Moral Conflict in the The Crucible

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Moral Conflict in the The Crucible

Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, is a great portrayal of humans and their struggles. This

play takes place in the 1690’s in Salem, a small Puritan community based on a rigid social

system, where an outbreak of rumors claiming witchcraft contaminated the small village. The

witch hysteria was initiated by a group of young girls (headed by Abigail Williams,) who were

afraid of being accused of swaying from the strict regulations. This caused conflict among the

people of the community and ultimately resulted in absolute chaos. I am going to write about

three of the main characters, Reverend Hale, John Proctor and Mary Warren, who have some of

the most intense internal and external struggles in the play.

Reverend Hale’s battle is initiated by his personal commitment to God. In Act I, the

Reverend is described as an eager-eyed intellectual pondering the invisible world. Hale seeks

witches and gets them to confess, so god can bless them and rid them of the devil. An example of

this is when he said to Betty, “In nomine Domini Sabaoth sui filiique ite ad infernos,” which

means: In the name of the lord of hosts and his son get thee to the lower world. This shows

Reverend Hale’s views on witchery. He is a deeply religious man who was unrelenting in his

quest for the devil. Originally, Hale believed that there was witchcraft in the town and wanted to

drive it out. However as the play develops, Hale witnesses sincere and respectable townspeople

being sentenced and hanged. Hale tries to gain a perspective on those accused, by going to their

houses and putting questions to them, about their nature and religious behavior. He soon learn...

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anything to keep their personal lives a secret, and so Mary would not have felt the need to

condemn John to witchery to save herself. The actions of Mary Warren, causing John Proctor to

hang, affect Hale’s life dramatically, making him question all that he has held dear (himself, the

fairness of the judicial system and his religion.) This was probably the most dramatic point in

Hale’s life, and he soul searches himself to the point of leaving Salem promptly after Proctor’s

hanging. So, this shows that all of these pivotal characters had a good deal of influence in the

way the play turned out individually, but more importantly, their individual actions

affected the others’ actions, both creating and enhancing the obvious moral conflicts in The

Crucible.

Bibliography:

Miller, Arthur- The Crucible

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