...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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...people”. After the Church of England reformed, the Puritans contradicted this renewal, so in 1630 they immigrated to the new continent to practice their religion and to live their lives candidly. When they arrived they met the Natives and consider them savages and ignorant for their belief in spirits. The Indians wanted to make collaboration with the Puritans but the Puritans just wanted to obtain as much land as they could. As a result of that,...
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...would think of anyone possibly lying or acting? If making a city vulnerable to a witch trial could be easy, Salem and the people living there definitely caused it. In Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible”, religion, personal vendettas, and human faults, made the individuals and society in Salem vulnerable to a witch hunt. To start off one of many reasons Salem society was vulnerable to a witch hunt was religion. Religion was the main priority in Salem and almost anything said or done that wasn’t by the bible was witchery or evil. “At any rate very few indians were converted and Salem folk believed that the virgin forest was the devil’s last preserve.” This quote is simply explaining how easily things were blamed and or believed and how religion was the base of everything. Puritans believe if you swear on the bible...
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...Drama is created by placing ordinary people in situations of crisis or conflict Explore some dramatic techniques used to create drama in the crucible In his play, The Crucible, Arthur miller presents an allegory for McCarthyism through the use of the Salem With trials of 1692. In the crucible, miller uses many techniques to create drama to influence the decisions of the ordinary townsfolk. Drama is created by placing key protagonists in situations of conflict. The intolerance of puritan society towards new or different practices is one of the ways that miller creates drama. Another factor is the maintenance of personal reputation and the consequences of conflict upon this status. By manipulating ordinary people, hysteria also creates a large sum of drama. Through an analysis of Intolerance, reputation and hysteria, this essay will explore how conflict creates drama. In a puritan society, not meeting the social norms was seen as treason and heavily persecuted. This lead to an intolerance of anyone who did not worship god, and dissent lead to beliefs of Satanic activity. Judge Danforth quotes in act three page 85 "You are either with the court or against it". Miller uses tone to foreshadow what is yet to come in the the text. The tone of this sentence shows that the witch trials are the ultimate form of intolerance and hanging...
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...“Share are similarities and celebrate our differences.” One of the first societies in America was the Puritans in the 1690s. There are many differences between the Puritans’ society and our culture today including the importance of religion and the relation of church and state; however, there are also similarities between 1692 and 2017 societies, as is evident in how marriage is viewed. One way today’s society differs from the Puritans is the view of religion and the importance of church going. The Puritans had a strict code that had no tolerance for breaking the laws of church (“Salem Witch Trials”). In fact, if they did not attend church they were frowned upon. Today’s society, on the other hand, doesn’t force people to attend church. Many view that going to church to understand God is important, but no one becomes an outcast for not attending. Another difference in the two societies’ religion is...
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...Thematic Questions 1. What is a crucible and how is it used? Justify Miller’s choice of title for his play. A crucible is a ceramic container that can withstand very high temperature and is used for metal, glass and pigment production as well as a number of modern laboratory processes. Miller’s choice of the title “The Crucible” is due to the same reason as the courtroom being referred to as a crucible: using the heat of questioning and scrutiny, they burned away all the impurities, i.e. lies and half-truths, to get the purified product the “truth”. 2. How do Hale’s preconceptions influence his interpretation of events? How does his interpretation change? What are the implications of his conversion? Hale’s preconceptions has influenced his interpretation of events in that he initially thought that he had the authority over the town due to his extensive knowledge of witchcraft. He expected to find witches, however his interpretation changes throughout the play as he realises that innocent townspeople are being falsely accused, such as John Proctor. The implications of his conversion are when he encourages the accused to confess, i.e. the good people to lie, even though he believes that he is doing the “Devil’s work”. 3. Proctor calls Hale “Pontius Pilate.” Explain the allusion. Do you agree or disagree? The allusion is that Pontius Pilate was the ruler in Bethlehem who ordered the crucifixion of Jesus Christ at the order of the Jewish leadership, despite the...
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...Women, throughout history, have been demonized and demeaned, devalued and defaced, defiled and denounced. They are often the antagonist of our myths, tales, and fables. They are the antithesis of the masculine; sinful and volatile, opposed to the heroic and virtuous man. Centuries of art, literature, thought, and religious doctrine have painted women as temptresses and wicked witches. The female characters in Arthur Miller’s 1953 drama, The Crucible, reflect these ‘evil’ women of myth and legend. The patriarchal, austere society of the Puritan town of Salem during the witch trials demonstrates the societal effect of centuries of female vilification. Powerful women have historically been branded as witches or accused of evil deeds as a way to...
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...“The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness.” - Joseph Conrad In The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, the whole town is captivated by paranoia. This play is based on the Salem witchcraft trials of 1692 in a small Puritan town in Massachusetts. When a young girl named Betty Parris falls ill, the entire village suspects witchcraft. Even though Betty’s cousin, Abigail Williams, recognizes that the illness is the result of fear and not black magic, she begins blaming innocent people of collaborating with the devil. This quote by Joseph Conrad expresses his thought that a supernatural source of evil is not necessary and that humankind is entirely capable of the depravity in...
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...Conformity in The Crucible We often hear about people of Middle Eastern descent being called terrorist at the airport and no one doing anything to stop that behavior, if you do anything people hate you. In our daily lives we face many decisions that are minor but affect our future. For example, do you go with the crowd and bully someone or do you attempt to do the morally correct thing and stand up to the bullying and face social harassment of your own? The Crucible, by Arthur Miller is a play about an affair between John Proctor and Abigail Williams and most importantly the Salem witch trials. Innocent people are being accused of witches for no reason and people blindly follow along, but John Proctor dies to go against the conformity. In...
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...The Puritans founded the colony of Massachusetts in 1630 due to religious freedom, they wanted to purify the Church of England and soon enough Massachusetts became one of the most religious colonies, the colony even came up with the blue laws; which restricted intimate behavior in public. Puritans did not only believe in God, but they also believed that there was a darker force in this world living amongst them known as the Devil. They believed that he could possess anybody and cause numerous types of disasters, so thus the period of hysteria began. In a span of few months many were accused and hanged because of the false accusations. What actually caused the Salem witch trials of 1692? The three main components that caused the hysteria were: religion, envy, and excitement. The background history mentions that the Puritans were fundamentalists, meaning that they believed the Bible no matter what,“ Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” ( Doc. A). If the Bible told the Puritans that the witches were foul creatures, the Puritans believed the Bible and did everything in their power to destroy the witches. Cotton Mather was an influential minister in the New England colonies. He preached, “These evil spirits are all around...but the houses of Christians, where our God has had his constant...
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... 29 November 2014 Power of Guilt In modern society, concealing guilt is often given a negative connotation, however, the implications that are associated with guilt and sins are human creations. Guilt, the result of shameful mistakes, is associated with infirmity, cowardice, and self-centeredness due to the fear of exposure. These three mesmerizing works, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Pie” by Gary Soto and, “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller, address the theme of guilt and the consequences of concealing one’s guilt. The Scarlet Letter considered one of the most famous of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, is set in the1850s in Boston, Massachusetts. The plot revolves around a Puritan community and a woman named Hester. “The Pie”, written in Fresno, California in 1991, is an autobiographical narrative that illustrates Soto’s sin when he steals a pie from the grocery store and experiences the feeling of guilt along with a few other consequences. “The Crucible” was written in 1953 and exposes the truths about the Salem Witchcraft trials, in Massachusetts. Ultimately, through their respective protagonists’ acts of aggression and violations of boundaries, authors Hawthorne, Soto, and Miller illustrate that the guilt derived from sin itself, especially if concealed from society, can cause emotional and mental torture, leading to everlasting internal punishment, and an increase in remorseful feelings. In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne...
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...The Puritans main belief is that humans are evil and destined to go to hell. In the sermon, From Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God, Jonathan Edwards preaches his views of mankind to the church, claiming that “natural men are held in the hand of God, over the pit of hell; they have deserved the fiery pit, and are already sentenced to it… [for which they] hang from a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it,” (Page 79 and 81). In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, John Proctor demonstrates how tired people are of hearing that everyone is destined to go to Hell. When Parris claims that people must have obedience for him or the church will burn, Proctor becomes outraged and mentions that,...
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...Throughout the history of the United States, people’s views on government have changed. During the colonial times, puritans were a strictly ran society that used the bible as the rule book. Puritan writers wrote nonfiction pieces about God. When the Declaration of Independence was being drafted, deism took over with their rational and logical approach to government. Like the puritans, they wrote literary works composed of nonfiction and free will. Lastly, the transcendentalist believed that there should not be any government. There literature consisted of nature and individualism. The canonical literature created by some of the celebrated writers in the United States shows a decline of government intrusion in people's lives. First of all,...
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...In a room alone with his little brother, he knocks over his mom’s favorite vase and blames it on his little brother. His little brother did not knock over the vase, but to get out of punishment the big brother put the blame on his little brother and did not do the honorable thing and tell the truth. Doing the honorable thing can be difficult to many and a hard habit to get into. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller John Proctor is one of many and is conflicted throughout the play about doing the right thing, However he overcomes in the end and shows how honorable he is. John Proctor shows us that he is courageous, rational, and a truthful man. John Proctor is courageous in the play doing the opposite of what is expected. For example, John Proctor is in court trying to convince Gov. Danforth of clearing charges on his wife for being a witch, when Cheever adds suspicion to Proctor’s...
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...Arthur Miller’s The Crucible gives an insight into how reputation is one of the most crucial parts of colonial living in the 17th century. When living in a small colony, one’s reputation is linked to quality of life. Having a good name is necessary to do business, have friends, and, for the Puritans, being known as a religious person. Someone without a good name in the community would be rejected, and avoided by all other townspeople. This is noted in The Crucible, where characters like John Proctor, Reverend Parris, and Abigail went at great lengths to keep their reputations pure. But, is reputation, how other people see you, more important than integrity, how you see yourself? The Crucible’s protagonist, John Proctor, is a perfect example of how keeping one’s good name can lead someone to extreme actions. When the witch trials began, and John Proctor went to court to protect those he knew were innocent, he went as long as he could without admitting he had an affair with...
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