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The crucible theme of witch hunting
The reasons for the witch hunt in the Crucible
The reasons for the witch hunt in the Crucible
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This gives the reader in that part of the play a deeper understanding of who Mrs. Putman was and how desperate she was to contact her dead children that she would use witchcraft to do so. The use of the court sense in Act three really drives home the narrative and really is the high point in this play when the witch-hunt sweeps across the whole community. In this court sense the reader is able to feel the emotions coming from Abigail, Proctor, and Marry Warren. It’s the court sense were the true character comes out from these three but mainly from Abigail and Proctor. Proctor is now doing everything to protect himself from having his reputation hurt by these false rumors. He first gets Marry Warren to testify against the girls because they
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.
They say “Honesty is the best policy”, but that isn’t necessarily true especially for those who lived in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. Honesty may have been a good trait for someone to have, but during the witch trials people rethought that. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller portrayed many people as good puritans. Always loyal and honest throughout their lives, and avoiding any sins that they possibly could. But there were people who had to sin to save their lives or even to save their reputation. Abigail Williams was just an young girl who turned to lying in order to save herself during the Salem Witch Trials. At the same time, Elizabeth Proctor was not agreeing with the witch business that she was accused of. You could tell lies during this time, and no one would think that you were turning too sins because the entire town was becoming obsessed about all those accused of possible witchcraft. While some were being accused, others were avoiding the truth when confessing. Like when Abigail never confessed to drinking blood when she was with Tituba and Betty. In The Crucible, Honesty was portrayed
Before Abigail starts going crazy and accusing people of witchcraft a couple pieces of information are revealed about John Proctor and how selfish he is. He became involved with Abigail sometime before the play began. His actions showed he only cared about himself and didn’t care about his family at all. It is clear he is ashamed when he tries to deny his actions after Abigail confronts him. He tries to get her to forget about the things that happened between them when he says, “Abby, I may think of you softly from time to time…. We never touched Abby” (Miller 22). He is tries to get her to forget about what happened because then he will be able to move on with his life and protect his reputation at the same time. His actions in this scene are selfish and he is just thinking of how to protect his name in the town and erase his past transgressions and by the end he does several things that help the town. People in the town begin to look up to him and he takes up the role of a leader despite his normal behavior of shirking away from the spotlight. Proctor is the one who has to step up and put Putman in his place and he tells Putman “You cannot command Mr. Parris. We vote by name in this society, not acreage....
In Act II, Proctor's conflict with authority increases as the court comes to arrests his wife. He already does not like the court and for them to come to his own home and take his wife to jail is just out of the question! To help the reader understand the condition of Salem at the beginning of Act II, Kinsella explains that "Salem is in the grip of mounting hysteria" (1267). Kinsella is correct the town first starts out with Betty not waking up, then Abigail Williams acusing practically everyone in Salem about being witches and it moves up from there eventually leading to Proctors fait.
A basic sense of honesty is another of Mary Warren’s traits. In Act I she goes to Salem to convince Abigail to tell the truth about what really happened in the woods. When the witchcraft scare gets out of hand, Mary joins Abigail and the other girls in falsely accusing women of being witches. These false accusations are motivated by hysteria. There is evidence that Mary really believes that the women in court are bewitching her. She tells the judge that she thought she saw spirits. The other girls were screaming, and before she knew it, Mary was screaming with them. When she realizes that there are no spirits, Mary is willing to be truthful. After Elizabeth Proctor’s name is brought up in court, Mary Warren defends her against the accusation. At the end of Act II, the reader hopes that the basic sense of honesty will remain strong enough to allow Mary to testify on behalf of the accused women in Act III.
When the play sets in 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 causes the start of chaotic witchery and accusation. After the affair, Abigail becomes 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 admit to adultery which is considered a sin. . Also in the beginning R...
Have you ever told a lie to protect yourself or someone you love? People lie for their own purposes. Some people lie for themselves or for their close one. They depend on the lies so much that they do not care that their lies might hurt others. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, almost all the characters lie for their own desires and to protect their own interests. Even though lies are forbidden in their religion, some people are blind to understand the punishment of lying. The concept of lying to save oneself is also evident in “Fear Was Reason For Lying About Shooting, Woman Says” by Mary Spicuzza. The article highlights how a woman hid the truth about witnessing a murder just for the sake of her own life. Another article, “The Truth
In conclusion, the theme on how hysteria can occur and corrupt the entire community is displayed in The Crucible. Miller depicts how people can become hysterical over nonsensical things and that hysteria can ruin many people's lives. The reader should understand this theme to be aware of how much we can get swept up in hysteria. Without this hysteria a teenage girl had no power until she cried out witchcraft, a man was not able to act on his revenge until accusing someone else. Fear caused the townsfolk to believe the crazy accusations that someone could actually be a witch. All they were hearing was lie after lie. It’s sad how they actually could believe them. Make you think twice when you hear of a rumor, doesn’t
The climax of the play is in the court room when John Proctor and Mary Warren finally say that Abigail is lying and nobody was doing witchcraft. But Abigail is a good actor and liar and actually turns it around on Mr. Proctor and says he tries to get everyone to worship the devil. The court finds him guilty of devil worship and wants to hang him if he does not confess. The falling action of the play comes when Rev. Parris comes to court three months later and says that Abigail has stolen all his money and has left town and he feels guilty for the people who were accused by her and hung because of it. The court does not want to admit they were wrong though because they feel the people will rebel if they now come out and say "sorry, we made a small mistake".
To start things off in the court, John Proctor is the protagonist and Abigail is the antagonist. Abigail also leads the girls in court in their witchcraft accusations. To start the court situation off, Hale believed that all the information that she told him were indeed false and only lead Abigail to point at others such as Mary Warren. “But God made my face; you cannot want to tear my face. Envy is a deadly sin, Mary”. (Miller 120). The irony here is she calls out Mary Warren for committing a deadly sin such as envy, however both lies with the lord’s name in vain and committed adultery with John Proctor (as that is what she stats happened). Abigail also points again to Elizabeth Proctor and accuses her of creating a voodoo doll and stuck pins into it to harm her, when it was Mary Warren who put it into the Proctor’s home to have proof that the Elizabeth needed to be arrested. “Tis hard proof!(To Hale) I find here a poppet Goody Proctor keeps. I have found it sir. And in the belly of the poppet is a needle’s stuck” (Miller 79). Also it was Mary Warren who put it there, everyone assumed it was Goody Proctor who did because it was in the Proctor home. However, even after Goody Proctor was set to be arrested with enough proof, Mary Warren comes out to tell everyone that it is her poppet.
fist): a fart on Thomas Putnam is what I say to that. Then the plot
In act one in the crucible we meet multiple characters. I will specifically talk about two characters, John Proctor and Abigail Williams. I will discuss both of their motivations throughout act one. Act one is very confusing at first because you do not know what is really going on. Or if what the characters are saying are true.
real life John would be in his sixties and Abigail only 11 or 12. It
The Crucible is an incredibly influential play no only in the fact that it displays many important themes, but it also portrays how a theocracy impacts societal actions. The Salem witch trials were the culmination of the problems with theocracy. The actions of society, not only are impacted by their personal thoughts, but also in religious undertones affect them. Act two in the play portrays not only all of these themes, but also some important events leading towards the witchcraft hysteria. Act two in the play portrays how theocracy ultimately leads to chaos.
his mind about the out come of this trial. He is also very good at...