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Dramatic device in the crucible
Injustice in salem witch trials
Literal and symbolic meaning of the crucible
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The Crucible, directed by Nicholas Hytner and written by Arthur Miller, is an allegorical tragedy set in 1692 Massachusetts in a Puritan village, called Salem. The film was released in the year 1996 and stars many acclaimed actors and actresses: such as Winona Ryder, Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Scofield, and Joan Allen. The plot focuses on the Salem Witch Trials, which resulted in the death of 20 innocent people, but is truly a reflection of the McCarthyism that Miller went through in the early 50s’.
To begin with, the film begins when the Reverend of Salem, Samuel Parris, walks out early in the morning to the woods and witnesses his daughter Betty along with his adopted niece, Abigail Williams(the main antagonist), and many other young girls dancing
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Soon a highly trusted village leader, John Putnam, is alerted and he comes to the main civic center and any worry he had is calmed after being told by Abigail that no type of witchcraft had occurred. It is revealed in this scene that the affair between John and Abigail actually occurred and that she still has feelings for him, whereas he has now decided to stop the affair. However, Reverend Parris and the Putnams truly believe that there is witchcraft being practiced, so they decide to summon John Hale, a reverend from Beverly. Upon his arrival after being questioned more about what really happened in the woods, Abigail lies to protect herself and the other girls and blames Tituba, Parris’ slave who led the ritual in the woods. While being whipped Tituba lies and admits to being a witch to prevent being hanged and the young girls led by Abigail start accusing innocent people of witchcraft. Abigail goes as far as to even accuse John Proctor’s wife, Elizabeth, to have him for herself. After his wife is taken away John gets Mary Warren, their servant and one of the “afflicted” girls, to go testify and tell the truth to Deputy Governor Danforth, the man leading the trial in the …show more content…
A frustrated John then yells,”God is dead”(Lewis, The Crucible). Days later on the eve of John’s hanging Abigail tries to accuse John Hale’s wife of being a witch, but it does not work. Registering that nobody wants anything to do with her or any of the girls, Abigail steals money from Parris and goes to John Proctor in his cell to try and convince him to flee with her. He grudgingly replies,”It is not on a boat we'll meet again Abigail, but in hell.”(Lewis, The Crucible). She then leaves without him, and Parris ,fearing that the people of Salem will riot if John is hanged, urges Danworth to get Proctor to confess to being a witch; so that he will live. They let him meet with Elizabeth where he finally truly realizes that he loves Elizabeth more than anyone in the world and he agrees to confess. After signing the confession the judges tell him that they wanted it to be posted to the door of the church, and he refuses not wanted to tarnish his name. He emotionally declares,” Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them you have hanged! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my
The Crucible the film is an adapted version of Arthur Miller’s play of the same name, which was inspired by the 1692 Salem Witch Trials in Salem, Massachusetts. The two main characters are Abigail Williams played by Winona Ryder and John Procter played by Daniel Day-Lewis. The Crucible’s opening scene is Reverend Parris catching Abigail and her friends dancing in the woods and conjuring spirits. Abigail did not want to get in trouble so she blamed Tituba, a Barbados slave, for making her drink chicken blood, and tempting her to sin.
Elizabeth and John start to feel the tension when Elizabeth tries to convince John about going to court and persecuting Abigail but he refuses. When he disputes with his wife he argues, “you will judge me no more Elizabeth I have good reason to charge fraud on Abigail and I will think on it” (193). Proctor is not completely satisfied about throwing Abigail under the bus because he doesn’t want to initially hurt her and he would lose his respect in the town if he did. So he isn’t convinced about the fact that his wife is trying to get him to charge fraud at this point of the play. Soon afterward Mary the proctor’s servant comes home with news that Elizabeth has been convicted of witchcraft as well and was arrested by the sheriff in town to be brought to the trials.
When the play sets in to action, John has had a past affair with his servant Abigail Williams. His wife, Elizabeth Proctor is very forgiving of his sin, but John has his mind set that he will not confess to anyone else, in fear of ruining his good name, and reputation. The affair between John and Abigail caused the start of chaotic witchery and accusation. After the affair, Abigail became horribly jealous of Elizabeth Proctor. Proctor realizes there is only one way to stop all the witch hysteria in Salem, and that would be to confess his sin of adultery. Although he knows he should, he continues to be determined not to confess. Also in the beginning Reverend Paris is new to town, and John insist continually that he is only speaking of hell, and hardly ever of God, as Proctor goes on to say to Parris, "Can you speak one minute without we land in Hell again? I am sick of Hell!" (Miller 30). In the drama, Mary Warren places a needle in a poppet she gave to Elizabeth; John firmly demands that Mary Warren tell the courts that she really put the needle in the poppet that day. Proctor says to her, "You're coming to the court with me, Mary. You will tell it in the court." (Miller 80). Furthermore, at the end of the play Proctor is persistent by saying that no matter what anyone says to convince him differently, he would rather die an honest man and save his name. John Proctor took pride in his thoughts, feelings, values, and his name. It took persistency to make his intent clear to others.
He witnesses couples he has known for years be separated due to false accusations, and sees the growth in power that they are gaining. Along with all this, John’s relationship with Elizabeth is also complicated as Elizabeth is noticing John’s willingness to cover for Abigail and all her terrible actions. This is clear on page 52, when Elizabeth says to John, “With a smile, to keep her dignity: John, if it were not Abigail that you must go to hurt, would you falter now? I think not.” The previous statement was rebutted with an aggravated response by John.“Spare me! You forget nothin ' and forgive nothin '. Learn charity, woman. I have gone tiptoe in this house all seven month since she is gone. I have not moved from there to there without I think to please you, and still an everlasting funeral marches round your heart. I cannot speak but I am doubted, every moment judged for lies, as though I come into a court when I come into this house!” John needs to prove himself to his own wife, as well as others throughout the town whose views on him are not as clearly defined. As the play progresses, Elizabeth is soon accused of witchcraft, which brings John directly to the situations at hand. He is becoming a more active member in the judiciary system and is proving the faults of the judges specifically Judge Danforth. Judge Danforth and John Proctor have growing tension between them and compete amongst each other to bring the other down. John questions on page 73, “If she is innocent! Why do you never wonder if Parris be innocent, or Abigail? Is the accuser always holy now? Were they born this morning as clean as God 's fingers? I 'll tell you what 's walking Salem—vengeance is walking Salem. We are what we always were in Salem, but now the little crazy children are jangling the keys of the kingdom, and common vengeance writes the law! This warrant 's vengeance! I 'll not give my wife to vengeance!” Towards the end
For instance, Parris, Abigail’s uncle and the main reverend of Salem, feels great at first when people started to get accused of being witches. He knows that witchery is unlikely in Salem because the girls admitted to just playing. However, when Parris claims that Abigail can see spirits, he saves his position in the church. It is only when he sees that he may lose his life due to this lie, that he wants to stop. Parris expresses this to the judges, “Tonight, when I open my door to leave my house—a dagger clattered down” (200). Parris starts to care when his life is at stake, but he was stress-free for a while. He foresaw positive effects of this lie, but he understands his mistake of letting the executions continue. Lastly, Proctor admits to the judge that he had an affair with Abigail because he wants this injustice to end. The judge takes Abigail’s side, but they still ask Elizabeth to confirm or deny Proctor’s confession because she is known for only telling the truth. The judge demands an
The town the story takes place in is governed by a theocracy. A quote from The Crucible says “For good purposes, even high purposes, the people of Salem developed a theocracy, a combine of state and religious power whose function was to keep the community together, and to prevent any kind of disunity that might open it to destruction by material or ideological enemies.” All the events that led up to the execution of innocent people also led to the breaking apart of the theocracy. The story takes place in Salem, Massachusetts in the year 1692. It starts after a couple of girls have been caught dancing in the woods by Reverend Samuel Parris, the town’s minister. Two of the girls are related to him. Abigail is his niece and Betty is his daughter. When Betty gets sick, rumors start to spread that there is witchcraft involved in her illness because they were out in the woods all by themselves. Salem is a very tightly sheltered town that is pretty much run by the church, which is against the devil and all forms of the devil such as witches , and it is also against enjoyable acts such as dancing. Not only that but in the book the town is described as the following, “They had no novelists--and would not have permitted anyone to read a novel if one were handy. Their creed forbade anything resembling a theater or ‘vain enjoyment.’ They did not celebrate Christmas, and a holiday from work meant only that they must concentrate even more upon prayer.” The town was very strict when it came to following the church. This is why when the girls were caught dancing in the woods, they lied to protect themselves and their reputation by saying that the devil took them over and influenced them to dance. The girls also say that they saw several other members of the town standing along side of the devil. Abigail says, “I want to open myself! I want the light of God, I want the sweet love of Jesus! I danced for the Devil; I saw him; I wrote in his book; I go back to Jesus; I kiss His hand.
It was easier for them to blame the devil for the problems of society than fix the problems of their own strict way of life. So the girls involved with Abigail, like Mercy Lewis and Mary Warren, named many people in the town as witches. These people were put in jail and would be hanged if they did not confess to the crime of devil worship or witchcraft. Another part of the developing plot is that John Proctor knows Abigail and her friends are lying, but he is afraid to say anything because eight months before he had an affair with Abigail and did not want to be seen by the town as a lecher, which means wife cheater. So, Mr. Proctor has to fight with himself to come out and tell the truth, or his wife might die because of Abigail saying she was a witch.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a play of the historical fiction genre that is based on the Salem Witch Trials that occurred in Salem, Massachusetts during the 1690s. It tells the story of a man named John Proctor who is a villager of Salem during these trials. The trial starts when a group of young girls start to accuse other citizens of Salem to benefit themselves from it. Abigail Williams, the leader of these girls, was involved in an affair with John Proctor, and wanted to get rid of John’s wife, Elizabeth Proctor, and wanted to use her new deceitful power to do so. The majority of the play shows the struggle of John Proctor as he tries to expose Abigail and her group of girls and save his wife, who is eventually accused of witchcraft by Abigail. In an attempt to clear his wife’s name of any wrong doings, he admits to the judges of his affair. John was eventually sent to jail after his household helper accused him of
Abigail and her friends are in the woods with a slave named Tituba. They are dancing and one girl begins to take her clothes off. Abigail starts to drink blood and Reverend Parris sees all of this. He believes he is witnessing witchcraft. The girls realize that he sees them and they all run back to the village. Reverend Parris runs after them. Betty Parris, Reverend Parris’ daughter, and Ruth Putnam, both girls that were playing in the
“Well, all the plays that I was trying to write were plays that would grab an audience by the throat and not release them, rather than presenting an emotion which you could observe and walk away from.” by Arthur Miller. All great works provide a way to reach in and grab the audience through the reoccurring themes like, greed, jealousy, reputation and hypocrisy. Arthur Miller had one of those great works and it was called “The Crucible”. The play was based off of the witch trials that happened in Salem in the year of 1962. Some of the characters were actual characters involved in the witch trials. Arthur Miller wrote this play during the time of the “Red Scare”. Miller wrote The Crucible because he wanted to turn the The Salem Witch Trials into
and Mrs. Putnam, members of one of the prominent families in Salem, enter the room declaring that Betty’s illness results from witchcraft. Mrs. Putnam is convinced that evil spirits are in Salem because her children have died under mysterious conditions. Parris refuses to mention witchcraft to the town until he gets Reverend Hale’s opinion. Betty wakes up screaming and crying for her dead mother. Abigail told Betty, Mercy, and Mary that she told Parris everything about their activities in the woods. Betty said that Abigail didn’t inform Parris about drinking the blood as a charm to kill Elizabeth Proctor, John Proctor’s wife. Abigail hit Betty and threatened the girls to not repeat a word about the other activities that were taken place in the woods. Betty returned to her unmoving, unresponsive, unconscious
In 1953, the play called “The Crucible” written by Arthur Miller created hysteria in all parts of the country. This play describes the Salem witchcraft trials of 1692 and the irony of a terrible period of American history.
The Crucible is a 1953 play by Arthur Miller. Initially, it was known as The Chronicles of Sarah Good. The Crucible was set in the Puritan town of Salem, Massachusetts. It talks of McCarthyism that happened in the late 1600’s whereby the general public and people like Arthur Miller were tried and persecuted. The Crucible exemplifies persecutions during the Salem Witch Trials. The people were convicted and hung without any tangible proof of committing any crime. Persecutions were the order of the day. When a finger was pointed at any individual as a witch, the Deputy Governor Danforth never looked for evidence against them or evidence that incriminated them; he ordered them to be hanged. This can be seen through his words “Hang them high over the town! Who weeps for those, weeps for corruption!” (1273), the people were persecuted aimlessly. The four main characters in the play, John Proctor, Abigail Adams, Reverend Hale and Reverend Parris, are caught in the middle of the witchcraft panic in the religious Salem, Massachusetts in late 1690’s. Persecution is the most important theme in the Crucible, the leaders and citizens of Salem attacks and persecutes one of their own without any tangible evidence against them.
Abigail has run away and the Reverend begs those accused of witchcraft to take a plea and agree to being witches in order to save their lives. John agrees to confessing, but he refuses to name other people and the court demands he does so. In a bit of rage John loses control and says that he is not guilty. The witch trials come to an end and Proctor is sent to the gallows along with others accused of being witches.
Elizabeth Proctor has many moments which show how she is changing throughout the play. When she is trying to persuade Proctor to tell the court that Abigail said the girls were not practicing witchcraft, Elizabeth blurts out, "John, if it were not Abigail that you must go to hurt, would you falter now? I think not." Elizabeth is confessing that she believes Proctor had an affair with Abigail. She is giving him no mercy by showing that she will never forget what happened. When Elizabeth is being accused of stabbing Abigail, she instructs Proctor to go to court, and tells him "Oh, John, bring me soon!" Elizabeth is gaining trust in John. She is forgetting his act of adultery and now has faith that he will defend her. At the end of the play, when Proctor is sentenced to death, Elizabeth says that "he [has] his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him!" Elizabeth is admitting that John was righteous to confess his sin of lechery, and she should have pardoned him. She considers herself impure for not showing mercy, and does not want to take away from his glory. Elizabeth has transformed from an ignorant victim of adultery, to a forgiving, loving wife.