...Relationships are a significant part of life that can alter your whole outlook on it. In The Crucible, there are a variety of different relationships, but the one most prevalent is that of John and Elizabeth. As the plot unravels one can see that their relationship is put under much stress. The Proctors clearly demonstrate that a couple can stay together even when life gets problematic. This is proven when John shows his morality, demonstrates his devotion and protective instincts, and when signs indicate that they truly love each other. John Proctor validates that his relationship with his wife can stay together through the use of his moral goodness. At one point in the story, he has an affair with Abigail Williams, their servant at the time. Immediately after the incident he...
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...mass hysteria to the people. While some would say the theme of The Crucible is corruption can happen anywhere, the theme of The Crucible as displayed through the author is that hysteria can rip apart a community, this is expressed through language, symbolism and characterization. First, language in The Crucible displays the theme by showing aggressive and passionate tones. Shouting from the accused at trials shows how bad the hysteria was. Also, the girls screaming at the sights of pretend spirits shows that the language in the play fuels the theme of mass hysteria ripping apart the town. Elizabeth and John Proctor confessing their...
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...October 2015 The Crucible Analytical Paper “It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it,” Benjamin Franklin once said. Reputation has a large impact on the citizens of Salem, Massachusetts in the play, The Crucible. John Proctor is most affected by the thought of maintaining an acceptable reputation for his name. Throughout The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, John Proctor made many mistakes, one such as committing adultery, which made his wife, Elizabeth Proctor, lose his trust. Although he made mistakes, the town still saw John as a respectable man who cared immensely for his family. In the end, John did admit his sin of adultery and was hanged. Through “Aristotle’s Poetics” it is proved that John Proctor is the tragic hero of The Crucible because his true character comes out and he becomes a good man in the end by admitting to his wrong-doings, committing adultery, in order to save his reputation and family. John Proctor ruins his reputation within the change of fortune, or catastrophe, appeal of “Aristotle’s Poetics”. A change of fortune is explained as “occurs when a character produces an effect opposite to that which he intended to produce…”(McManus). John Proctor did not want his reputation ruined or his relationship with his wife ruined, however the complete opposite happened to him creating a major problem. The change of fortune is when John is finally forced to admit to the court about his sin (Miller 119). John Proctor commits adultery...
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...Character from The Crucible By looking at The Crucible by Arthur Miller, one can infer that the character, John Proctor, reveals the theme of reputation and integrity. These are important because refusing to lie to protect one’s reputation can stop hysteria from spreading. In The Crucible, John Proctor was more worried about his reputation for his family to live with than he was concerned with his own life. Basically, the idea of John Proctor protecting his reputation motivates him to deny that witchcraft exists in the village. Proctor had stated his worry by saying, “The town is mumbling witchcraft” (1.1.511-512). Proctor says this in reference to Reverend Hale walking through town with a stack of books for researching...
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...Lindsey Sibille Ms. Gonzales AP English III, 1 16 October 2015 The Crucible Book Card Assignment Authorial Background Arthur Miller is the award-winning playwright of The Crucible along with many other famous plays such as Death Of a Salesman and All My Sons. Born in Manhattan in 1915, Miller experienced the pressing and devastating times of the Great Depression and both World Wars. His first two plays were The Man Who Had All the Luck and All My Sons, with the latter being performed on Broadway in 1949. His next play, Death of A Salesman, received a Tony award, the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, and the Pulitzer prize. These awards allowed him to rise to fame and helped his career skyrocket. Despite his successful playwriting...
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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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...blasphemous as witches. Through The Crucible, Arthur Miller describes the irrational behaviour of people in “all classes”(Miller 7) from Salem, Massachusetts during this time of misdemeanor. Many characters throughout the play incriminate others due to bitterness and jealousy. For instance, Abigail indicted her former lover, John Proctor’s, wife. Ultimately the corrupted men and women of Salem reached their goal of hanging the pure, which leads to hysteria amongst the townsfolk. Although John Proctor begins the play as an ambivalent and uncertain man, who is paralyzed...
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...The Crucible Essay “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller is based on witch trials in Salem 1692. “The Crucible” was written because of McCarthyism which started in 1950 and ended in 1954. Senator Joe and his campaign accused US government and other organizations of communist. Many people lost their job because of McCarthyism. McCarthyism and witch trials in Salem of 1692 are both similar events. Many people had their reputation damaged because of false accusation. In “The Crucible” we see John Proctor character go from being bad to an heroic character. He is introduced to us as a adulterous man, but in the end of the play he is represented as a heroic man. Abigail and her friends start to accuse people of witchcraft. The who village goes crazy about witchcraft. John Proctor decides to go to Salem and talks to Abigail by himself to see what all this mischief is about. Abigail tells John Proctor they are just acting silly and it all sport. Abigail and John talk back and forth and this is when we find out what...
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...John Proctor, one of the main characters in The Crucible, has a crucible moment after having an affair with Abigail. Although John and Elizabeth are married, he cheats on her with Abigail. Proctor’s crucible moment within the play happens when he has to make a decision to either tell his wife about the affair, or keep it a secret, and feel guilty for the rest of his life. Because John can not forgive himself after the affair, he decides to tell Elizabeth about what happened. John Proctor passes the crucible test because he did the right thing even though his relationship with his wife will never be the same. Now that Elizabeth knows the truth, John now feels guilty about what he has done because his wife is upset with him. The wrong thing John...
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...Man’s Secret to Peace In The Crucible, set in the Puritan village of Salem, John Proctor is a conflicted man of varying emotions, and makes decisions which end up costing him dearly, unlikely for someone who goes out of his way to avoid trouble and being held accountable for it. One basis of Proctor’s guilty conscience is that he has had an affair with Abigail Williams, thus committing adultery because of his relationship with Elizabeth Proctor. Adultery, set is The Crucible, in the Puritan community of Salem, is more than a crime; it is a wrongdoing that has very serious implications and is punishable by death. With this guilty conscience, there are also witchcraft proceedings ongoing in Salem, and Proctor eventually will have to make decisions regarding taking the action that is morally fulfilling and telling the truth about the witchcraft trials to the judges. Although in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, John Proctor’s actions have led to his moral degradations and a heavy conscience, he makes the choices of telling the truth and doing what is right when he admit that he had committed lechery with Abigail, when he brought Mary Warren to the court with him to confess the truth, and by giving up his life in order to keep his name in good standing. Even as it goes against everything John Proctor strives for, he admits his secret to the court, just like he had done earlier with Elizabeth, thus subjecting himself to ridicule and punishment. Proctor admits to the court that he had...
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...Arthur Miller use a specific character to portray how people solve or fail to solve moral problems? A crucible refers to a container made of a substance that can resist great heat, for melting. In “The Crucible” the author uses characters that have moral problems that they either solve or fail to solve. John Proctor, Abigail, and Reverend Hale are considered the main characters in “The Crucible”. Abigail’s moral problem is lying. Abigail failed to solve her moral problem by choosing to lie to get out of various situations. Abigail did not like that Goody Proctor is the reason for her and Proctor’s failed relationship. Abigail chose to use Tituba’s voodoo skills to kill Proctor’s wife, Goody Proctor. Abigail is jealous of Goody Proctor because she has feelings for her husband John Proctor, after their affair. In the text Abigail stated to Proctor, “I look for John Proctor that took me from my sleep and put knowledge in my heart! I never knew what pretense Salem was, I never knew the lying lessons I was taught by all these Christian women and their covenanted men! And now you bid me tear the light out of my eyes? I will not, I cannot! You loved me, John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet!” In this piece of text Abigail confesses her love to Proctor and she spoke of the affair between them. Abigail said if Elizabeth was no longer in the picture Proctor would be hers. (Include evidence from where Abigail was in the woods and she drank blood + explain) ...
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...play The Crucible, John Proctor fits this description very well. Although Aristotle’s qualifications for a tragic hero include being of noble birth, John proctor is best described as a tragic hero because he ends up dying to save his name due to his flaw. In The Crucible, John Proctor is a common man and known throughout his community. Towards the beginning of the novel, he has an affair with a girl named Abigail. This will be the weakness of John. Throughout the rest of the novel, there is just about always conflict between John and his wife Elizabeth. However, when they start to resolve their issues, they have to go to court and John gets convicted of being a liar...
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...After reading the historical aspect of the Crucible allows the reader to distinguish the different representation of the main characters. The characters in the Crucible each of a different meaning and Abigail Williams best displays a connection to Senator McCarthy. Senator McCarthy and Abigail both deemed an antagonistic approach to the events. Senator McCarthy was the one who accused "205 card-carrying members of the Communist Party who worked for the United States..." (History.com). And Abigail who announced a string of names in Act 1 of the Crucible when her cousin Betty was ill (Miller pp. 189). The connections establish a direct relationship to the character, both McCarthy and Abigail is deemed to be antagonists who accuse a list of people...
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...Act One of The Crucible introduces a love triangle between John Proctor, his wife Elizabeth, and Abigail, their former servant. This results in a strained relationship for all involved and has a negative effect on all three characters as it costs Abigail her job and reputation, and it leads to a series of possible problems for the Proctor’s marriage. Abigail is introduced in The Crucible as a character who has an “endless capacity for dissembling” (9) As the former servant for the Proctor family, she is not only fired by Elizabeth Proctor because of her relationship with John Proctor but her name is also “blackened” by the somewhat spurned wife. When Proctor enters Betty Paris’s room and encounters Abigail, her “eyes widen” as she is pleased by his presence, and she expresses to Proctor that she waits for him “every night” (22). John, however, tells her to “put it out of mind” as he is not interested (22). Abigail’s words reveal she desires to be with Proctor; furthermore, she makes it a point to remind him that she was fired by his wife because of their past relationship when they had feelings for each other, and according to Abigail, they still do. This foreshadows that...
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...Miller’s The Crucible exposes conflicts between the characters and the Christian society of Salem, Massachusetts 1692. The concept of social pressure and rules are used to establish the play. If the common man in Salem is to work proficiently in his surroundings, he must participate in all social activities or he faces the consequences of untrue allegations. Miller uses the character John Proctor as a prime example whose individuality ultimately isolates him from his community. Proctor tries to avoid any involvement in the Salem witch trials. His reason for this attempt is motivated by his past fault of committing adultery with Abigail Williams, who is leading the accusations. As the pressure from his peers grow on him, Proctor must decide whether to save himself, or to die and save Salem. The theme individual v. society exists through the character John Proctor. Proctor is cautious to speak openly due to his affair. He attempts to isolate himself from the first proceedings of the trial by stating to Reverend Hale, “I’ve heard you to be a sensible man Mr. Hale. I hope you’ll leave some of it in Salem.” (Miller 1231). Proctor is trying to cleanse himself entirely of his affair, rather than get involved with the community. Elizabeth, his wife, encourages Proctor to speak out about his knowledge against false accusations against her. He is hesitant and responds, “I know I cannot keep [confessing his crime]. I say I will think on it!” (Miller 1237). Before Proctor can come to...
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