The Crucible Theme Essay
Good Vs evil
The year is 1693 and the people in Salem village are calm until Reverend Parris( The town's pastor) finds a group of girls dancing in the woods around a fire and chanting songs.Reverend Parris’s daughter then starts to become unconscious and will not wake up. The true theme of this play I believe is Good vs Evil. The reason people may believe this is because there are many instances where God is brought upon in this play and so go towards Satin which represents the theme Good Vs Evil. Human nature can never escape good versus evil, so by Arthur Miller writing about good versus evil in the play The Crucible he is showing that it is a universal theme.
This first Quote comes from the beginning of the
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book or play of which everybody is gathered about to see what is wrong with parris’s daughter so he calls in reverend hale(Supposed demonology expert) to find out what is wrong with her daughter. Here is the quote” Mrs. Putnam: Reverend Parris, I have laid seven babies unbaptized in the earth. Believe me, sir, you never saw more hearty babies born. And yet, each would wither in my arms the very night of their birth. I have spoke nothin', but my heart has clamored intimations. And now, this year, my Ruth, my only—I see her turning strange. A secret child she has become this year, and shrivels like a sucking mouth were pullin’ on her life too. And so I thought to send her to your Tituba— Parris: To Tituba! What may Tituba—? Mrs. Putnam: Tituba knows how to speak to the dead, Mr. Parris. Parris: Goody Ann, it is a formidable sin to conjure up the dead! Mrs. Putnam: I take it on my soul, but who else may surely tell us what person murdered my babies? Parris, horrified: Woman!
Mrs. Putnam: They were murdered, Mr. Parris! And mark this proof! Last night my Ruth were ever so close to their little spirits; I know it, sir. For how else is she struck dumb now except some power of darkness would stop her mouth? It is a marvelous sign, Mr. Parris!
Putnam: Don’t you understand it, sir? There is a murdering witch among us, bound to keep himself in the dark. (I.103-110)”. This quote can prove the them of being Good Vs Evil being that in this part of the play a good thing happened which was that the babies are born and then the constant struggle was that she lost them ever one to unnatural or unknown causes.
The second quote is from the middle of the play preferably the third at in which the climax of the story has reached its peak people have started to accuse people to stay out of trouble of the price that in which is to be hung. Here is the quote”Proctor: Mary, tell the Governor what they—(He has hardly got a word out, when, seeing him coming for her, she rushes out of his reach, screaming in horror.)
Mary Warren: Don't touch me—don't touch me! (At which the girls halt at the door.)
Proctor, astonished: Mary!
Mary Warren, pointing at Proctor: You're the Devil's
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man! He is stopped in his tracks. Parris: Praise God! Girls: Praise God! Proctor, numbed: Mary, how—? Mary Warren: I'll not hang with you! I love God, I love God. Danforth, to Mary: He bid you do the Devil's work? Mary Warren, hysterically, indicating Proctor: He come at me by night and every day to sign, to sign, to— Danforth: Sign what? Parris: The Devil's book? He come with a book? Mary Warren, hysterically, pointing at Proctor, fearful of him: My name, he want my name. "I'll murder you," he says, "if my wife hangs! We must go and overthrow the court," he says! Danforth's head jerks toward Proctor, shock and horror in his face. Proctor, turning, appealing to Hale: Mr. Hale! Mary Warren, her sobs beginning: He wake me every night, his eyes were like coals and his fingers claw my neck, and I sign, I sign... Hale: Excellency, this child's gone wild!
Proctor, as Danforth's wide eyes pour on him: Mary, Mary!
Mary Warren, screaming at him: No, I love God; I go your way no more. I love God, I bless God. (Sobbing, she rushes to Abigail.) Abby, Abby, I'll never hurt you more! (They all watch, as Abigail, out of her infinite charity, reaches out and draws the sobbing Mary to her, and then looks up to Danforth.)
Danforth, to Proctor: What are you? (Proctor is beyond speech in his anger.) You are combined with anti-Christ, are you not? I have seen your power; you will not deny it! What say you, Mister? (III.496-519)”. As the reader can clearly see at this point in the play right or wrong has been completely erased in this society because everybody just wants to save there own skin therefore signs of evil are present.And therefore proves the reasoning of the theme even more.
These quotes can higley prove the theme as there are many other instances in the play where there are signs of both good and evil but in this play the point that Arthur Miller wanted to make to all of the readers is that the bad overtakes the good in this play as in portrayed in all of the quotes stated
above.
At the end of the play, John proctor is faced with the biggest calamity of his life. He was given the the choose to lie and say he is a witch or stand by his honesty and die as a marauder. john proctor name was everything to him. It made him who he is so he based his actions on it.. John wanted to live and keep his good name
This whole play by Arthur Miller shows how our community will turn on each other to save ourselves no matter if it’s right or wrong and it’s true in our society today. It also shows how a good man regained his happiness and holiness by standing up for what’s right against the lies and sacrificed himself for the truth.
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.
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.
... integrity are among the most important things. He also uses Proctor to demonstrate what an unjust system can do to an individual with good intents. The play is a parallel to the anti-Communist McCarthy era. Through John Proctor we see the ludicrous nature of mass hysteria that exists when society has gone awry.
In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, justice and injustice is portrayed through the characters of John Proctor, Elizabeth Proctor and Abigail Williams. It is also shown through the minor characters of Mary Warren and Mercy Lewis, followers of Abigail Williams, and through Danforth and various townspeople.
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
Danforth tells Proctor “Courage man, courage-let not her witness your good example that she may come to God herself. Now hear it, Goody Nurse! Say on, Mr. Proctor. Did you bind yourself to the Devil’s service?” (Miller 128).
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.
“Looking at Giles,” he states, “who is this man?” One can evidently sense an outrage here as he cannot believe that someone is challenging his authority. On another occasion in Act 3, Danforth asks, "You deny every scrap and tittle of this?" Abigial responds by “hissing”, "If I must answer that, I will leave and I will not come back again." Momentarily, Miller then states in the stage directions that Danforth "seems unsteady."
"Them that will not confess will hang. While I speak with God 's law, I will not crack its voice with whimpering. I should hang ten thousand that dared to rise against the law, and ocean of salt tears could not the resolution of the statutes." (Miller 129). Judge Danforth is not afraid to kill those that stand in his way. He is very similar to Abigail in that he will have innocent people killed to prove a point or to get what he wants. Its his way or the highway. If you do not cooperate, you will die. He abuses his power to get people to talk and give names. He is also very similar to Parris in his concern for power. Danforth holds all the power in the courtroom and basically forces you to talk and confess. If you don 't cooperate, then you will suffer the consequences. Ergo, it is a win-win situation for the accuser. "You are the high court, you word is good enough!" (Miller 143). Proctor later denounced himself for saying this, but the phrase is completely true. This quote is a reference to Danforth 's abuse of power throughout the witch trials. The high court deeply resembles the courts during the McCarthyism era. They held all the power and had the people 's lives in their hands. Danforth was prideful and believed himself to be a honest man. So whatever he thought was right, was declared as right. If they said you were guilty of being a witch, and hanged you, then no one in Salem did anything about it. They couldn 't say or do anything because the high court was always right. Many innocent people died because Danforth couldn 't admit he was wrong. If he did admit to being wrong, then the high court would lose power and it would of hurt his
Jealousy also played a big role in who was to blame for the deaths in Salem. The Putnams were a small family, whose seven children out of eight did not survive. Mrs. Putnam was a very jealous person when it came to families, and Mr. Putnam was a very jealous person when it came to land. Goody Putnam wanted more children and was jealous of Rebecca Nurse and her large family, so she blamed her for witchcraft.
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.
Danforth’s has too much confidence on his ability to distinguish the truth. His strong puritan beliefs blinds him from reality and considers people who goes against him as suspects. This demonstrated when he says, “But you must understand, sir, that a person is either with this court or he must be counted against it, there be no road between.” (94). This quotation proves that his decisions on court is mostly bias and he is against anything that violates his puritan beliefs. In addition, he also uses his authority as a Deputy Governor to maintain his reputation. He does not want to accept his mistakes and try to correct it because he does not want his reputation to be tainted. He displays this character by saying, “you misunderstand, sir; I cannot pardon these when twelve are already hanged for the same crime. It is not just.” (129). Danforth is too concerned about his reputation and he is afraid to that he will lose it if he admits that he has made wrong judgements. His bias opinion on what is right plays a vital on the mass hysteria that happened in
this play demystifies and criticizes the early modern practice of scapegoating women accused of witchcraft; the play shows how the community of Edmonton, abetted by the English legal system, eliminates a marginal member of the community upon whom the idea of contagion is projected. On the other hand, and simultaneously, the play actively participates in the Jacobean fascination with and sensationalism surrounding witchcraft trials: