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Summary of the Crucible by Arthur Miller
Arthur Miller's hidden meaning behind the crucible
Analyse crucible by arthur miller
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Recommended: Summary of the Crucible by Arthur Miller
In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, Miller demonstrated that it was John Proctor’s flaws- lust, Mendacity, and Idealism- that led him to be responsible the most for the tragedy of the witch- hunt in Salem. Salem was a Puritan village that frowned upon anything that was evil and they also believed in the witches. Anyone who was caught practicing any type of witchcraft was severely punished. The Crucible started when Abigail and a few other girls were caught dancing naked in the woods with animal blood. When they were caught, they were accused of practicing witchcraft. The girls began to blame other people of their crime so they would not be punished. There were many people who could have been accused of starting this witch-hunt, but a prime …show more content…
John shows his mendacity throughout the whole story by lying to the whole village about his affair with Abigail. He showed more Mendacity when he lied to the Judge about not seeing anyone with the devil. John lies about many things in this story and he shows one example of his mendacity when he says, “ Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang!” John is admitting to all the lies that he has told throughout the whole witch-hunt. He is upset about the lies he has told so he begins to degrade himself. When Proctor was in court, he was asked multiple times by Danforth if he saw anyone with the Devil and John denied it every the accusations every time. Danforth asks “ Did you ever see Martha Corey with the Devil?” Proctor replies, “ I did not.” Danforth begins to get annoyed by Proctor’s lies so he says, “ Proctor, you mistake me. I am not empowered to trade your life for a lie. You have most certainly seen some person with the Devil. Mr. Proctor, a score of people have already testified they saw this woman with the Devil.” Even though John Proctor knew the truth, he continued to lie to Danforth about seeing the Devil with Martha Corey. John proves to himself and the whole village that telling many lies cannot only affect the people around you but it can affect you as well. John’s inability to tell the truth has affected his relationship with his wife
Nothing good can come from lies, John Proctor understands this and abides by the truth. He demonstrates that he is a man of truth when he confesses to his wife, Elizabeth, that he had an affair with Abigail Williams. He confessed as him and his wife were talking about whether or not he could prove that Abigail
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.
“ I say- I say- God is dead!” Yells John Proctor as Danforth asks him if he will confess himself to hell. John Proctor lives in Salem, his wife has been accused of witchcraft by Abigail Williams who John Proctor had an affair with. A short while after Elizabeth is accused, John Proctor also gets accused by Mary Warren.
This creates tension in the home between John and Elizabeth Proctor. “You were alone with her?” Elizabeth says, John responds “for a moment alone aye” “why then it is not what you told me”.(222) This angers John because he is floating in his guilt for being unfaithful to his wife. Its builds a strain on their marriage and keep the couple in a cold house. Proctor has been faith full to his religion, only attending church only once a month. These actions put more reason for people to suspect that john is participating in witchcraft. “I am no good man. Nothing's spoiled by giving them this lie that were not rotten long before.”(239) John is selfish by going with the lie saying, he participated in witchcraft than to confess and say he didn’t to be with his wife and his unborn child. John lived in a lie and he Salem government took his life from
Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, is set in Salem village where an atmosphere of enmity and mistrust has been created through the conflicts and disagreements many villagers experience throughout the play. Many of these are caused by or, similar to the conflict between Parris and Proctor, are inflated by the many accusations of witchcraft occurring in the village.
The Crucible: Hysteria and Injustice Thesis Statement: The purpose is to educate and display to the reader the hysteria and injustice that can come from a group of people that thinks it's doing the "right" thing for society in relation to The Crucible by Arthur Miller. I. Introduction: The play is based on the real life witch hunts that occurred in the late 1600's in Salem, Massachusetts. It shows the people's fear of what they felt was the Devil's work and shows how a small group of powerful people wrongly accused and killed many people out of this fear and ignorance.
The Crucible is a novel based on the Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts, written by Arthur Miller. The Crucible demonstrates forbidden temptation between John Proctor and Abigail Williams, honor and dishonor in the town of Salem, ruthless revenge, and the strive for high social status. The narrative style of this play is standard 1950s everyday language. The Crucible is set in a theocratic society of Puritanism in 1692.
“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
The Crucible is a famous play written by Arthur Miller. This play centers around the witch trials that took place in Salem, Massachusetts. In Act II, Abigail and her friends accuse several innocent people of witchcraft. Once they leave the court, Reverend Hale goes to John Proctor’s house to inform Elizabeth Proctor that people in the court have mentioned her name. Then officials of the court, Herrick and Cheever, arrive at the Proctor’s house. They claim to have a warrant for Elizabeth’s arrest because the court declares she practices witchcraft. After, Herrick and Cheever take Elizabeth to jail. Injustice in Act II prevails because of the inability to see the truth. Reverend Hale and John Proctor illuminate the theme that closed-mindedness
John Proctor faces many decisions in response to his moral dilemma to try to save his life. One of the difficult decisions John makes is to reveal that he had an affair with Abigail Williams and thereby has committed adultery. If the local court convicts him of this crime, he faces being jailed. Also by admitting this crime, John reveals a weakness in his character. This flaw in his personality will make it harder for him to stand up in the community as an honorable and believable person. In trying to convince others that witchcraft does not exist John’s dishonesty with his wife will make him less convincing to the community.
In John Proctor’s sudden confession of committing adultery, Miller used strong ethos and pathos to help further his agenda. He used disinterest, a rhetorical ethos device, to show that he reluctantly confessed for the greater good. By casting away his reputation, he made a personal sacrifice to show that his revelation helped the people of Salem more than it helped him. Throughout the play, Proctor concealed his disloyalty to his wife from the public; however, he finally came to terms with his sin to save Elizabeth and other innocent people from the trials. John used a rhetorical tool called the reluctant conclusion during his confession, which is blatant by the uneasiness/hesitancy he displayed. John Proctor lost his credibility and appeared
One of the greatest tragedies of early American history were the Salem Witch trials which led to over 200 being accused and imprisoned, including those as young as 4. During the Red Scare, Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible. The Crucible showed how the Red Scare correlated to the Salem Witch Trials. Among the hysteria, Miller focuses on one family, The Proctors. John Proctor is dealing with the guilt of an earlier affair with Abigail Williams, and his wife, Elizabeth, is cold and harsh towards him, refusing to forgive him. Throughout the play, culminating in the last act, the audience gets to see their change from sin to redemption.
“I have given you my soul; leave me my name” (Miller 133) screams the belligerent John Proctor, confronted with the very real possibility of his execution. Being accused of witchcraft, a crime he did not commit, John Proctor is threatened by the religiously controlled courts in the 1692 Salem Witch Trials in an allegorical story for Senator Joseph McCarthy’s Red Scare. However, in the face of persecution by religion, John Proctor demonstrates immense resolve against the aggressive power figures of the Puritan Church. Throughout the story, John Proctor clashes with the religious authorities in his town. His main goal: trying to protect his family and friends from personal attacks, comprised entirely of fabricated evidence, by the church establishment.
“The Crucible”, Salem, witchcraft, court trials, what do all of these signify? What is the most universally, general, expansive, and meaningful reasoning behind the writing of this play, and what meaning does it hold now in modern day America? In an article published by The New Yorker, “Why I wrote ‘The Crucible’”, Arthur Miller gives context in the characters, like John Proctor, Elizabeth Proctor, and Abigail Williams, Miller also provides the allegory he expresses very cautiously. Arthur Miller rants on about how he actually related to John Proctor, “who, in spite of an imperfect character, was able to fight the madness around him” (Why I wrote “The Crucible” The New Yorker, October 21, 1996 P. 158). Arthur Miller also shares some denotation
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.