The Crucible Literary Analysis Essay
Have you ever had fear, revenge, or hysteria? In the Crucible, some of the characters had some fear from people, they tried to get revenged on other people, and they expressed their feelings. The fear in people, the revenge people tried get on, and the feelings characters expressed show that the characters changed throughout the story.
Revenge is an important element in the Crucible because Mary Warren was one of the main character´s trying to get revenge on someone. Mary Warren was getting revenge on John Proctor when she said, ¨You're the devil's man!¨ This shows revenge in the Crucible because John Proctor was being mean towards Abigail and the other girls. In addition, Mary Warren tried to get revenge on Abigail. This is revenge on Abigail by Mary saying “ Witchery’s a hangin’ error”. This is revenge on Abigail because Abigail was going to tell on her cousin and her friend on witchcraft. Mary Warren tried to get revenge on the main characters because they treated her bad. Revenge turns into fear by someone doing something bad to the other character.
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Another important element in the Crucible is fear because character’s show fear through telling on people and being scared of other people.
To start off, Elizabeth saw fear in Abigail when Elizabeth said, “ She speak of Abigail, and I thought she were a saint, to hear her”. This is a sign of ear because she uses fear of witchcraft to build her reputation. Judge Danforth thought Mr. Hale was scared when he first walked into the court. Judge Danforth said “ No corrupted man may fear this court, Mr.Hale.” This shows fear in the Crucible because he was thinking he was going to get a death sentence so he was scared. Fear went through Abigail and Mr.Hale and they changed their mind when fear went into
them. The last important element in the Crucible is hysteria because there was a lot of exaggerated emotion throughout the story. Abigail had some hysteria when she was writing about her emotions in his book. Abigail said, “I wrote in his book; I go back to Jesus; I kiss his hand. I saw Sarah Good with the Devi! “ This shows hysteria in Abigail because she wanted to express herself and she explained what she did with the devil. Another sign of hysteria is when Mr.Hale was talking with the Nurse. Mr.Hale said, “ I have seen too many frightful proofs in court- the Devil is alive in Salem, and we dare not quail to follow wherever the accusing finger points!” This is hysteria because he is explaining to the Nurse that he has seen a lot of things in the court. Some of the characters that had hysteria changed towards to the end of the story when they expressed their feelings. The main idea of the story is to show how the characters acted or changed through the story. Fear showed that characters got more scared from the other characters, revenge showed how the characters got revenge on the other characters, and hysteria showed how the characters emotions changed through the story. So, the characters changed through the story by fear, revenge ,and hysteria.
The definition of fear is when someone feels scared or threatened or feels like they’re in danger. For example think you’re in a house by yourself and you hear something outside and you hear something outside in your backyard or in another room, and your heart start beating and our thinking in your mind what to do. That’s fear and it’s something that you feel time to time. It’s something from a little spider to a fear drowning. The main point or theme of The Crucible is when people accuse each other of witchery but, not knowing if so.
In the crucible, I believe reputation and respect was interwoven in the term of the play the ‘‘crucible’’. Reputation and Respect can also be a theme or a thematic idea in the play, reputation is very essential in a town where social status is synonymously to ones competence to follow religious rules. Your standing is what enables you to live as one in a community where everyone is bound to rules and inevitable sequential instructions. Many characters for example, john proctor and reverend parris, base their action on the motive to protect their reputation which is only exclusive to them. People like reverend parris saw respect as what made them important or valuable in a town like Salem, this additionally imprinting to his character as a very conventional man.
In the play The Crucible, Arthur Miller explores the topic of fear and how it can be used to silence people or force them into false testimony. In this play we can see the fear of witchcraft and becoming condemned, or having a family member condemned, can take over a person and get them to act unusually. Mary Warren makes the decision to switch between siding with the girls and with Proctor out of fear for her life, yet only some of her decisions are justified as only sometimes she was trying to make the right decision and others were to save herself.
At times, fear motivates people to behave unscrupulously. Personal fears instigate some characters in Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible to cry witch. Reverend Parris fears losing his job, Abigail fears prosecution and losing John Proctor, and Tituba fears physical retribution. Fear induces people to defend their personal whims and use their power to harm others.
Analysis of The Crucible by Arthur Miller ‘You have made your magic now, for now I do think I see some shred of goodness in John Proctor.’ Assess the developments in John Proctor’s character that validate this statement. How does Miller create a sense of tension and suspense in the build up to this climatic moment in Act 4? In Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible he has used many dramatic devices in order to create tension and build up to the climaxes of the story.
"Power tends to corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely" - Lord Action. In "The Crucible" composed by Arthur Miller control, power, fear and greed were the main factors that began the Salem witch trails. Power brings out the true nature of a person and we see that happening to Abigail throughout the play. That brings me to my next point fear, Abigail used the fear of accusing people of being witches to gain power and control. It all started with Abigail misunderstanding lust for love. John Proctor thought softly of her and she began dreaming of replacing his wife willing to go to any needs necessary.
Throughout The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, fear is used as a control tactic. Fear escalates quickly through the responsible parties – Abigail Williams, Reverend John Hale, and Deputy Governor Danforth – and soon the town succumbs to it. Fear is not used by all of the responsible parties for control, as in controlling the people in order to be the “top dog” so to speak, but as a way to prevent their own accusation or conviction of witchcraft. They each used their own methods of creating fear in order to beat the stakes.
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.
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.
In the play, "The Crucible," characters are put in tough situations where they feel uncomfortable and they need for something to change in order to resolve the problem. The definition of crucible is actually a "heat resistant container in which materials inside can be subjected to great heat." (Merriam-Webster, 190) This is very fitting for the play because the girls are like the heat on the outside, putting pressure and tension on the adults in the village, who are like the materials on the inside. One of the two categories of people must change in order to resolve the conflict, and three main characters display this need to change more than any others. The first person is John Procter, who changes somewhat through the play. The second is Abigail Williams, who attempts to change the people around her. And the third is Reverend John Hale, who changes quite dramatically through the play. All of these characters recognize that change is needed, but approach the problem from different perspectives.
Throughout the play there are many instances that show these themes. The Crucible is a great way to show God’s power and people’s will to go against him. Like Abigail, the antagonist, she continues to start lie after leaned in the end she only hurts herself. This shows, as one follows the rules like Elisabeth Proctor, she's accused of witchcraft has lost multiple children and continues to follow the Lord’s path; one who walks with the Lord is more just than one who walks alone. The Crucible is a great play to learn the value of morals and what can happen if you don't obey
When faced with a problem, humans usually try to find the easiest, fastest, and most convenient way out of the issue. In order to overcome problems, motivation is needed. However, motivation comes from different places within a person based on the individual’s desires. When looking back to 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts the problem during this time period was witchcraft, and "to be accused was to be assumed guilty, to accuse was to avoid punishment" (Jimerson 37). Fear of punishment causes people to accuse the innocent, and the innocent has no redemption for they were automatically guilty. No one was safe at this time as the cycle continued on and on. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Mary Warren is motivated by fear that transitions from Abigail
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.
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.
The Crucible is an incredibly influential play no only in the fact that it displays many important themes, but it also portrays how a theocracy impacts societal actions. The Salem witch trials were the culmination of the problems with theocracy. The actions of society, not only are impacted by their personal thoughts, but also in religious undertones affect them. Act two in the play portrays not only all of these themes, but also some important events leading towards the witchcraft hysteria. Act two in the play portrays how theocracy ultimately leads to chaos.