...jennifer lux 12/8/15 The Crucible analysis “We consume our tomorrows fretting about our yesterday”- Persius. There have been moments in history where people were too consumed in fear that they broke many of their morals and due to powerful situations people behaved differently than their normal self. A play called the Crucible was written in 1953 by Author Miller to portray the unfairness at that time due to people being accused of witches with little to no evidence and then hanged. This event was called the Salem witch trials, which took place in the province of Massachusetts Bay. This play is an allegory to the McCarthy Hearings that took place from 1950 to 1956. The McCarthy hearings occurred in 1947; President Truman ordered background checks of every civilian in service to the government due to a fear of people within the United States being a communist spy. The fear of communism intensified when a high ranked official Alger Hiss was convicted of being a communist spy. Senator Joseph McCarthy stepped in and convinced/alarm people within the U.S that there were Communist and Communist sympathizers that would try to overthrow the government. As a result, he formed a special Congressional committee to investigate Americans who were suspected of Communist activities and this movement was named McCarthyism. The Crucible is a play that is universal and enduring because it uses allegory and archetypes to teach readers...
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...The Crucible Essay “Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does no feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear” (Nelson Mandela). In simpler terms, courage is when something that a person believes in, is more important than the fear that comes with the consequences of that belief. The Crucible has many key themes, but the theme that has the broadest effect on the reader is courage. John Proctor is a great example of the courage shown. While, Abigail Williams shows immense cowardice. Throughout the Crucible many characters have to face the horrendous decision of whether to confess to have ‘been with the devil’ and lose their ‘good name’ or bee executed for that of which they did not do. John Proctor is a great example of a character with extraordinary courage. John although pressured to confess and knowing that he’ll hang, refuses to ruin his ‘good name’ and he does not fully confess to the crime. When Judge Danforth would not give up the argument with John to sign the confession, he asked, “Then explain to me, Mr. Proctor, why will you not let me have it?” (pg.1231). Proctor answered, “Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! I have given you my soul; leave me my name!” (pg.1232). These quotes show how strong willed John is in not having a bad reputation and how John has great courage and doesn’t lie just to live. However that John may express great courage...
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...Meghan Marasti Ms. Kelly Survey of American Literature 16 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...
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...Thematic Questions 1. What is a crucible and how is it used? Justify Miller’s choice of title for his play. A crucible is a ceramic container that can withstand very high temperature and is used for metal, glass and pigment production as well as a number of modern laboratory processes. Miller’s choice of the title “The Crucible” is due to the same reason as the courtroom being referred to as a crucible: using the heat of questioning and scrutiny, they burned away all the impurities, i.e. lies and half-truths, to get the purified product the “truth”. 2. How do Hale’s preconceptions influence his interpretation of events? How does his interpretation change? What are the implications of his conversion? Hale’s preconceptions has influenced his interpretation of events in that he initially thought that he had the authority over the town due to his extensive knowledge of witchcraft. He expected to find witches, however his interpretation changes throughout the play as he realises that innocent townspeople are being falsely accused, such as John Proctor. The implications of his conversion are when he encourages the accused to confess, i.e. the good people to lie, even though he believes that he is doing the “Devil’s work”. 3. Proctor calls Hale “Pontius Pilate.” Explain the allusion. Do you agree or disagree? The allusion is that Pontius Pilate was the ruler in Bethlehem who ordered the crucifixion of Jesus Christ at the order of the Jewish leadership, despite the...
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...The Grudge Trials In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, Miller shows the reader that rivalries and grudges can drive people to do crazy things. In The Crucible, the puritan community of 1600s Salem received a chance to reap revenge on people they had problems and disputes with by accusing others of witchcraft, which would either leave the accused dead or their name ruined. Everyone from Thomas Putnam, a land owner greedy for land, to Abigail Williams, a teenager involved in adultery, accused others due to personal rivalries and grudges. Abigail Williams is most known for accusing Elizabeth Proctor, a religious woman and wife of the man with whom Abigail had the affair. When Elizabeth hears of the incident, she immediately fires Abigail, which leads Abigail to believe that Elizabeth is cold and callous. Abigail’s jealousy of Elizabeth leads her to accuse Elizabeth of witchcraft and she has Mary Warren, a servant to the Proctors, place a poppet, or small doll, made to be Abigail with a needle in her side, into the Proctor’s home. With this happening, Elizabeth believes that Abigail “thinks to take my place” (II.384) as John’s wife by ensuring she is hung. It is Abigail’s personal rivalry with Elizabeth over John’s attention that sets the stage for others to seek vengeance in court. Thomas Putnam is a wealthy land owner in Salem greedy for as much land as he can buy. Putnam and his family accuse Francis Nurse, an amicable man, due to a desire for Nurse’s land. Putnam...
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...in no way to know who is “good” and who is “bad” due to everyone having a different understanding of what is good and what is bad. Some people believe that those who don’t go to church are bad but in reality many people who don’t go to church have better morals than those who do go to church yet the fact they don’t makes them seem bad. Another way this quote is false is that if someone were truly “good” then they wouldn’t stand around and watch as evil prospered. One piece of literature that proves this quote true is The Crucible by Arthur Miller through his use of characterization and conflict. As stated above the quote “Evil Triumphs when good men do nothing” is false due to the elusive from in which “good men” is used. In The Crucible Arthur Millers’ use of characterization proves this quote false. The Crucible is a play about the domino affect which wild accusations about witchcraft caused in a small religious town known as Salem’s Village. In The Crucible Arthur Miller shows that people are ignorant and only care about their well being. Arthur Miller shows this through the characteristics of Parris, Abigail, Marry Warren, and the town’s people. The false accusations all started when Reverend Paris questions his niece, Abigail about dancing naked in the woods...
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...N’dea Williams Hayes 11/12/13 B4 How does 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...
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...The Crucible Research Paper Assignment During 1692, mass hysteria emerged in Massachusetts over the growing beliefs of witchcraft. People who believed in witchcraft had the notion that that the Devil could give certain people known as witches the power to harm others in exchange for their loyalty. This craze was probably inspired by a similar incident in Europe that just recently ended at the time. Within one year in Salem, over 200 people were accused of being witches and 19 men and women were convicted and hanged at Gallows Hill as punishment. In addition, a man over 80 years old was killed after put under mass amounts of weight as a result from denying the charges put on him. These accusations were all lies that resulted from the ongoing frontier war, economic conditions, congregational strife, teenage boredom, fear of Native Indian attacks, and personal jealousies. In 1689, a few years before the whole witchcraft hysteria began, the English rulers William and Mary proclaimed war with France in the 13 colonies of the United States. Known as King William’s war, it caused hundreds of people to migrate into Salem, Massachusetts for refuge. The population in fluctuation affected the economy because resources became scarce. As a result, people started to become sick and social relations became tense. In response, people became aggravated and a lot of quarreling occurred. In addition, the people were very scared about being attacked by the Native Americans. People started to...
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...Maria Blanco Period 2 The Crucible Essay Draft Fear and loathing can overpower all senses of reason. A doctor conducted that the children were suffering from the effects of witchcraft. Some people were actually innocent and they still hanged them because they thought that they were witches. Salem Reverend Parris attempted to capitalize on fear when he preached about the witches that abounded in Salem. Arthur Miller, in his drama “The Crucible”,illustrates fear through the actions and reactions of several of his characters. In Act III the characters show lots of fear. For example, Abigail William for instance, fears discovery of her deceit in the town of Salem and commits all sorts of heinous acts to prevent herself,regardless of the harm done to to others. Marry Warrens is innocent and she's trying to save herself from Danforth because he thinks that she is lying when really she isn’t. Proctor is scared because he doesn’t want his wife to be killed and because he had an affair with Abigail. Abigail shows many of her “acts” in many of the scenes to prevent herself from getting hanged. For example, in Act III page 1307, Abigail says “ A wind,a cold wind,has come. Her eyes fall on Marry Warren.” While Marry Warren pleases Abigail to stop lying . Proctor then says “They’re pretending” Abigail acts as if a soul went inside of her, but it is all pretend. In Act III Proctor,Marry Warren, Abigail, Hathorne, Danforth, and the girls are in the court room. This Act shows...
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...The Crucibles Analysis: The Crucible is a fictional play that was later converted into a movie written by Arthur Miller. The storyline is a dramatized versions of the Salem Witch Trials that took place in Salem Massachusetts during 1692. Miller magnified the films historical events by showing how quickly paranoia, dishonesty and fear can escalate amongst the characters in the town of Salem. During the17th century time period, Salem was a puritan based community that lived in an extremely restrictive society. The system of the government was a theocracy. They believed they were chosen by God for a special purpose in this world. The puritans viewed the world in terms of good vs evil. They were required to faithfully attend church and study the word of God. If they failed to comply with those terms, they were accused of practicing the devil’s magic. In the film, several of the village girls were caught dancing in the forest outside of Salem in the middle of the night. One of the characters in the film, Betty had lost consciousness during the ritual and remained in a trance ever since. The town’s physician examined Betty and could not determine why she was unconscious. He suggested she was bewitched. In the puritans eyes, dancing and singing chants were frowned upon and viewed as unholy. Many believed if an induvial danced and chanted in the forest they were practicing witch crafts. The people of Salem in the witch trials were swayed by momentary feelings and were falsely accusing...
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...Fernando Leyva English III/ Period 8 The Crucible Essay January 3, 2014 Religion is so strong it can lead to great unimaginable things,but the power of religion has the power to destroy good things and cause havoc amongst firm believers. Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible, takes place in the late seventeenth century a horrific event occurred known as the Salem Witch Trials in the town of Salem. Abigail and Elizabeth are perhaps two of his most important main characters in the play. These two represent the "good" and "evil" in the society of the town. Although these two characters were very distinct they shared something very big in common, which was the love for the man John Proctor. Perhaps the love for the same man led one of the two females to be of a greater evil than ever imagined. Elizabeth Proctor was a very more understand and good character in the play. Although she is understand and compassionate she is unforgiving and cold. In Arthur Miller's play, John Proctor says "Oh Elizabeth, your justice would freeze beer!" This quote clearly shows how John feels that Elizabeth is unforgiving and cold. For the past months John has been trying to please Elizabeth after his affair with Abigail. John shows his frustration after Elizabeth does not forget about the affair John had. Although Elizabeth is understand she does not forgive or forget easily. Abigail Williams is the "evil" character in the play. Her actions throughout the play caused a lot ...
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...Jay’Yona Torres Ms.John English 3 3 October 2012 The Crucible In the Crucible, people will save themselves if they are in danger, even if it means to destroy others. I think this means when people know they did something wrong, there first instinct is to protect themselves. The examples that I would use are that Abigail destroyed Tituba, Mary Warren destroyed John Proctor, Betty destroyed the old man with the beard, and Abigail also destroyed Elizabeth Proctor. My examples will prove that these girls were selfish and that they would do anything to anyone just to save/protect themselves. Abigail Williams destroyed many people because she wanted to save herself. For example, she destroyed Tituba. She told her uncle and the expert on witch craft that it was all Tituba. She made Tituba say that she saw the devil and she spoke with him. She watched them beat her, when she really didn’t do anything wrong. All they really did was dance and they tried to say that but Abigail didn’t even want to tell them that because she didn’t want to get beat and she didn’t anything bad to happened to her. I think that this shows that she was very selfish. All she did was think about herself, she didn’t care about anyone else and anyone else’s feelings. I think this proves that people will save themselves if they are in danger, even if it means destroying others. ...
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...Joshua Smelser Professor Lee Hinds Composition 2 September, 10, 2012 Fear As a Living Person In the movie, The Crucible, inspired by Aurther Miller and directed by Nicholas Hytner, fear is a subtle but important aspect in the movie. In fact, if fear was an actor in the film, it would be the lead character, leading to deaths, lies, and betrayal. Now the movie starts off with the towns teenage girls dancing in the woods, conjuring up spells to make boys like them. As they dance around, some naked, reverend Paris a man with power in a city of puritans discovers the girls. This would be the first time fear appears in the movie. Out of fear the girls scatter to avoid getting in trouble with the reverend. All but two girls get away, the reverend’s daughter Betty, and his niece Abigail. After this scene fear gets its biggest part in the movie. Betty falls into a coma nothing can wake her. The town including her father believes that the devil has got hold of her. I believe that Betty is just scared to get in trouble, and there are pieces of evidence that prove it. First off through the entire movie all the girls of the town are lying that they can see the devil. Why would this be untrue for this small girl? Second during church Abigail and the girls march up to Betty’s room and explain to her that everything is ok, her father knows and is not angry. Remarkably she wakes and says she wants her mom. If Betty was truly possessed I am sure she would not wake at the first instance...
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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 This essay will discuss, explain and evaluate the main ideas, themes and interpretations of Arthur Miller’s, The Crucible. It will also explain and evaluate the language Arthur Miller uses and how it contributed to the overall success of the play. The Crucible is set in 1692 in the puritan town of Salem, Massachusetts, a theocratic society, where the laws of the land are laid down by the church. The main idea running throughout the play can be viewed as a direct comparison to McCarthyism which was happening in 1950’s America, in which members of the general public including public figures such as Arthur Miller were brought in and questioned over connections to communism. This can be seen as a direct comparison to people being brought into the Salem courts regarding connections with witchcraft. It was not until Miller saw this comparison that he then felt compelled to write The Crucible as he now felt he could get into the minds of those going through similar circumstances back in the Salem witch trials. Hysteria was the main cause of nineteen deaths in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, and countless ruined reputations on account of Joe McCarthy. Hysteria does not just appear out of nowhere though. There are driving forces such as revenge and abuse of power that bring about the irrational fear that can take over society. These are the issues expressed in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. The Crucible is paralleled directly to the Salem Witch Trials and indirectly...
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