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The crucible effects on society
Religious intolerance in the crucible
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With treasures of valuable lessons to learn, Miller’s ‘The Crucible’ is a sturdily startling fictionalized account of the McCarthyism era that took place in the 1950s. The rigid religious and moral views by Salem’s religious leaders on the townspeople, overthrowing the community’s thoughts by ruling with absolute terror and violence subsidizes to a town’s mass hysteria when Abigail, a young girl coated with selfishness and wickedness, along with her group of friends indict innocent people who have slighted them of performing witchcraft. The use of potent and unnerving imagery is extremely tragic and painful to witness positioning the audience to evoke an emotional reaction towards the innocent people blamed in the text and therefore indirectly …show more content…
Logic and individual thought is overruled by hysteria which eventually justifies its own existence. Hysteria supersedes logic and causes people to believe that their neighbors whom they’ve known all their life and considered as upright people are committing absurd and preposterous doings such as, practicing witchcraft, worshiping the devil, etc. The people of Salem see traces of evidence of god and the devil in everything; however nobody has actually seen spirits though Abigail and the girls claim they do. The idea of supernatural means comes from the hysteria possessed within the people; they aren’t able to think logically about situations. A poppet symbolizes innocence; however, when Mary Warren gifted a poppet to Goody Proctor it was seen as a demonic figure all because of Abigail, who struck herself with a small pin in order to blame Goody Proctor for conducting witchcraft on her. "I find here a poppet Goody Proctor keeps. I have found it, sir. And in the belly of the poppet a needle stuck" (Cheever). Here it can be seen that the entire town has become manipulated by cunning Abigail and are not using their logic, their common sense is blindfolded; the poppet that once represented adolescence and innocence is now known as a voodoo doll that everyone begins to fear. The use of symbolism positions the audience to see that logic prevails over superstition, and it is highly necessary to think before you react. In this case, the audience is suited to believe that the puritans should’ve thought about the situation logically instead of hastily jumping to drastic conclusions on the base of the hysteria they possess in relation to the devil and witchcraft. Miller’s ability to convey complex themes through the use of symbolism is the reason why the play ‘The Crucible’ deserves stay part of the QLD curriculum.
The focus of Miller’s The Crucible is an appalling witch trial that morfs the once-peaceful town of Salem into a cutthroat slaughterhouse. As a lucrative playwright and a not-so-subtle allegory author, Miller is a seasoned wordsmith who addresses people akin to himself, and is not secretive about that information. The Crucible best serves its purpose as a learning device and a social statement, especially at the time of its publishing. Miller‘s piece showcases the appeals in an easy-to-identify manner that is perfect for middle or high school students who are new to the appeals, or for English majors who have no problem pinpointing them, making this play ideal for a classroom setting.
The tragic tale of the Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts was re-written by Arthur Miller in the form of the play “The Crucible”. The trials have been studied to figure out what really happened, but no one will ever know since it happened decades ago. The play is the closest reenactment we have to help us see how people could have reacted to life. “The Crucible” shows how using others as a cushion to keep from being punished can go extremely bad. Amidst all the chaos a man by the name Reverend John Hale came to help but ended up with making it a huge amount worse.
During the early years of the colonies, there was a mad witch hunt striking the heart of Salem. Anger, reputation, and even religion play an important part during the play of The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller. The author allows us to witness the vivid idea of the hysteria taking place in Salem, Massachusetts, and why it was so vulnerable during the time.
Few people are willing to stand up to the overwhelming power of authority, especially during a time like the Red scare. Hardly any authors are able to recognize meaningful similarities between the present times and an event that happened many years ago—and write about it effectively. Only one has had the courage and intelligence to do both. Arthur Miller was an American author who wrote plays, essays, and stories and has published works dating from to 1936 through 2004. The Crucible, one of his most famous plays, premiered in New York on January 22, 1953 (InfoTrac). It is a historical-fiction story set in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. The witch hunt described in this play is similar to the Red Scare, an anti-communist movement led by Senator Joseph McCarthy that lasted from the late 1940s to the late 1950s (Broudin). During both time periods, most people respected high authority while a few dissenters challenged conformist views. The public was censored in what they could say because of the fear of being accused of witchcraft or communism. The hysteria of the times triggered a mob-mentality to emerge among the citizens, which influenced nearly everyone to join the terrible movements. Miller presents all of these ideas in The Crucible using his own experiences as influences. He incorporated many of his own traits into the characters’ dispositions. He also described many situations in the play that were similar to the ones he was in, including how he was censored by the Red Scare. Many people will often conform while only a few will challenge authority, will use censorship to prevent others from expressing their views, and are easily affected by hysteria; these characteristics influenced Miller’s life and are reflected by him in Th...
In The Crucible, the mass hysteria surrounding the witch trials caused paranoia amongst the people of Salem. Miller uses the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 as a symbol and allegory of the fear surrounding the spread of communism during the 1950s in America. The community’s sense of justice was blinded by the mass hysteria and for some, a desire for vengeance and personal gain. The Putnams
The Rebel. The Caregiver. The Innocent. In the form of a contentious play, Arthur Miller’s, “The Crucible” parallels both the Salem Witch Hunts of 1692 and Senator Joseph McCarthy’s “Red” (Communist) hunts of 1950, exploring societal inconsistencies in character and practice. Kohlberg’s Moral Development Theory, a model interested in moral reasoning and cognitive development, as well as Jungian Archetypes, further reveal universal themes and human nature displayed in The Crucible’s female characters. Throughout the novel, Arthur Miller uses the role and treatment of women to convey the integral theme of human tendency in the presence of corruption and the unknown. Specifically, through archetypes and moral development, Abigail, Elizabeth and Mary Warren are employed to expose humanity’s contrasting movement
What is hysteria? By definition, hysteria is a state of intense agitation, anxiety, or excitement, especially as manifested by large groups or segments of society. In a broader sense however, hysteria is a killer, the delitescent devil. Hysteria was the main cause of nineteen deaths in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Years later, hysteria was responsible for countless ruined reputations and lives during the era of Senetor Joe McCarthy. Hysteria does not just appear out of nowhere though. There are driving forces such as revenge and abuse of power that bring about the irrational fear that can take over society. These are the issues expressed in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible.
Hysteria is characterized as an uncontrollable outburst of emotion or fear, often characterized by irrationality. Wherever hysteria takes place, it seems to condone distortion of the truth, unfathomable actions, and illogical accusations causing communities to rip apart. Hysteria supplants logic and enables people to believe that their neighbors, whom they grown to trust, do things that one would normally find anomalous. People who died in the haste of fear and uncertainty were often unnecessary because fear clouds the judgment and perception of a person.
Through time it can be seen that the world’s history has a nature of repeating its self. Author Miller, was aware of this as he experienced a repitition of history of society’s flawed government. In the text The Crucible, the writer, Author Miller has identified and illustrated the problems society faced during the 1950’s setting by drawing parallels with the setting of the 1962 Salem witch hunt. This setting helps readers to understand the characters of John Proctor and Giles Corey.
Events have played out in history that made people realize the inhumane acts of people and the Salem witch trials and the McCarthy era were two of them. The Salem witch trials in 1692 were almost 260 years before the McCarthy “witch hunts” in the 1950s yet there are similarities between them. The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller in 1953, is about the Salem witch trials and is an allegory to the practicing of McCarthyism during the Second Red Scare in the United States, which Miller was a victim of. Although there may be differences between “The Crucible” and McCarthyism, ultimately the anger, lack of evidence, and the people were alike in both events.
The play “The Crucible” is an allegory for the McCarthyism hysteria that occurred in the late 1940’s to the late 1950’s. Arthur Miller’s play “the crucible” and the McCarthyism era demonstrates how fear can begin conflict. The term McCarthyism has come to mean “the practice of making accusations of disloyalty”, which is the basis of the Salem witch trials presented in Arthur Miller’s play. The fear that the trials generate leads to the internal and external conflicts that some of the characters are faced with, in the play. The town’s people fear the consequences of admitting their displeasure of the trials and the character of John Proctor faces the same external conflict, but also his own internal conflict. The trials begin due to Abigail and her friends fearing the consequences of their defiance of Salem’s puritan society.
Authors often have underlying reasons for giving their stories certain themes or settings. Arthur Miller’s masterpiece, The Crucible, is a work of art inspired by actual events as a response to political and moral issues. Set in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, The Crucible proves to have its roots in events of the 1950’s and 1960’s, such as the activities of the House Un-American Committee and the “Red Scare.” Though the play provides an accurate account of the Salem witch trials, its real achievement lies in the many important issues of Miller’s time that it dealswith.
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
Explore Miller’s dramatic presentation and development of the theme of power and authority. Even though The Crucible is not historically correct, nor is it a perfect allegory for anti-Communism, or as a faithful account of the Salem trials, it still stands out as a powerful and timeless depiction of how intolerance, hysteria, power and authority is able to tear a community apart. The most important of these is the nature of power, authority and its costly, and overwhelming results. “But you must understand, sir, that a person is either with this court or against it,” says Danforth conceitedly. With this antithesis, Miller sums up the attitude of the authorities towards the witch trials that if one goes against the judgement of the court
...l, Miller attempts to criticize societies that are governed by hypocrisies as they open the gateway for many to attain previously unreachable levels of power and are able to commit a crime without paying for it by blaming it entirely on someone else on false charges. Miller’s The Crucible does an excellent job in reflecting not only the society in its direct context of Salem but also other societies such as the society of the U.S during McCarthyism. Miller even though being accused of being a communist, is able to pass on his views about how hypocrisy is a dangerous yet immensely famous tool to which societies sometimes fall to in order to achieve almost an anarchy where people’s survival are based on their ability to blame others.