...In The Crucible, Arthur Miller carefully describes a society which has plummeted into a pit of hysteria, with citizens hurling desperate accusations and lies at one another. In the midst of the chaos, Rebecca Nurse emerges as one of the rare rational characters who represents hope and strength in the face of her community’s growing disharmony. In return for her sensible advice to her fellow citizens, they turn and accuse Rebecca of witchcraft and cause her execution: within this blatant abuse of the justice system lies the greatest injustice in the play. Arthur Miller establishes situational irony surrounding Rebecca Nurse’s execution. Throughout the play, Rebecca Nurse acts as the moral compass to which Miller compares all the other characters....
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...The endless battle of good and evil is seen everyday, not just with God and Satan or with feuding countries, but with man. In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, the town of Salem, Massachusetts is facing the dilemma of good vs. evil. Repeatedly, because of the mass hysteria, people of Salem are falsely accused of witchcraft. Unfortunately, with the feud between good and evil, it may seem that evil is winning as one innocent person after the next is persecuted, but we also see the power of the martyrdom. Although “Do that which is good, and no harm shall come to thee” seems to be a logical statement it is incorrect, since bad things do happen to good people, because in the Salem Witch Trials, guilty people are rewarded and innocent people are punished....
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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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