is called a chain of self-preservation when he reported Abigail Williams and the girls performing witchcraft. This led to Abigail having to use self-preservation to protect herself from the consequences of witchcraft which later on led Elizabeth Proctor to protect herself and her...
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...Fear can influence decisions and corrupt ones morality. The fear of death, judgment and isolation all have the capability to make good people do bad things. Arthur Miller portrays this phenomenon in his book The Crucible. In The Crucible there are distinct examples of fear debilitating ones ability to make the right decision. Mary Warrens fear of death resulted in many deaths. John Proctor’s fear of judgment kept him from revealing the truth. Lastly, the fear of the unknown, in the mind of the townspeople, set off a series of devastating events that transpired throughout the book. Furthermore, fear darkened their conscience, and as a result, self preservation became prioritized above all else. Mary Warren, naturally a honest women, wanted to confess to the dancing and conjuring spirits in the woods. However, Abigail disagreed and threatened to kill her and, consequently, fear overtook Mary until she was Abigail’s slave, or rather, a slave to fear (Miller, pg.19). Mary knew the truth, the truth that could have saved lives, but withheld it. She lied and became dishonest, for the reason that she was afraid of being hung as a witch herself. Therefore, she accused John Proctor, an upstanding man, and in doing so, she put him to death (Miller, pg.118). She was terrified of death, and Abigail made that horror something real that she couldn't overcome. So in turn, she took the pressure off herself and took a mans life to preserve her own. Abigail was a dishonest and deceitful...
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