“Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own” (Luke 12:15). When people are overcome by greed, they do whatever they can to get what they want. Often times, this is because they feel the need to benefit even if it causes someone else to suffer. The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, tells an interesting story that revolves around the theme of greed. A couple of the characters in this play, Reverend Parris and Thomas Putnam, are good examples of how Miller portrayed greed throughout this story. The first of these characters affected by greed was Reverend Parris. In Act 1, Parris is standing over his daughter’s sickbed. As a reader, you soon realize that Parris doesn't care about his sick daughter as much …show more content…
The first example of his greed occurs in Act 1. Putnam fights with John Proctor and Rebecca Nurse in an attempt to acquire more land. Putnam says, “You load one oak of mine and you'll fight to drag it home.” This shows how ‘land hungry’ he was and how willing he was to fight, and use violence, with anyone to obtain more land. Another example of Putnam’s greed is when he has George Jacobs accused of witchcraft. He does this only because Jacobs has the land next to his own. Giles Corey supports this idea when he states, “If Jacobs hangs as a witch then he forfeit up his property-tat’s the law! And there is none but Putnam with the coin to buy so great a price.” This statement suggests that Putnam would have people killed so that he’d be able to purchase their land once they were gone. Finally, a third example of Putnam’s greed was when he manipulated his daughter so that she was the one accusing others of witchcraft. All so that Putnam could get access to their land. Giles Corey commented that, “The day his daughter cried out on Jacobs, he said she’d given him a fair gift of land.” This suggested that Putnam used other people just to benefit himself. These are all examples of greed that Thomas Putnam demonstrated throughout the