The Crucible Persuasive Essay

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American president Abraham Lincoln once said, “In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years” (www.brainyquote.com). How long someone lives does not matter more than how they live. People remember actions more than anything else. Many people have two choices in a dilemma. They have to analyze different causes and effects the choices have. People have to choose the outcome they want to be known. Just as in life, literary characters have to choose between two opposite actions and live with the consequences. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, John Proctor faces a crucible that causes him to question whether he will live or die. Because of his crucible, Proctor feels guilt, hopeless, and satisfaction. First, …show more content…

Proctor knows he is not going to Heaven because of his past sins. Proctor believes nothing can change by telling one more lie: “Nothing’s spoiled by giving them this lie that were not rotten long before” (126). Proctors fate is sealed when he had the affair. There is no chance at being saved because once someone tells a lie, they are going to go to Hell according to Puritan belief. Knowing that he can never go to Heaven, Proctor would rather live his life with the town believing he is a witch than say he isn't a witch and die now. Even though Proctor has no hope for his future, he does not want to hurt the future for others. All the others condemned are good people and do not deserve to have their goodness taken away from them: “They think to go like saints. I like not to spoil their names” (130). Proctor does not have the power to seal others fate. He can only speak about himself and whether he is a witch or not. He cannot tell a lie for himself which also tells a lie about others. By lying about the others, he will change how the town views them. If the town believes the others are witches, then their families cannot live peacefully. Proctor wants them to be able to go out with their names intact. He feels hopeless about his own fate but can only decide his fate, not

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