...Although morals are an indication of a person’s perception of right or wrong, there is a fundamental thread that connects morality to everyone. Whether these morals are in relation to a religion, culture or the law, society has developed universal moral standards. However, individuals are capable of abandoning morality as a whole, resulting in significant repercussions. William Shakespeare and Arthur Miller show evidence of this in The Merchant of Venice and The Crucible, when their characters step away from their morals and carry out wrongful actions. Although the underlying reason for the characters’ social demises is similar, the motives for their actions are specific and personal. By carrying out actions fueled by revenge, both Abigail...
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...Fear can lead good people to do horrific acts, especially when religion is involved. For example, in the play The Crucible the girls who was following Abigail knew dancing was considered in Salem as an act of the devil. When they got caught dancing in the forest, they began to think about their punishments in this case, were whippens, jail, or even worse death. They decided to keep following Abigail's lead and began to claim that the devil and these images of the people from Salem tried to make them do horrible things. Soon Abigail started to take advantage of this power and used it for evil. Millers play The Crucible shows us how vengeance and land can determine weather some one lives or dies. It also shows how many accusations can lead...
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...Individuals, subject to human frailty and motivation, exhibit inconsistencies among the greater collective human experience. In turn, preconceived notions of the audience are challenged by the exposition of humanity’s complexity to invoke personal assessment and reflection. As such, it is presented within Arthur Miller’s tragedy, “The Crucible”, and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s romantic fiction, “The Scarlet Letter”. Both works explore the contradictions of judgement and consider the inconsistencies of personal integrity, encapsulated under the guise of Puritanism within New England America, political agenda, and historical calamity. Therefore, audiences foster introspection and reflection by developing nuance surrounding the inconsistencies of human...
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...of the kingdom, and common vengeance writes the law!”(77). The people in Salem don’t base their opinion on facts. The possibility of witches in their village brings 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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...Crucible/Central park five In The Crucible and Central Park Five people are being wrongly accused to either death or life ruining situations. In the crucible there is a breakout of witchcraft and people are losing their lives. Also their is an affair between John Proctor and Abigail. In the Central Park five innocent boys and men are accused of rape and assault. In the play the crucible by Arthur Miller shows that a hero is based on bravery, courage, and being kind which John Proctor and Reverend Hale show throughout the story. A hero in the crucible is John Proctor although he is more of a tragic hero he is still a hero. “A man may think god sleeps, but god sees everything, I know it now. I beg you sir,I beg you see- her what she is… she thinks to dance with me on my wife's grave and well she might, for I thought of her softly. God help me, I lusted and there is a promise in such sweat. But it is a whore’s vengeance” (act 3). The character trait being shown is his honesty and bravery to tell the truth even though he did wrong. Saying this is heroic because he knows saying this is going to hurt him but it shows his bravery. This is a sign of bravery and shows his personality throughout the story. Another hero is Reverend Hale even though throughout the story...
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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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...Literary Analysis: A 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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...Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible using catastrophic periods in history to create his vivid literature as a metaphor for alienation of the innocently accused and influenced minds of an entire community. The Red Scare connects to The Crucible by the indistinguishable missing evidence of the accused and crossing the border to a megalomaniac. In addition, Miller uses actual names and historical events from the Salem Witch hunt in the 1690s in this play. He uses these events to explain what happened with Abigail’s plan for lovelorn revenge by the similar false accusations, mass hysteria, and aspiration of power during the Red Scare. During the red scare in the 1950s, the senator of Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy, caused mass paranoia by telling the...
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...Fear can influence decisions and corrupt ones morality. The fear of death, judgment and isolation all have the capability to make good people do bad things. Arthur Miller portrays this phenomenon in his book The Crucible. In The Crucible there are distinct examples of fear debilitating ones ability to make the right decision. Mary Warrens fear of death resulted in many deaths. John Proctor’s fear of judgment kept him from revealing the truth. Lastly, the fear of the unknown, in the mind of the townspeople, set off a series of devastating events that transpired throughout the book. Furthermore, fear darkened their conscience, and as a result, self preservation became prioritized above all else. Mary Warren, naturally a honest women, wanted to confess to the dancing and conjuring spirits in the woods. However, Abigail disagreed and threatened to kill her and, consequently, fear overtook Mary until she was Abigail’s slave, or rather, a slave to fear (Miller, pg.19). Mary knew the truth, the truth that could have saved lives, but withheld it. She lied and became dishonest, for the reason that she was afraid of being hung as a witch herself. Therefore, she accused John Proctor, an upstanding man, and in doing so, she put him to death (Miller, pg.118). She was terrified of death, and Abigail made that horror something real that she couldn't overcome. So in turn, she took the pressure off herself and took a mans life to preserve her own. Abigail was a dishonest and deceitful...
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...In act two of The Crucible by Arthur Miller the scene starts out in The Proctor’s home. Elizabeth and John Proctor are talking to each other and the reader can tell there is tension between them. It has been seven months since John had the affair with Abigail and Elizabeth is still being cold. This bugs John because he has been trying to make things right again with his wife. Mary Warren then enters into the house saying that fourteen people have been put in jail and will be hung if they do not confess to witchcraft. John admits that he knows that Abigail and the rest of the girls are faking and Elizabeth says he must go into Salem and tell the court that he knows the truth. John hesitates because he will have to confess about the affair if...
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...7 11 December 2015 “The Crucible” Argument Essay Does accusing the people around you to be arrested and hanged to get whatever you want be considered as selfish and wicked? In “The Crucible” by Author Miller, Abigail Williams is a vicious and vindictive person who used the witchcraft hysteria around the town of Salem in 1692. Abigail Williams is a 17 year old orphan who is strikingly beautiful but she is a liar and a fake. She saw an opportunity to seek vengeance upon John’s wife for kicking her out of their house and wanting to take her place in John’s bed. Although some may say otherwise and beg to differ on that because she was young, taken advantage of, immature, and also confused. Although in “The Crucible”, Abigail’s words, actions, and decision making legitimately shows that she does not care about who she hurts in the process to get what she wants. According to Abigail she says”… I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you…” (1244). This quote here has explains that, if any of the girls betrays her on what she has said and reveals that they had been dancing in the woods and also she drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor, she would kill them like the Indians had killed both of her parents. Abigail is a manipulative person. She is a manipulative person she tried to frame Goody Proctor for sending her spirit and stabbing a needle in her stomach two inches deep. In The Crucible, Mary Warren was sewing a...
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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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...Playwright Arthur Miller uses The Crucible to exhibit the theme of protectiveness of one’s reputation and self-image through his character John Proctor. In the play, John Proctors battle to be morally right and his affair with Abigail Williams essentially caused him a great deal of confusion. Proctor ultimately confessed, but was too enveloped in his pride so he refused to have his confession hung up on the church doors. His own refusal to let the reputation he built go to waste is what caused his death and destroyed his reputation. Early in the play, Elizabeth knew about Proctor’s affair with Abigail. Elizabeth’s cold and distant attitude towards Proctor after his affair caused him an even greater struggle. As Proctor pleads for forgiveness in Act 4, Elizabeth says, “John, it come to naught that I should forgive you, if you'll not forgive yourself.” Proctor was so wrapped up in his wife’s view of him that he was not focusing on how he viewed himself. He could not fathom the looks his wife and he would receive if he confessed of his affair. How was he to expect others to forgive him for his wrong doings if he could not forgive himself?...
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...I believe the that in the crucible the most defined thing in it is the vengeance and guilt . in many scenes and all acts vengeance and guilt was two if not the most obvious trait in this whole play. but the three main reasons are all between two women and a man. These two women are Abigail who is the antagonist in this play and john proctors wife Elizabeth proctor. Also proctor felt guilty so he admitted that he did adultery with Abigail. and lastly the guilt that abigail must of had realizing that proctor was hanged from her doings even tho the whole objective for her was to get Elizabeth hanged not her crush, proctor. So the two main rivalries in this book are abigail and proctors wife, Elizabeth proctor. Abigail used to be proctors...
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...The Crucible is a play with many themes that include authority, corruption, deceitfulness, etc. But there are many other books and plays that also share these themes such as books like Divergent. Divergent and The Crucible share more similarities than most people realize. They have very different settings and very different plots, but their themes and basic motives are very similar. The Crucible’s themes are what compel the plot forward. They are what gives the story meaning and value. Themes can create things necessary in stories such as an antagonist and his/her motives and also a protagonist. The theme of secrets and deceitfulness are shown in act 3 when proctor confesses to his affair with Abigail which reveals his deceitfulness and lies...
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