The Crucible Good Vs Evil Essay

An anonymous person once said “All conflict in literature is, in its simplest form, a struggle between good and evil.” What is meant by the quote is that in literature the conflict stems from the forces of good and evil. This is agreeable because in literature there is always a protagonist, which symbolizes good and an antagonist, which symbolizes evil. The quote holds true in the novels The Crucible by Arthur Miller and The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. In both of these pieces of literature, the main characters, John Proctor and Hester Prynne, respectively, struggle against evil.

John Proctor, the protagonist of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible faced a major conflict that determined the fate of his wife, Elizabeth’s, life. He represents

good in this novel because he is one of the few Salem villagers that did not believe the nonsense of witchcraft and attempted to stop the novel’s antagonist, Abigial Williams. Williams, who could be characterized as cuncunning and ruthless, was falsly accusing her enemies of witchraft so they would be sentenced to death, exacting revenge. Proctor was in the possession of valuable informtion that could stop her but could also damage his reputation. Proctor momentarily showed himself as being fearful of damage to his reputation and is characterized as brave because he admitted to the Salem judges his infidelity with Abigail Williams even though he knew of the negative impact it could have on his reputation. He did this so he could discredit Abigail in front of the court and save his wife from Abigail’s false accusation of witchcraft. John Proctor does not face only one antagonist in this novel. This second antagonist is the vengeance spurring within the corrupt Salem village that is causing the false accusations of witchcraft. John Proctor said towards the end of the novel that he will not lose his wife to vengeance and he tried to put and end to it by exposing Abigail Williams along with the young Salem girls that were fearfully following her. John Proctor’s ongoing conflict with both Abigail Williams and the newly founded vengeance in Salem provides a more complex example of the anonymous quote.
Hester Prynne, the protagonist of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter was also faced with a major conflict.

After having committed adultery and had a child with an anonymous man, whom she refused to reveal, she was forced to wear a scarlet letter “A” on her chest for the rest of her life. Hester’s main antagonist throughout the novel is the Puritan society around her which tries to keep her down at all times for her sinful act. Hester exhibits her characteristic bravery when she must be taken from the prison into the marketplace for humiliation, where she dons her scarlet letter. She had felt a sense of insecurity prior to exiting the prison, which is seen when she covers the letter with her child, but finally faces her fear when she displays the letter that she embroidered with her exceptional talent in sewing. She had turned her symbol of shame into a symbol of dignity, astonishing her enemies. Hester faces yet another antagonist with the novel when she is visited in prison by her husband who has recent arrived in the village and took on the identity of a man named Roger Chillingworth. Disappointed in Hester that she would betray him, he makes it certain to Hester that she will find who the anonymous man was and exact his revenge. His sinister demeanor causes her to fear that he will ruin her life. Hester Prynne’s conflict with her fellow villagers and her husband also serves as an example that helps support the truth of the

quote.
In these texts, the anonymous person is shown to be correct when saying “All conflict in literature is, in its simplest form, a struggle between good and evil.” The meaning behind it is that at the root of conflict in pieces, of literature, it is between good and evil, which are represented by the protagonist and antagonist. This meaning is shown to be in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, the protagonist is John Proctor, who was in a struggle to save his wife’s life, with Abigail Williams, the novel’s antagonist. Also supporting the truth in the quote is Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter in which Hester Prynne, the novel’s protagonist, also faced two antagonists which were the Puritan society and her husband seeking revenge.