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Religious aspects of the crucible
The crucible argument/character analysis essay
Character analysis essay the crucible
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In The Crucible, Miller explores different implications of good and evil and, there are many that can be found in religious aspects of the story since the setting is in one of the most religious towns Salem, Massachusetts. Since the society in this story is very traditional and patriarchal, the struggle of power revolved around the different class statuses; they wanted the control to maintain at the top of the hierarchy however, they didn’t anticipate how the power shifted to the control of single women who were considered as inferior in the society. Besides the struggle of power, the townspeople also had this ‘holier than thou’ attitude which was influenced by the belief that God had already chosen who deserves salvation and because of this, they treated it as a competition of whom amongst them deserves to be saved. In the story, Elizabeth “Goody” Proctor is only a victim of Abigail Williams who accused her of practicing witchcraft and, she was also victimized by her husband John Proctor for committing adultery with Abigail when she was sick. Although it may seem like she has this inner anger at Abigail which was shown by how she acted with contempt towards her, Elizabeth Proctor managed to forgive her husband and she only has pure intentions of protecting her family which …show more content…
is why she has the moral high ground in the story. For someone who has the moral high ground, they should be virtuous and their conscience should be clear from all sinful thinking; throughout the story, Elizabeth Proctor embodies all of these qualities.
She was mainly portrayed as this kind and benevolent loving wife who made a sacrifice by forgiving and staying with her husband John Proctor, which shows that she has always been good and faithful to him. The choice to forgive her husband was a sacrifice because the sin that John Proctor had committed was against the Bible and considered as immoral. Also, by forgiving her husband, it shows that she truly is a follower of God since forgiveness is one of the most important teachings of the
Bible. Some might argue otherwise that Elizabeth Proctor doesn’t have the moral high ground since she has hidden anger towards Abigail because her husband had committed adultery with her. However, Elizabeth had already forgiven John for his sin and even if she has anger towards Abigail, she didn’t act on it; she just treated her with contempt instead. Others could also point out that Elizabeth doesn’t have pure intentions because she lied in court denying her husband’s sin. Nonetheless, this action only shows how she wanted to protect her sons and save her family from further humiliation. Also, lying is an example of sinful thinking and she is a true follower of God which shows that it’s not her first instinct to lie. Elizabeth only lied to save her husband from receiving a greater punishment which shows her pure intentions to protect her sons and her husband. Ultimately, in the end, John Proctor dies due to the fact that he didn’t confess his sin, which is the accusation of practicing witchcraft. Elizabeth allows her husband to not confess which leads to his death but, in doing so, she also let her husband die in peace and redeem himself from all the sins he had committed. Aside from the fact that Elizabeth was capable of forgiving her husband, this shows that she truly cares about John by letting him redeem himself so he could die peacefully. Elizabeth gave him the chance of being saved by the Lord because even though the court didn’t believe him on the fact that he did commit adultery, he still confessed his only sin and it is a moral thing to do. All of this proves that Elizabeth Proctor has the moral high ground in the story because not only she embodies what is portrayed of her as kind, and benevolent loving wife but she is able to apply the teachings of the Bible on her actions. It truly shows that she has strong religious belief and follows good and proper values which is why she has the moral high ground in the story.
‘The Crucible’ is a great example of morally ambiguous characters. A plethora of characters with blurry ethics exist within the world of ‘The Crucible’, this makes it difficult to distinguish who is truly good and who is evil. Arthur Miller has a fantastic approach to how he displays his characters and their moral standpoints. Adultery, lying, and even the suspicion of witchcraft, within the community brings out the worst in the townspeople. John Proctor is an example of how thin the lines are drawn between a complete saint and a damned sinner.
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.
Corruption has always existed in our society since the beginning to present time due to conspiracies such as the witch trials and the communism era. The Crucible by Arthur Miller was written during the era of communism to mere the hysteria. The Crucible is about the Salem witch trials in Salem Massachusetts in 1692. It’s a corrupt witch trial in Salem that’s due to false accusations of witchcraft for personal gains. John Proctor is the protagonist in the story The Crucible who goes through the ultimate test by choosing his reputation over integrity. He also had an affair with a young girl named Abigail who is the antagonist and is the main reason the bloodshed is occurring in Salem. Initially, Proctor hesitates to deal with his sin, but as the play progresses, he begins to understand its effects; this ultimately leads him to find goodness in himself as he stands for the truth.
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
Elizabeth Proctor was a stay at home wife and mother and was very loyal to her husband John Proctor. Although John had cheated on her in the past she didn’t let that interfere with the love she had for him. Elizabeth represents the frigid wife in “The Crucible”. Even though she loved her husband that didn’t keep her mind from wonders of evil thoughts. “Even seven months after Proctor’s confession of adultery, Elizabeth is unable to
The Crucible is one of the most bizarre accounts of a historical event to date. The naïveté of the townspeople leads them down a road of madness and confusion, led by a shameless Puritan girl. Abigail Williams was a ruthless girl who showed no mercy upon accusing her victims of witchcraft. Knowing the entire town of Salem would believe her and the other girls, she would not hesitate at charging anyone she wished with the crime of the Devil’s work. However, a challenge arose to Abigail when she decided to accuse Elizabeth Proctor, and eventually her husband John, of witchcraft. The Proctor marriage was not just any simple marriage; it had its times of cold shoulders, heartfelt truth, and undying love.
The statement,“The Crucible is essentially about courage, weakness, and truth,” is proven true numerous times, throughout the play. The Crucible was written by Arthur Miller, about the true events that happened in Salem, Massachusetts, between the years 1692 and 1693. The Salem witch trials consisted of many hangings, lies, and complete mass hysteria. The citizens of Salem followed the religion of Puritanism, and the ideas of predestination. The root of the mass hysteria comes from their belief in the sense that in something happens then it must have been planned by God. In Miller’s portrayal of the story, Abigail Williams was the ringleader of the witch trials, and she used the idea of predestination to cover up her own sins. Abigail was a very manipulative girl and ruined many lives. John Proctor, Mary Warren, and Elizabeth Proctor were just a few of the victims in Abby’s game. John, Mary, and Elizabeth exhibit the traits courage, weakness, and truth, whether it was in a positive or negative way.
Elizabeth Proctor is used in The Crucible to illustrate the powerful strength of what manipulation has over any living mortal. Typically an honest person under their religious faith would believe in telling the truth, but not while having an evil thoughts being whispered in your ear disguised as manipulation. Already knowledgeable of her husband’s previous affair with Abigail Williams, Elizabeth fears of ruining the Proctor name in the town of Salem, Massachusetts due to John’s affair and since John is a high authority figure in the church, it would ruining his name and people would not respect him as a preacher anymore. So in the process of saving the Proctor name, regardless of John admitting the truth by making the court aware of the recent affair he had with Abigail, Elizabeth denies those allegations because she fears that John will be upset to the utmost point, so she sacrifices herself to protect the Proctor name, even though she fears that she hopes that she made the right decision, as shown when she tried to clarify all statements be...
Fear, resulting in chaos, and overturned lives affected the personal decisions of John Proctor, thus creating inner conflicts, as well as desperation in the story. In Arthur Miller's The Crucible, John Proctor's stand in a society where opinion drove fate created ignominy towards him and his beliefs. At first he hid his horrible sin inside, fearing the consequences. When he finally did, he was placed in a tangled labyrinth of feelings as to what his next action should be. Lastly, it's Proctor's defiance and integrity in his own self that proved him stronger than the entire community of Salem. Proctor's tremulous feelings and general unease of the situation built up to his defining point of confession. Theocracy came together to take coerce control Salem and it's actions. Proctor saw this and feared, for diabolism was a practice unheard of. Danforth states, "You must understand, sir, a person is either with the church or against it, there be no road between. We live no longer in the dusky afternoon and evil mixed itself with good and befuddled world. Now by God's grace the good folk and evil entirely separate"(63).
A true spiritual leader follows the example of God. In the allegory, The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Elizabeth Proctor and Reverend Parris’ actions prove that ordination does not necessarily mean sound spiritual leadership. Miller uses the backdrop of the 1692 witch hunts to criticize the flawed society of Puritanism. The play is also a critique of McCarthyism in the United States of America which occurred in the 1950’s. Goody Proctor, a simple farmer’s wife, is the moral centre for John and becomes the voice of his salvation. Elizabeth’s honesty is compromised when she gives it up in an attempt to save her husband. Elizabeth’s
The Crucible is set in a Puritan theocratic society, where every citizen is concerned with religious piety and purity. Thus, there is imagery tied in with biblical images when a character decides to lie or when a character decides to be honest. For example, when Proctor decides to confess his affair to the court he says, “A man may think God sleeps, but God sees everything, I know it now. I beg you, sir, I beg you-see her what she is…” (II. 131-133). This quote from Proctor is riddled with references to God and the judgment God passes on Proctor’s actions. Proctor also repeats the references to God earlier in the play, when he tries to convince Elizabeth he is not guilty of having an affair with Abigail. Proctor says, “I have roared you down when first you told me your suspicion. But I wilted, and like a Christian, I confessed. Confessed! Some dream I had must have mistaken you for God that day” (II. 67-69). The repetition of the words “God” and “confession” reveals the connection Proctor places between being honest and having religious piety. On the other hand, when Abigail is deceitful, her quotes are surrounded by evil or devilish imagery. The devilish imagery can be seen when Abigail tries to persuade Betty and Mary Warren to lie about her actions in the forest. Abigail says, “Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will pointy reckoning that will shudder you” (I. 131-133). The imagery of the “black of some terrible night” (I.10) and darkness relates back to devilish acts Abigail committed. Abigail can be seen as the evil in the play, as her decision to accuse others for committing witchcraft is the cause of the witch trials. Also, the forest, where Abigail drinks blood to condemn Elizabeth Proctor to death, is seen as a devilish area to many of the Salem
In conclusion, there is a substantial difference between the forces of good and evil in the play. The forces of good always tried to do what was best for everybody, even if it meant breaking some Puritan laws. The evil group did whatever was best for themselves. They were greedy, and had no consideration for others. It is always hoped that the good will prevail over the forces of evil but this was not to be in The Crucible. In the end, Abigail had succeeded in her wrongdoing, and had killed Proctor. Once again, evil emerged victorious...
An American is somebody who can overcome anything. No matter what problem comes in front of an American they can always face it head on and be successful. Corruption is something commonly found in the reading we have done in class, for example in the story The Crucible , people overcome corruption in many ways. Salem would become corrupted with rumors of witchcraft. All of the girls in the town take the opportunity to take over the city, as they chose who lives and dies. Nobody wants to follow in the footsteps of the unfortunate accused witchcrafters. So the entire town points fingers with girls causing chaos throughout the town. Although it seems like many people won’t stand up for the accused people, John Proctor and others would stand
When Abigail Williams and a group of young girls begin to accuse innocent people of witchery out of their own fear and evil, the devout Christian residents of Salem village in 1692 joined the mass hysteria. Ultimately, the prosecutions of innocent people resulted in twenty deaths, which included the execution of John Proctor. Although the faith in religion and fear of witchery blinded most of the citizens, John Proctor’s affair with Abigail allowed him to discover the lies the girls were telling. The coexistence and duality of good versus evil in the novel The Crucible by Arthur Miller is portrayed through the deception of Abigail. The multi genre presentation project illustrates the major theme of good versus evil in The Crucible and incorporates
In the play the crucible anyone can be tempted by the devil in the bible. The first two created human beings by god were tempted by the devil. Their names were Adam & Eve she was tempted to eat the fruit from the tree & she gave it to Adam. It reflects human beings of how week they are when the devil overcomes them. According to the 17th century it is described as witchcraft in the crucible by author Miller. Fear is operating in the witchcraft accusations and tension between humans from Salem’s residency. In the godly town of Salem, good is overcome by evil which reveals people inherent wickedness.