...The definition of crucible is a situation of severe trial, or in which different elements interact, leading to the creation of something new. John Proctor had several incidents where he would have to make very important decisions that would be based on his morals and he managed to stay above and do the right thing. He can easily be identified as the character that defines the word “crucible” because he realizes the most important decision is to fight for one’s moral truth, no matter how harsh the repercussions may be. When John and his wife, Elizabeth discuss the happenings in the town, he only somewhat confesses about his lechery to her, in which he can be condemned for. She doesn’t take it the way he thinks she will and she leaves everything...
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...Transformation of Farmer John Proctor The characters inside of “The Crucible” live in the corrupt town of Salem. Suspicion of evil witchcraft activity between little girls turns into a controversy that will forever split the town. People are falsely blamed for a variety of reasons by an assortment of lying girls and sentenced to death by delusional judges of the court. These occurrences cause severe change in the main characters of the play; John Proctor, for example, undergoes major changes in behavior and attitude during the course of the play. Once his wife and family are involved, the trials become more than just silly happenings to Proctor. Towards the beginning of “The Crucible” Proctor’s actions were substantially influenced by how personal the cases in court became to him. When the trials began to spread to people who the Proctors’ care about Elizabeth wants John to go to court to tell how Abigail and the girls were lying. Afraid of Abigail telling on the affair, John Proctor is very hesitant to go to Salem. After Elizabeth tells John to hurry up and decide whether he is going into town, “I have good reason to think before I charge fraud upon Abigail…” (Miller, 194). Proctor decides that trying to save Rebecca Nurse and the others will only lead to Abigail ruining his name. Proctor, after being left amuck at the whole situation, leaves his anger out on Mary Warren. These decisions Proctor made will have resurgence later in “The Crucible”. John Proctor makes many choices...
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...act play, Arthur Miller, author of The Crucible, utilized the five-act structure to further develop his plot. The exposition of a five-act structure introduces the setting, main characters, and conflict of a literary work. The audience gains critical information that is crucial for understanding the...
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...Arthur Miller displays his perception of communism through John Proctor’s perception of witchcraft in the play The Crucible. The play The Crucible takes place in Salem, Massachusetts where John Proctor is accused of witchcraft, which was a massive dispute during that time. The Crucible is in part based on McCarthyism in the 1950’s which was similar to the Salem Witch trials. In The Crucible written by Arthur Miller, reverend Hale experiences changes proven by the things he says, the things he does, and others opinion of him. McCarthyism is a campaign or practice that endorses the use of unfair allegations and investigations. Marilyn Monroe was Arthur Miller’s wife. If you ask me I don’t think that Miller being married to Marilyn was the reason for the court's questioning I think that the play he wrote was why him and everyone involved were questioned.Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible...
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...No, I do not believe that John Proctor’s design to hang instead of admitting that he was consorting with the devil is an act of excessive pride or stubbornness. I instead believe that John Proctor is the tragic hero of the Crucible and that his decision to choose principle over self preservation was an honorable act with the goal of affirming his goodness before God. In the second act of the Crucible, the audience first meets the character of John Proctor while he is in his home with his wife Elizabeth. The reader’s initial reaction of Proctor is that he is a benevolent husband as he states “I mean to please you Elizabeth” (50) and is otherwise kind and respectful towards his wife. However, as the act progresses, the reader comes to find out...
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...Uncontrolled Excitement in an Authoritative Society The 1600s in New England represented a time of fear and suspicion that culminated in the persecution of those considered 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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...In The Crucible, the town of Salem is in a state of hysteria as a group of girls cause many citizens to be convicted and killed as witches. Within the chaos, the court arrests John Proctor for being a witch. He is given two choices, confess and save himself, or be honest and die for it. In the play, John Proctor rips his written confession because of his dignity and the court hangs him. However, if he had chosen to confess, the fate of Salem would have taken a different turn. Firstly, John Proctor and his wife would still live, despite suffering jail time. However, he would be forced to give up his land and search for a way to live with himself, his wife, and his four children, one of which was just born. The biggest challenge for John Proctor...
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...In Arthur Millers, The Crucible, the Salem witch trails occurred. In Salem, while the Salem witch trials were occurring, the citizens tell many lies. This is one thing that led to the mass hysteria that defined the Salem witch trials. It also led to many conflicts between the characters in this book. This is because in the eyes of the puritans anyone who was involved in “witchcraft” was against the church and thought to be communicating with Satan and deserved death. One of the conflicts that occurred in The Crucible was between John Proctor and himself. Because lying is a sin and in turn causes negative effects, John Proctor is forced to face the reality and the consequences of his deceitfulness. In the play The Crucible, John Proctor, the main character, endures multiple inner conflicts. He believes his affair with Abigail Williams, another citizen of Salem, has permanently damaged him and his worthiness in the eyes of God. After scolding Elizabeth Proctor, his wife, for continuing to be suspicious of his actions with Abigail and not giving him forgiveness, Elizabeth expresses that she does not judge him, but that it is, “The magistrate sitting in [his] heart that judges [him].” Lying is a recurring theme in The Crucible and Proctor’s actions with the affair is an example of this....
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...John Proctor’s Outstanding Personality The Crucible was a play in 1962 about the Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts. The trials began after girls started accusing many people of witchcraft. John Proctor and Abigail Williams which is the leader of the girls had an affair. Abigail wanted John’s wife dead so she could be with him, and she would stop at nothing to get what she wanted. John Proctor's honest, selfless, and vulnerable ways are revealed in The Crucible. John Proctor is an honest man. For example in the book Proctor states “Mr. Parris discovered them sportin’ in the woods. They were startled and took sick” (Miller 33). John is honest in this quote by telling Reverend Hale about the girls being in the woods doing witchcraft, he was...
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...John Proctor is faced with obstacles that he must overcome to develop his character in The Crucible. John Proctor’s change in his character is an important part of the theme of The Crucible. John Proctor is a farmer that inherited the family tradition. He is married to Elizabeth Proctor and has three young boys. John Proctor dislikes hypocrites and does not trust the authority in Salem. John Proctor committed an affair with a seventeen-year-old girl named Abigail Williams. Throughout the story he is challenged with the guilt of committing adultery. John Proctor’s personal integrity is challenged in multiple parts of The Crucible. Proctor is challenged by the affair with Abigail, Hale questioning him about his relationship with God, giving up...
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...The Crucible Act Four Questions Short Response Answer the following questions based on your knowledge of the drama. Write a response on a separate sheet of paper. 1. Where does Tituba think that the Devil is going to take her? 2. Give one example of how Abigail shows her dishonesty in this act. 3. What effect do the trials have on Salem? Use three details from the drama to support your answer. 4. When first arrives at the Salem jail, Danforth complains, “There is a prodigious stench in this place.” How might this line be read to mean something besides a comment on the smell? 5. How is Giles Corey’s character reflected in his death? Use one detail from the drama to support your response. 6. What qualities does Proctor find within himself that prevent him from at last saving himself and signing the confession? Use details from the text to support your response. 7. Explain how Proctor is right or wrong for refusing to sign the confession. Use details to support your response. 8. A tragic hero’s fate, according to Aristotle, inspires pity and horror. Name the tragic hero in The Crucible, and describe how his or her fate inspires both pity and horror. 9. People accused of being Communists had a difficult time getting jobs; some even moved out of the United States in order to try to resume normal lives. How is Proctor’s situation like that of the people accused of Communist activities? 10. Based on the conversation involving Tituba, Sarah...
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...The Crucible is a fictional novel, that has been turned into a play as well, about a strictly puritan (English protestants of the late 16th and 17th centuries) village called Salem, and in this village rumors develop into huge dilemma where everyone is accusing each other of participating in acts of blasphemy, mainly witchcraft. These accusations lead to Salem’s downfall. The author of this intense novel is Arthur Miller. He showed in The Crucible that one’s choices are crucial to life in many ways, and some of those choices are a lot harder to make than others. This is because honesty is worth sacrificing one’s life for, in this case John Proctor has to decide if he wants to live with the reputation of a liar or die with honor. In the beginning, Proctor doesn’t believe that lying or confessing matters at all in...
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...Arthur Miller’s play “The Crucible” is about the mass hysteria of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Massachusetts Bay Colony around 1692. The conflict arose after many young girls went around accusing people of witchcraft. As fingers were pointed and accusations were made, many people were put on trial and hanged to death. One of the characters in the play who is put on trial is John Proctor. Proctor is a highly respected individual who is proud of his good name. As the story of the play develops, secrets of John's past are leaked and threaten to ruin his reputation. However, Proctor refuses to lose his integrity. To combat the accusations made against him, Proctor displays characteristics of honesty, bravery, and dignity....
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...Kantor Mr. Smyth 11th Grade ELA/WL CP (Period A) 26 November 2012 A Condemned 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...
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...Divya Kumar Mr. Kirley ENG3U1-05 November.11.2015. The Crucible: Is John Proctor truly a tragic hero? A tragic hero is a person with admirable qualities yet they have a tragic flaw that leads them to their downfall. In Miller’s play “The Crucible,” the protagonist, John Proctor, is a tragic hero known for his good reputation yet commits adultery with Abigail thus making it a tragic flaw that leads to his death. John Proctor is a tragic hero because he is a well-mannered person that has a good reputation. John strongly believes in Elizabeth’s good morals by proving his honesty and bond towards Elizabeth and speaks up for her as he tries to get her and his friends’ wives out of jail. He tells Danforth...
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