...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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...A constant theme of “The Crucible” is the importance of reputation. Danforth, Proctor and Giles all have the motive to keep their reputation, even if it kills them. Judge Danforth makes a point how important his reputation is with his power in court. John Proctor refuses to confess his adultery and sentence innocent people under his name to death. Giles Corey ends up dying because he speaks up for his wife who is innocent. Every single one of these characters keeps their importance of reputation until their death or the end of “The Crucible”. Judge Danforth is the regular judge of the court in Salem. He accuses Giles wife of witchcraft and many others. If he doesn’t execute them, that will prove that he is wrong which will ruin his reputation. So he has to get rid of anyone else that may question his motives and why he does what he does. “Danforth: In that case, I have no choice but to arrest you for contempt of this court, do you know that? Giles: This is a hearing; you cannot clap me for contempt of a hearing. Danforth: Oh, it is a proper lawyer! Do you wish me to declare the court in full session here? Or will you give me good reply?”(Act...
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...Courtney Ruffini Mrs. Harris English 11 17 December 2015 Reputation over Truth Reputations are the beliefs or opinions generally held about someone or something. Throughout The Crucible a persistent theme is keeping ones reputation clean. The characters want to be perceived as a prestige character throughout the course of the book. Quite a few characters throughout the book do anything they can to save their reputation. Having a good name in the village is more important than telling the truth to these particular characters. One of the characters that want to protect his name is Reverend Parris. Throughout the acts of the play Parris makes comments that prove he is only about having a good name carried throughout the village. When Parris...
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...The Crucible Thesis: In The Crucible, Miller repeats ideas to emphasize their importance in contributing to Salem; these motifs like names and lies are repeated to show their impact on Salem. In the Salem Witch Trials of 1693, there are many injustices committed against innocent people. The play The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, talks about how people falsely accuse others of witchcraft. It starts when some of the younger girls in Salem, especially the antagonist Abigail, are caught dancing in the woods and lie about the incident. They confess to witchcraft and falsely accuse others so they can be absolved of guilt. In The Crucible, Miller repeats ideas to emphasize their importance in contributing to Salem; these motifs like names and lies are repeated to show their impact on Salem. The motif of names is important to understanding the escalation of the witch trials in Salem. Names help make the situation worse because people falsely name others who are witches, which fills jail cells and makes the number of accused witches go up. People also try to protect their reputation. In Act 1, right after Tituba confesses to witchcraft, Parris and Hale try to convince her to name others who are witches. Tituba then says, “And I look- and there was Goody Good… Aye sir, and Goody Osburn” (Miller 47). Tituba is merely naming people to get herself out of trouble. During this time, it is not enough to just confess, they want you to also name others who are...
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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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...the confines of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, many of the conflicts—including the more indirect conflict of John Proctor and Reverend Hale—hinge upon the theme of the importance of reputation. In a time when ones good reputation is the cornerstone for a content, healthy existence, it makes sense that reputation is an important recurring theme in The Crucible. John Proctor’s reputation is built upon his willingness to argue for what he thinks is right while managing to stay just this side of being a reputable, upstanding Puritan citizen. This is shown when Proctor is quick to come to verbal blows with Reverend Parris, culminating in Proctor dictating, “I like not the smell of this “authority”” (29). Proctor’s reputation of integrity and...
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...In The Crucible, some people’s reputation seem to be more important to them. John Proctor, Abigail WIlliams, and Reverend Parris worry more about their reputation than about family and lives. Proctor is more worried about his good name and is scared to confess his affair with Abigail. Reverend Parris is worried about about his job and image than his daughter's sickness. Judge Danforth worries about his good name, like John, than about the people’s lives. Abby is one of the girls accusing people of witchcraft. She cares more about her importance and reputation in the community that she does not care that she is the reason the lives of people, who were accused, are being taken. In The Crucible, the characters make it clear that reputation and importance is more important than family and life....
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...How does a reputation influence the actions of an individual? Is it more important to uphold the truth or keep a good name? In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible there is a constant struggle between the up keep of a reputation and staying truthful. Some characters, like Abigail William, are motivated by fear to keep up a good reputation, while other characters like John Proctor and Rebecca Nurse decide that the truth is more important than their name and stick to their morals. There are many factors that move Abigail to lie about her relations with John Proctor. She fears what would happen to her if the town finds out that she is not only an adulterer, but a liar as well. Because Abigail has given “evidence” to hang so many people, if she is a...
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...Discuss how an idea developed in a text you have studied. In the play ‘The Crucible’ written my Arthur Miller an important idea the developed throughout the text is reputation and injustice. It shows us that in an environment where people are shelter, oblivious, and ignorant, peple may behave in ways that are unjust in order to protect their reputation. Arthur Miller was able to develope these ideas through the setting and characters. He was able to incorporate his own experience into his play as he was a victim himself of McCarthyism. The Crucible is set in a small town, Salem in Massachusetts, America in 1692 where people were oblivious of anything other than God, believing that they were self righteous. In such time, reputation determined how people looked at you and was considered something of great importance. “A man will not cast away his good name“ shows us the importance of people’s reputation at that time. When something is regarded as such a high level of importance to someone, people will do anything in order to protect it even if the means are considered unjust and ‘unrighteous‘. Abigail accuses Elizabeth Proctor of ‘blackening my name in the village‘ after commiting adultery with John Proctor, Elizabeth’s husband. This cause her to fear for her reputation, and how people will view her. Afraid of her reputation, Abigail Williams acts in fear to and pointed the finger at Tituba claiming that she was practising witchcraft ‘she sends her spirit on me in Church; she...
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...The Crucible Essay To begin with, a crucible is a place or situation in which concentrated forces interact to cause or influence change or development. The title signifies the suffering and hardship that the town goes through. The town the story takes place in is governed by a theocracy. Everything that happened in the book, all the events that led up to the execution of many innocent lives and led up to the breaking apart of the theocracy that the town was used to contribute to make a difficult time or situation, which is a crucible. The story takes place in Salem, Massachusetts Man’s word is worthless against harsh judgment. With the false evidence and the corrupting lies, there will be only one who will try to fight for freedom and break free from the Law’s powerful hold. First and Foremost, Reverend Samuel Parris is worried about his reputation, and along with that comes tremendous paranoia. He is a busybody and has a sense of purposefulness. Parris is an immensely paranoid character. The importance he places on reputation creates for him a considerable amount of paranoia. This paranoia is evident many times throughout the play. In the opening scene, Parris is speaking with Abigail about his recent discovery of her in the forest. He discovered his daughter and niece dancing in the forest, an activity that is prohibited. Dancing is not only frowned upon but it is seen as associated with witchcraft. He is immediately concerned about himself. His daughter is sick...
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...Pride and reputation have prominent role in all societies. Often times, maintaining one’s reputation can influence how a person act. This theme is evident throughout Arthur Miller’s play, the Crucible. Miller presents a 1690’s town with a rigid system and an extremely religious-oriented people. In this Puritan society, private and public integrity interweave and the threat of tainting their names is ever present. The stressed importance of maintaining pride and reputation results in influencing many of the characters within the play. The importance of reputation is instantly apparent, when Reverend Parris is more concerned about the hints and rumors of witchcraft and how that might blemish his good name, rather than his own daughter’s health....
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...Many of the characters in the play, The Crucible, all have a lot of pride. Most of them are considered good citizens who would all like to keep and maintain their good name. Reverend Parris is known for living by the bible and its teachings. Judge Danforth is known as a persistent judge who always make the right decisions. When put between the option of life or death, all of these characters chose to keep their reputations by doing the right thing and saving their lives. The importance of having a good name is a very important theme in The Crucible as shown by these characters. John Proctor was a very courageous man. He was the town’s model citizen and the person that everyone looked up to as a leader. For many reasons it is hard for Proctor to give up his good name. One being because he has a lot of respect for it and everyone sees him as the good guy. When Proctor had an affair with Abigail Williams he tries to show that she is guilty although he is hesitant...
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...and coming playwright, to create a story that would grab an audience, and bring awareness to a budding crisis (Arthur). The Crucible tells the story of the power of hysteria during the Salem Witch Trials in a way that relates more to the underlying topic of the Red Scare rather than the actual history. Arthur Miller significantly changes...
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...English 11 AP The Crucible Literary Analysis The Crucible, a novel by Arthur Miller is a historical fiction novel that takes place during the year 1692. The novel is written in the format of a play and takes place in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts. The town consists of a tight knit highly religious society. The situation and circumstances that the community is in encourages the development of several different themes in the story. Religion, integrity, and respect and reputation are all important themes in the novel. Religion is one of the main reasons that the novel its self is able to play out and develop. The main plot of the story revolves around religion and the actions that the characters take out either for or against the things that they are taught and that they are expected to follow. The community is a group of extremely religious Puritans; in their minds and opinions there is only one thing that is important: God. To the community the only thing that should matter to people is being on God’s good side and being the best Christians they can be. The only things that have an important value are upholding religious beliefs and developing the best relations they can with God and the church. If the people of Salem hadn’t been so religiously uptight then the Salem witch trials probably wouldn’t have even occurred. Also, during the witch trails the only thing that people had as proof of innocence or guilt was religion without religion their points would have...
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...The Crucible Essay Brandon McDonald In the story “The crucible” by author miller witchcraft has taken its toll in the house of Salem. Everyone in the town will go crazy because they have found a women doing crazy thing in the house of Salem. So in the book they stated that if witchcraft keeps going that all people will be into witchcraft. The people of Salem are religious. Witchcraft affects everyone. So the good people what ever they do involve around god. Witchcraft is affecting everyone because they don’t want people doing it kill them. So they are trying to catch the people that are doing it and kill them. “Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name”. The major part of witchcraft is that everybody hates you forever. The worst part is that they know when you’re doing it because you don’t show up for any community events. The town is all about God so they pray every day about witchcraft. They don’t want to get curtest so they go to church everyday to pray so they thought that a girl was doing it because she was acting weird and always quite. “A man may think God sleeps, but God sees everything, I know it now. I beg you, sir; I beg you—see what she is. . . . She thinks to dance with me on my wife’s grave! And well she might, for I thought of her softly. God help me, I lusted...
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