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The character of john proctor
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Inside us all there is a deep dark fear this is what grabs us by the thresh hold of life. It controls the most important aspects of our lives. This is found within the deepest and darkest chasms of our souls. The very creature that wreaks havoc in our minds we cage and never confront we lock this beast away to afraid to overcome it. If the beast is not confronted it begins to contort and change who we are as a person and how we interact with others. Even the very decisions we make as a person to affect those around us and are loved ones to also suffer the consequences of our actions. Such as the crucible and how each person was warped into their own monster by greed. John proctor a simple man who had always done right by him and his family. A good hard working man who works hard for the food he provides and the animals he has taken care of then relies on for survival fell to his own personal beast within himself he had caged away deep with but when you cage the beast it gets angry and tries to break free and under your own personality he must overcome the beast within trying to breakout. John proctor sue come to his beast within who had broken its cage and got loose within which took control as he lay with Abigail. This beast within does not care of the consequences that are to come ahead good or bad it just looks to its need its need to feed on what it has been craving for so long. The action he took sent his life into a spiral from this beast within had caused. The fear within had won and changed him to do his dirty deed in which lead to the major consequences of Abigail being kicked out and lead to her massive obsession with proctor. His action gave her own personal demon within the key to its self to be set free and cause her... ... middle of paper ... ...es own fear that the data he had collected was to be false and the town was to be tried by each accused of such hearings of being hanged for witchery. This was Hales demon of fear he could not overcome of being the key holder to these people's lives and caused the court to trial them of false accusations of a few young girls. Fear this is within all of us as people it is how we confront this demon among us all to live with ourselves among others. This is what gives us power over others their own fears used against them. Although when several people share a common fear of another group and wish to see them be demolished by the other they begin to make false accusations against other such as the crucible of those willing to do anything of their own personal fear to empower them to do what is necessary or what seems right to those at the time. - SALEM WITCH TRAILS 1692
A crucible refers to a harsh test, and in The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, each person is challenged in a severe test of his or her character or morals. Many more people fail than pass, but three notable characters stand out. Reverend John Hale, Elizabeth Proctor, and John Proctor all significantly change over the course of the play.
Witchery a disgusting, horrifying plague cast upon people, which spreads faster than wildfire. As one experience’s fear each day, it begins to enhance and branch out towards everyone around them. This is the issue in the book The Crucible by Arthur Miller. Arthur Miller establishes a period in the American history known as the Salem witch trials of 1692. It is a well built Puritan society in which the citizens are bonded with the church. During this time McCarthyism was in play, it was the anti-communist suspicions into the U.S. The theme in the story The Crucible was honesty and truth versus scapegoat. Arthur Miller used the noose to lead the reader to the theme of honesty vs. scapegoat. The noose represents the most prevalent symbol in The Crucible.
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.
Fear holds a great control over any mortal human-being through daunting and restricted words, most commonly seen while anyone is under pressure. While being controlled over fear, you may come to realize that you are being manipulated to the possibilities of a threatened punishment and may also be mislead by lies. Arthur Miller’s classic novel, The Crucible takes place in Salem, Massachusetts, where a lot of times fear would be used to control anyone to blame another of witchcraft. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller elucidates this through Elizabeth Proctor, Abigail Williams, and Mary Warren, that fear holds a great torment on the truth.
They had no trouble believing that, because Parris had called Reverend Hale, (known for his studies in demonic arts), there must truly be witchcraft within the town. The play progresses and certain characters begin to develop; here is a community full of underlying personal grudges. Religion pervades every aspect of life. ' A man may think that God sleeps, but God sees everything, I know it now.
It comes to a point in life when fear controls you and causes harm to you and everyone else in your environment. History repeats itself when fear is involved. In the Salem Witch trials, fear caused people to accuse the innocent of being witches. After World War Two, Americans feared sabotage from Japanese and locked up all the Japanese even if they were innocent. After 9/11, fear caused people to believe all Muslims were evil and could harm you. Being afraid of something can eventually become dangerous to you. In some cases, fear becomes dangerous to other people around you like in Salem.
The Crucible – Human Nature Human nature was fully to blame for the disaster which took place in Salem in 1692. Human nature is what your character is made of in trying situations, and in 1692 scientific knowledge was extremely poor by today's standards and so all reoccurring problems were blamed on an evil force, whether it be the devil or witches or anything the imagination could conjure, hence human nature was being tested regularly. The decisions people made were critical to the disaster's progression, in today's scene in would have been dismissed within minutes, but the paranoia floating around in the town kept the ball rolling. People were so terrified of the thought of evil that any suggestion of it would create a preordained judgement in the mind of anyone, especially those who made judgement of the accused. To get to the supposed
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.
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.
Nine critical approaches are utilized when analyzing a piece of literature in order to appeal to a variety of critics. Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible can be interpreted from numerous approaches, but one lens that is unmistakable throughout is the psychological criticism. From a psychological standpoint, one gains access to the mindset of both the author and the characters within. In addition to this, the reader also acquires a greater understanding of the motivations, behaviors, and mental state that each character possesses. Through psychological criticism, one can obtain information on a character’s motivation, the likelihood of their actions, and which behaviors are consciously made.
In every conflict there always seems to be at least one person to blame. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, many problems arise that deal with live and death. Many innocent people in this play were hanged during the Salem Witch Trials. Of course, there are many people that may be blamed. In The Crucible, one may find Abigail Williams, The Putnams, and Mary Warren to blame. Abigail was manipulative, The Putnams were very jealous, and Mary Warren was weak-willed.
The play, The Crucible, is a fireball of guilt, evil, and good compiled into one magnification. It is a play with tremendous feelings, with many inside twists hidden in the archives of the true story. It is a play with emotional feelings; feelings of anger, hate, and evil, yet also feelings of goodness, and pureness. Undeniably, The Crucible is a play illustrating good versus evil. The principal characters, Abigail Williams, John Proctor, Ann Putnam and Marry Warren all contain within them elements of good and evil.
John Proctor faces many decisions in response to his moral dilemma to try to save his life. One of the difficult decisions John makes is to reveal that he had an affair with Abigail Williams and thereby has committed adultery. If the local court convicts him of this crime, he faces being jailed. Also by admitting this crime, John reveals a weakness in his character. This flaw in his personality will make it harder for him to stand up in the community as an honorable and believable person. In trying to convince others that witchcraft does not exist John’s dishonesty with his wife will make him less convincing to the community.
As American satirist Henry Louis Mencken once wrote, “The one permanent emotion of the inferior man is fear--fear of the unknown, the complex, the inexplicable. What he wants above everything else is safety.” Mencken’s skeptical view on fear can be influenced by the fact that individuals lose a sense of logic when fear is present. Fear, an unpleasant feeling, is caused in order to avoid the consequences of a situation because one is afraid; therefore, fear often takes control of one’s mind as individuals choose to be fearful rather than realizing logical knowledge can change the outcome of a situation. This ideology is illustrated throughout the events in The Crucible as playwright Arthur Miller suggests through contrasting characters that
John Proctor is a local farmer who lives right outside of town. He feels guilt because of his religious convictions against adultery. Proctor believes that his relationship with Abigail has damaged him in the eyes of God, his wife Elizabeth, and himself. Abigail tried to guilt him into continuing their relationship. Proctor’s guilt also comes out strongly when he states “A fire, a fire is burning! I hear the boot of Lucifer, I see his filthy face! And it is my face, and yours, Danforth! For them that quail to bring men out of ignorance, as I have quailed, and as you quail now when you know in all your black hearts that this be fraud-God damns our kind especially, and we will burn, we will burn together!” , this can show how Proctor is a better man than Danforth.