More handpicked essays just for you.
Give the themes of the crucible by arthur miller
What are themes in play crucible by arthur miller
What are themes in play crucible by arthur miller
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Human Flaws in Arthur Miller's The Crucible Many of the characters in Arthur Miller's The Crucible have specific human flaws that cause the tragedy of the Salem Witch Trials. The Salem villagers exhibit failings, including greed, vengeance, and fear, which eventually lead to the downfall of their town. Many villagers, especially Abigail Williams, take advantage of the opportunity to seek vengeance on others through the trials. Greed for power and land often holds precedence when the hysteria takes over. Fear of being arrested or put to death is the key motivation in turning others in as witches. From these three human flaws, the town of Salem falls into chaos with many innocent people paying the price. Vengeance plays a key role in causing the mass hysteria of the Salem Witch Trials. Abigail Williams, who?s probably most to blame for the trials, acts out of revenge. She and John Proctor have had an affair and when Elizabeth Proctor finds out, she throws Abigail out of their house. During the trials, Abigail is still in love with John Proctor and goes after Elizabeth out of vengeance. Elizabeth tries to explain this to John, who is in disbelief: she ?thinks to kill me, then to take my place? (61). Abigail?s main motive for destroying Elizabeth is revenge for being thrown out of the house and for having John Proctor, the man that she loves. Another character who seeks revenge is Mrs. Putnam, who has had seven children die shortly after childbirth and blames her midwife, who has many children. Rebecca Nurse is charged ?for the marvelous and supernatural murder of Goody Putnam?s babies? (71). The trials are an opportunity for Ann Putnam to seek vengeance against Rebecca for having healthy children and grandchild... ... middle of paper ... ... life and goes back to these girls who turned on her in an instant. Others even confess to witchcraft because, once accused, it is the only way to get out of being hanged. The confessions and the hangings actually promote the trials because they assure townsfolk that God?s work is being done. Fear for their own lives and for the lives of their loved ones drives the townspeople to say and do anything. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller shows that the tragedy of the Salem Witch Trials stems from human failings, particularly the need for vengeance, greed, and fear. Abigail Williams is an example of all three. Her fear prompts her to first accuse random women, her need for vengeance directs her toward Elizabeth, and her greed for power affects the lives of everyone around her. Individual flaws, when acted on collectively, inevitably cause the downfall of Salem.
In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, Miller demonstrated that it was Abigail William’s flaws – mendacity, lust, and arrogance – that led her to be responsible the most for the tragedy of the witch hunt in Salem, Massachusetts. Driven by lust, Abigail was able to lie to the Salem community in hopes of covering her and her friends’ deeds and gaining the attention of John Proctor. Her arrogance enabled her t0 advance her deceit.
The people of this time, believe in witchcraft, and if you are apart of it, you must confess and redeem yourself or be hanged for your crimes. The girls use the ‘confession’ as a way out of casting charms in the forest, and then shout random names to shift the blame off of them. This becomes a good advantage for the girls. During the play, we notice that anyone who opposes the court and testifies against it, is soon labeled as the enemy of God and must be a servant of the Devil. Giles Corey and John Proctor happened to be two of the many associated with designation. The authorities felt the need to ‘purify’ the village, and therefor hang anyone connected to such crimes. Religion was such a major role in this time frame, and because of various viewpoints, several have died.
The Salem Witch Trials, Who is Really Guilty? After all of the witch trials in 1692 concluded, a total of 20 people were hanged, all because of people craving attention and personal gain. There are three people depicted in Arthur Miller's The Crucible that are most responsible for this and they are, Abigail Williams, Judge Danforth, and Thomas Putnam. Abigail Williams is mostly responsible for the Salem witch trials because she was the first person to start accusing innocent people of witchcraft.
All participants in the witch-hunt were influenced by the society that existed in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. Salem operated as a theocracy, a government ruled by and subject to religious authority. In a theocracy, people's sins are not forgiven, so that when they commit an indiscretion, they are left feeling guilty. "The witch-hunt was....a long overdue opportunity for everyone so inclined to express publicly his guilt and sins, under the cover of accusations against the victims." (p. 7) Characters such as Abigail Williams and Mrs. Putnam used the witch-hunts in the way cited above, as a method of confessing their sins without being accountable for them. Others used the chaos created by it for their own benefit. Thomas Putnam made his daughter Ruth accuse both George Jacobs and Rebecca Nurse so he could buy the resulting unclaimed land after they were hung. Any character that accused, confessed, or in any way joined the witch-hunt failed his or her test.
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 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.
Life as a human is dictated by an inborn hunger or purpose, and people, in general, will act on this hunger for their own personal gain in their individual ways. This hunger, be it for wealth, land, love, power, revenge, or pride, can, and will be the undoing or failing of all mankind as Miller so clearly points out in his play 'The Crucible';. This essay will explore the motives of characters within the play and even the motives of Arthur Miller himself and therefore show how conflict stems from certain recognisable human failings including those mentioned above, fear, and hysteria.
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 Crucible: Hysteria and Injustice Thesis Statement: The purpose is to educate and display to the reader the hysteria and injustice that can come from a group of people that thinks it's doing the "right" thing for society in relation to The Crucible by Arthur Miller. I. Introduction: The play is based on the real life witch hunts that occurred in the late 1600's in Salem, Massachusetts. It shows the people's fear of what they felt was the Devil's work and shows how a small group of powerful people wrongly accused and killed many people out of this fear and ignorance.
The impact of the convictions have on the people of Salem. People were being accused of being witches because of the fact that the girls especially Abigail wants something out of it. Like Abigail wants John Procter and wants Elizabeth Proctor out of the way. That accuses in the play were the group of girls, such as, Abigail Williams, she was the leader of the group. The so called “witches” in the play were over 50 people such as John Procter, Elizabeth Proctor, Rebecca Nurse, Giles Corey and many more. The town and the judges blindly tr...
The Crucible, is a play by Arthur Miller, and it tells a story about the Salem Witch Trials. Abigail Williams plays an enormous part in the Salem Witch Trails by her constant lying, turning the trails into a mass hysteria. She is known in the town of Salem for causing trouble and being released from the Proctor’s house. Elizabeth Proctor released Abigail from her house under the suspicion that Abigail and John were having an affair. Elizabeth is very pure and upright and that is one of the reasons that these characters are foils from each other.
In The Crucible, the members of the Salem community accept the lies that their neighbors are taking apart of witchcraft as the truth. The lies and deceit in the community help attribute to the play’s overall theme of hysteria. The theme of hysteria is prevalent throughout the play, as the belief that witchcraft is occurring in the town enables members of the community to believe that their neighbors have committed devilish acts. As the town descends into a hysterical climate, members of the community take advantage of the situation to act upon any long-held grudges or repressed sentiment. Characters, such as Abigail, use both lies and hysteria to seek revenge and gain power.
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.
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.
Vengeance is the main theme of The Crucible. The people of the town of Salem were not united, but instead, distrusted and disliked each other. During the court trials, the girls started accusing certain people that they didn't like of dealing with witchcraft. For example, Abigail Williams couldn't forget John Proctor even though their affair was over. She believed that if his wife, Elizabeth Proctor, was out of the way, Abigail and John would be together again. Therefore, she told everyone that Elizabeth's spirit was trying to kill her and accused Elizabeth of being a witch.