Sins are Forever with You The Crucible by Arthur Miller and The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel, are both relatable to modern day today. Both the novel and play are strict about their religion, so when it came to doing something they thought was bad, they had to decide if it will of against their will. Many events that happened in both novels still occur today. These events may happen today, but hey are not as hash as they were. In The Crucible and The Scarlet Letter, we see humiliation, guilt, and punishment, and the moral and psychological aspects determine why we still see it in the modern day today. We see humiliation everywhere we are, no matter how big or how small that problem is, we will be humiliated. In The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne …show more content…
People are guilty of sining, and some can not live with the fact that they have sinned. In The Scarlet Letter, Dimmesdale committed a sin of adultery, and he di not confess to anybody. He did not confess because he did not want to have the label as a sinner. He finally confessed in front of the people with Hester and Pearl next to him. He said, “The law we broke!-the sin here so awfully revealed! I fear! It may be, that, when we forgot our God”(229). He stated this because he was trying to say that they sinned. He felt guilty, and his guilt was eating him up for seven years, so he needed to confess in order to feel relieved. John Proctor also felt guilty of sinning when he had an affair with Abigail. He did not want anything to do with her, but she finally convinced him. He feels guilty when he tells Elizabeth “God in Heaven, what is John Proctor? I think it is honest, I think so; I am no saint.”(138). He feels guilty that he says that he is no saint because he sinned. He does not want to feel guilty, so he confesses. When he confesses, he does not want his name to be revealed, and he is saying that “he cannot have another in [his] life. Because I lie and sign myself lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! I have given you my soul; leave me my name!”(143). He cannot live with the fact that he has sinned, so he confessed to the people. In today’s society, many people commit sins. Many do not really …show more content…
Some are harsher than others, but we get punished for sinning no matter what. In The Scarlet Letter, Hester got punished for committing adultery. Her punishment was to stand on the scaffold for three hours holding Pearl and the ‘A’ on her chest. The people would humiliate her because of her sin. Hester’s punishment was not as harsh, but standing in front of everyone is embarrassing. Dimmesdale, Pearls father, confesses that he i the father. Everybody is surprised about the new news that he says that God has punished him “by giving[him] this burning torture to bear upon [his] breast! By bringing [him] hither, to die this death… He will be done! Farwell”(229). His punishment was not as harsh as Hester’s, but Hester’s was worse because people saw the Scarlet Letter, unlike Dimmesdale. He knew that he committed the sin, so he was fine with the punishment they gave him. He then dies and leaves Hester and Pearl alone because he could not live with he guilt of sinning. In The Crucible Proctor’s sin lead to punishment. Danforth interrogated him and was asking him if he was lying about his confession: : I will not accept it [if it is a lie]” (143). Since Proctor ripped the paper, they punished him by hanging him. His punishment was to be hung in front of the people. Not only did he suffer but so did Elizabeth, his wife. She had nothing to do with this, but even she got punished because they took her husband away from her. There are
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.
In 1860-1960 there was lynching in the United States. When the confederates (south) lost the civil war the slaves got freedom and got rights of human beings. This was just to say because segregation wasn 't over in the South and didn 't go away for over 100 years. Any black person in the South accused but not convicted of any crime of looking at a white woman, whistling at a white woman, touching a white woman, talking back to a white person, refusing to step into the gutter when a white person passed on the sidewalk, or in some way upsetting the local people was liable to be dragged from their house or jail cell by lots of people crowds, mutilated in a terrible
In both storylines, there are characters that parallel each other and allow the viewers to see the overarching themes that permeate both movies. In Good Night and Good Luck, the main antagonist, Joseph McCarthy, is a foil for The Crucible’s Abigail Williams. They play the same role in the plot development of the movies and serve as antagonists who cause nothing but trouble. Although they differ in some aspects of their character, much of their motives and methods are quite similar.
Throughout The Crucible, Miller is concerned with conscience and guilt. Through the character Abigail Williams, he shows how people are willing to abandon their firmly-established values in order to conform with the majority and protect themselves. Those who refuse to part with their conscience, such as the character of John Proctor, are chastised for it. For this reason, the Salem witch trials raise a question of the administration of justice. During this time in the late 1600’s, people were peroccupied by a fear of the devil, due to their severe Puritan belief system. Nineteen innocent people are hanged on the signature of Deputy Governor Danforth, who has the authority to try, convict, and execute anyone he deems appropriate. However, we as readers sense little to no real malice in Danworth. Rather, ignorance and fear plague him. The mass
Martin Luther King Jr. once said “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” People tend to behave and deal with life differently according to the situation that they are in. In most cases when a person is in a very blissful and comfortable point of his or her life, they tend to act pleasant towards themselves and other people. This is why it is not fair-minded to judge people when they are in a contented part of their lives. It is during times of trial and suffering where the true soul of a person is revealed and judgment can be made. Readers can see the actions that are made by characters through times of hardship that reveal what they truly are in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and The Crucible by Arthur Millar.
Arthur Miller's portrayal of Salem, Massachusetts can be juxtaposed with Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany. While the motivations differ, societal similarities exist and both teach us that when a whole society of people have a fear so great that it can be used against them, the society will try to do anything and everything in their power to prevent this from happening. Even when the means of prevention involves innocent people dieing and the judiciary system becoming corrupt, the society will act upon this fear of wickedness and the devil.
All in all Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible was written to be a perfect allegory to the McCarthy era. Many of the events, strategies and people on both sides are similar in the play and the McCarthy Era itself. Many similarities can be drawn between the two including the basis upon which of the victims were persecuted, the strategy to lessen their sentences and the driving factor behind both conflicts, fear. The Crucible was written as a silent but obvious rebellion to McCarthy because during the McCarthy Era Miller was accused of being communist as well. The Crucible was a play, an allegory and a rebellion to and about the McCarthy Era.
What does the word crucible mean? The word crucible means a severe test or trial. Throughout the novel, The Crucible, many of the characters go through their own crucible. These trials have a major or minor impact on the characters life throughout the novel. These trials all come together creating the story based on the calamity in America around 1952, which inspired Arthur Miller to write this well known novel. In the novel, there are many different examples from various characters about life lessons and choices. Although the book and play are very similar they do share many differences.
In Miller's, The Crucible, he describes a New England town in the midst of Salem witch-hunt hysteria during the late 1600's. His play not only recounts the historic events but also specifically sheds light on the rationalization for this hysteria. In Miller's running commentary he describes the intent of the Puritans particularly accurately. In one specific statement, he says 'they [the Puritans] believed, in short, that they held in their steady hands the candle that would light the world. We have inherited this belief and it has helped and hurt us.'; This statement proves itself to be particularly profound, for it manages to both accurately describe the actions of the Puritans, and relate it to our world today.
The Crucible was written in the early 1950s as an exploration of events which took place in Massachusetts in 1692. What does the play have to offer an audience in 2014?
The Crucible was a rather strong book, it had battles both internal and external, there were also betrayals and vendettas… but a few stuck strong to their morals of what was wrong, and what was right. After the girl’s acts were, undoubtedly, in the eyes of the law, seen as entirely real, people who would not otherwise have been accused of witchcraft were now eligible to be under Satan’s spell. One John Proctor, saw himself above the nonsense, that witches could not exist in Salem, his wife, his children nor him; But, when Mary Warren said to the court that he used his spirit to drag her into court to testify against the girls, the judges deemed her word more truthful than his. After actively and repeatedly denying the claims, he was sentenced to death, for only a witch could lie in the face of god.
“No-no. There be no unnatural case here.” (Parris, The Crucible Act 1 Line 34) The Crucible is a play written by Arthur Miller about the Salem Witch Trials. Miller wrote this play as a critique of McCarthyism, but distanced it by using the Salem Witch Trials as the setting. McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of treason without proper evidence. Using the Trials as the setting has strong suits, such as allowing him to compare McCarthyism indirectly and the events related strongly with society, and weaknesses, including the time period being so long-standing that it is not a modern example in their era and the idea of witches is farfetched compared to Communism.
The Crucible and today’s society are similar in the way the judicial system works. The Puritans and our society’s judicial system are similar in a good way. In the crucible the Salem witch trials are held which show how the puritans handled trials where people were accused of crimes. Although they did not require evidence to hold or try the accused their process was still a lot like our own.
Arthur Miller wrote "The Crucible" in an attempt to create moral awareness for society. He did so by making a few small changes to the history and creating parallels in the play with racism, human tendencies, and H.U.A.C. Miller completed "The Crucible" in the 1950's. At that time, America was engulfed in the civil rights movement. Racism was a huge issue and people were fighting for equality and respect. African Americans were among the minorities that were persecuted by society.
with what you feel are the main themes of the play that you want to