More handpicked essays just for you.
Witches and religion in the 17th century
The history of witches essay
The crucible character john proctor essay
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Persecution has been a round for sometime and can be traced historically from the time of Jesus to the present time. Early Christians were persecuted for their faith in the hands of the Jews. Many Christians have been persecuted in history for their allegiance to Christ and forced to denounce Christ and others have been persecuted for failing to follow the laws of the land. The act of persecution is on the basis of religion, gender, race, differing beliefs and sex orientation. Persecution is a cruel and inhumane act that should not be supported since people are tortured to death. In the crucible, people were persecuted because of alleged witchcraft. 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. In the Crucible, persecution exists between friends and enemies in the play. The girls could falsely accuse the people they hate for practicing witchcraft so that they are persecuted. In addition, friends whose friendship had ended also accused their former friends of witchcraft. An example is Abigail who persecutes not just her enemies but her friends and family too. She accuses Mary Warren of bewitching her when she admitted her lies to the other girls. In the Crucible, the accused were unfairly tried and convicted on limited evidence or even word of mouth from the girls.
The Crucible is a partially fictionalized story that puts a dramatic spin on the Salem witch trials that took place in Massachusetts during 1692. It was written in 1953 by American playwright Arthur Miller. The play was released during a time of controversy over the Red Scare. It is believed that his motive was to bring light to the situation by using historical events. The Crucible as a whole revolves around the bible. Miller uses Biblical allusions and metaphors to develop characters and set moods throughout the play. Miller develops Abigail Williams, Reverend Parris, and Reverend Hale using biblical quotes, allusions and religious morals in order to create a dichotomy of good and bad characters.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller The Crucible is a fictional retelling of events in American history surrounding the Salem witch trials of the seventeenth century, yet is as much a product of the time in which Arthur Miller wrote it, the early 1950s, as it is description of Puritan society. At that particular time in the 1950s, when Arthur Miller wrote the play the American Senator McCarthy who chaired the ‘House Un-American Activities Committee’ was very conscious of communism and feared its influence in America. It stopped authors’ writings being published in fear of them being socialist sympathisers. Miller was fascinated by the Salem Witch Trials and that human beings were capable of such madness. In the 1950s the audience would have seen the play as a parallel between the McCarthy trials and the Salem Trials.
The Crucible is a play written by Arthur Miller. Based on the Salem witch trials. The Crucible contains the lust, greed, false accusations, and lies of this time period. Preserving one’s reputation is a prevalent theme in The Crucible. If one of your loved ones were accused of witchcraft would you be genuinely worried about their well-being or more concerned with preserving your reputation? Reverend Parris, Judge Danforth and Abigail Williams were three characters who were more concerned with their reputations staying good than the well being of others and the truthfulness of the court.
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.
Many characters in The Crucible fall under the trap of lying, if not to other people, then to themselves. The Crucible is a fictional retelling of events in history, surrounding the Salem witch trials. It takes place in Salem, Massachusetts during 1692 and 1693. Additionally, Miller wrote the play as an allegory to mccarthyism, which is the practice of making accusations without evidence. In the play, Arthur Miller develops the theme of lies and deceit by showing Abigail lying for her own benefit, John Proctor committing adultery, and Elizabeth lying to protect her husband.
Arthur Miller’s dramatic play The Crucible, takes place during 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts. The setting is important because it takes place during the time of the Salem Witch Trials. The play begins with the town’s girls, led by Abigail Williams, gathering in the forest and starting to dance around a fire, chanting. Reverend Parris catches them dancing, sending the girls into a panic and causing two of the girls to go into a coma-like state. The townspeople spread rumors that there are witches lurking throughout the the town that have put the girls under their spells. This causes Reverend Parris to send for Reverend Hale, an expert in witchcraft and the devil's work, who hopes to rid the town of all witchcraft. John Proctor, a local farmer, asks Abigail to stop accusing innocent people and start telling the truth about what happened in the forest. Elizabeth Proctor, John Proctor's wife, excused Abigail from their house because she found out about an affair between Abigail and John. She lies to the court when she is asked about John’s affair to save him from any punishment. In doing so, they were both sent to jail for witchcraft because they knew she had lied. Abigail and the girls continued to lie about people in the town being witches, causing many innocent people to be killed, including John Proctor. Miller shows the dangers of scapegoating when lies that are regarded as the truth, and can kill innocent characters.
Many years ago, the culture and atmosphere was amazingly different. The expectations of people and communities are extremely high. During the Puritan times, many laws and regulations existed pertaining to government, religion, and witchcraft. In the play, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, the one word that best describes the Puritan beliefs and the community structure is strict.
The crucible, written by Arthur Miller, is about the Salem witch trials and how people react to hysteria created from the fear of witches. In the play, after hysteria breaks out, the Salem government starts persecute and hang people it believes are witches. This prompts people to start to accusing people of witchcraft. Some people who accuse others of committing witchcraft are Abigail Williams and Thomas Putnam. They do not accuse people of witchcraft to stop witchcraft, but for personal gain or to hurt others. Thomas Putnam, one of the many characters who takes advantage of the witch trials, is able to use the fear of witches to bend the court to his will. Hysteria causes people to believe claims that are clearly false. This allows Putnam to persecute his enemies. He and many other are able to get away with this because hysteria driven persecutions are not run like regular courts and the fact that witchcraft is an invisible crime allows evidence to be made up. The theme of The Crucible is when any persecution is driven by fear and people can and will manipulate the system so they can gain and hurt another.
The Crucible is a famous play written by Arthur Miller in the Early 1950’s. It was written during the “Red scare, when McCarthyism was established. Many anti-communists wanted to prevent communism from spreading just like in The Crucible many wanted to get rid of witchcraft. Many would accuse others of witchcraft in order to not be accused just like many would accuse people of communism. In The Crucible witchcraft would be punishable by death. Many were scared to be accused; therefore many would admit practicing witchcraft in order to save their lives. The Crucible is considered a good play because it is based on real life events during the Salem witch Trials and shows how fear played a role in the individual’s life just like during the “Red” scare.
In Miller’s The Crucible the main conflict is centered around a group of girls who trick the town into thinking there is witchcraft in the village forcing the judges in the village to trial all of those who are accused of witchcraft. During this time of conflict and confusion grudges and greed are revealed by those who accuse friends and neighbors for their own personal gain. This chaos formed and continued do to Abigail Williams, John Proctor, and the Judge Thomas Danforth.
Self-preservation is an underlying idea throughout the plot of The Crucible. In the society during the witch-hunt, one could only avoid being blamed falsely for non-existing crimes was to claim that others (usually a smaller group of individuals) were the ones to blame as they force the accused to carry out deeds. This led to an era of false accusations just as during McCarthyism where someone’s good name was easily diminished. Miller introduces self-preservation in Abigail’s response to harshly interrogated. Abigail realizes the error she has made in her actions in the past and sees that she will get into trouble; thus, she quickly changes her stance by shouting “She made me do it, She made Betty do it”(43). This is a great example of how people in societies being governed or manifested by hypocrisy deal with deflecting blame as they can easily without a just claim blame others for their own wrongs. As a result to Tituba’s accusation of being a witch, Parris (his master) repeatedly shouts at her “Their names, their name!”(47) in order wash away Tituba’s affiliation with witchcraft, as her confession and ...
In the world of The Crucible set in a theocratic society that repressed individual freedom there is no room for deviation from social norms. Witches are also summoned, questioned and accused without any proof. Everyone is looking over their shoulders and lives in fear of rumors or of being accused of witchcraft. Lives could be ruined with a simple point of finger. REPUTATION
All of these examples of modern day witch hunts link to the crucible in different ways. No one is literally being hunted like in the crucible. The court isn’t going out and searching for these people, they are just looked down on by American society. These “witch hunts” happen in everyday life, some people don’t take the time to look and notice. Take the time one day to look for these things, guarantee you will see the modern day “witch hunts”.
The classic play The Crucible is a creative interpretation of the Salem witch trials that took place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. During these trails over 200 people were brought and accused and about 20 were executed. (Blumberg 1) Once a citizen of Salem was accused of witchcraft, the only thing they could do to save themselves from death was to pledge guilty, even if they were indeed innocent, and thus be excommunicated from the church. In the play, the reader is introduced to the trials and the corruption that the community faces as one group of girls starts to tear the community apart by lying and accusing tons of family, friends, and neighbors of conjuring with the devil. One of the characters, John Proctor, however by far endures
In The Crucible by Arthur Miller many characters chose to put their life on the line before losing their good reputation, that was how highly they valued their reputation. The Crucible took place in Massachusetts in the early 1960’s, it is based on a real life event of the Salem witch trials in which multiple girls claim to be traumatized by witchcraft. The girls start accusing the townspeople of witchcraft, specifically people that they or their families hold a grudge against in order to favor themselves. The accused were jailed and often hung as a result of the accusations. Arthur Miller shows through various characters’ motivations and actions that people value their reputation which shows that they often care about themselves more than the effects of their actions.