During the Salem witchcraft trials of 1692, more than 200 people were accused of witchcraft, and 20 people were hanged. In Arthur Miller's adaptation of this historical time, The Crucible, the manifestations of fear and revenge were prominent and actively worked to drive and advance the play's plot. The townspeople of Salem were gripped with fear and uncertainty, though characters also sought to settle personal scores and light fires between one another. The theme of fear was frequently used in The Crucible to move the story forward, as it forced people to accuse others and pressured people to avoid contradicting the court in the Salem witch trials. In the story, authoritative figures, such as Deputy Governor Danforth and Reverend Hale, and …show more content…
Fear ultimately led to the deaths of John Proctor, Rebecca Nurse, Martha Corey, and many other falsely accused individuals. Unknown factors also played into fear and mass hysteria throughout The Crucible. After Reverend Parris found the girls of Salem dancing in the forest, Betty Parris and Ruth Putnam did not awake from their beds the next day and seemed possessed. Characters such as Mrs. Putnam swiftly jump to the conclusion that the cause is witchcraft, as, in The Crucible, “Salem is a strict religious community where superstition is rife and scientific explanations minimal. In the puritanical colony of Massachusetts, reading books other than the Bible was forbidden, hence any scientific thinking was unlikely” (Margaret 2017). Suspertition initiated ideas of witchcraft in the minds of the characters in the story, which led them to behave irrationally throughout the play. In The Crucible, the town of Salem contains many complex and complex relationships between different characters. There are many resentments and personal grudges, and the are factions and loyalties between …show more content…
For example, Thomas Putnam had many resentments towards characters such as Giles Corey and John Smith over land, the appointment of church leaders, and petty arguments over firewood. In The Crucible, “Thomas Putnam felt that his own name and the honor of his family had been smirched by the village, and he meant to right matters however he could” (Miller 15). Putnam used the trials to try to gain land from his neighbors and right matters in his favor. During a court hearing, Giles Corey tried to expose this attempt at revenge by stating “If Jacobs hangs for a witch he forfeits his property - that’s law! And there is none but Putnam with the coin to buy such a great piece. This man is killing his neighbors for their land!” (Miller, 96). Thomas Putnam had felt wronged by his neighbors and village for James Bayley, his wife’s brother-in-law, being turned down as minister of Salem even though he had all the qualifications to fill the role. He tried to get revenge on them by meddling in the witch trials and getting his daughter to accuse them of
The Crucible was a rather strong book, it had battles both internal and external, there were also betrayals and vendettas… but a few stuck strong to their morals of what was wrong, and what was right. After the girl’s acts were, undoubtedly, in the eyes of the law, seen as entirely real, people who would not otherwise have been accused of witchcraft were now eligible to be under Satan’s spell. One John Proctor, saw himself above the nonsense, that witches could not exist in Salem, his wife, his children nor him; But, when Mary Warren said to the court that he used his spirit to drag her into court to testify against the girls, the judges deemed her word more truthful than his. After actively and repeatedly denying the claims, he was sentenced to death, for only a witch could lie in the face of god.
Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible is centered around the mass hysteria created by accusations of witchcraft in the Puritan village of Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. These accusations can be blamed on Abigail Williams' affair with John Proctor, the secret grudges that neighbors hold against each other, and the physical and economic differences between the citizens of Salem Village. Because suspicions were at an all-time high, petty accusations were made out to be witchcraft, and bad business deals were blamed on witchery. Among the grudges that help spur the resentment and hostility in the village is one between Giles Corey and Thomas Putnam, who argue about a plot of land and its ownership. Once the accusations begin, everyone has a reason to accuse someone else of witchcraft. When Putnam's daughter accuses George Jacobs of witchery, Corey quickly notices a motive and claims that Putnam only wants Jacobs' land. Additionally, even the slightest offhand remark can result in the suspicion of one working with the devil. In another example of hasty accusations, Giles Corey casually mentions that when his wife is reading, he is unable to say his prayers. However, Reverend Hale takes Giles’ claims the wrong way and Martha Corey is quickly arrested and convicted for witchcraft. In Arthur Miller’s haunting play The Crucible, Giles Corey often announces his feelings without considering the consequences, but redeems himself by refusing to allow the defamation of one of his friends while keeping his property and dignity intact.
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. Judge Danforth is responsible because he is not concerned about justice, all he cares about is being correct about the witch trials. Lastly Thomas Putnam is guilty of causing the witch trials because he was able to have people accuse other people so he could claim their land for himself. The witch trials were a senseless massacre and all because Abigail Williams, Judge Danforth, and Thomas Putnam were only concerned about them selves, not the innocent ones around them.
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.
When asked about The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, critic Harold Clurman claims that the play is “chiefly a study in mass hysteria in which superstition conspires with self-interest to incite a society to destructiveness” (handout). This quote accurately portrays the message of revenge and greed serving as common characteristics in times of uncertainty that echoes throughout the play, clearly exemplified through Mr. Putnam, Reverend Parris, and Abigail Williams. During this time, land lust and revenge were common incentives to accuse a person of being a witch, and these three characters clearly exemplify these common reasons. As static characters, Mr. Putnam, Reverend Parris, and Abigail Williams remain constant in their motives throughout the play. Through Mr. Putnam’s lust for land and desire for revenge, Reverend Parris’s obsession over self-image, and Abigail’s jealously of Elizabeth and love for Proctor, The Crucible supports Clurman’s claim of Salem being a society driven by people with characteristics of greed and revenge rather than principle.1
The Crucible demonstrates a dynamic relationship between fear, judgement, and death. In the Salem community, individuals were accused of witchcraft and executed based off the words and actions of others. Words that murdered innocent victims and brought hysteria to the quiet town. Malice laced in accusations charged by a few teenagers of Salem who wanted control. Abigail who is the ring leader of the entirety of the ploy, who used Christian principles, and played off the fear of others for her own gain. Arthur Miller portrays Abigail Williams as a manipulative, envious, and a deceptive antagonist which brought her fate upon herself.
The Crucible agrees with the lens because in Puritan society of 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts, hunts are being held to find those who have sinned and practice witchcraft but unfortunately innocent people are accused. The Crucible is set in Salem, Massachusetts and John Proctor, the protagonist, is a farmer who is found by his wife having an affair with a teenager. Throughout the play, John is trying to make the truth known to a court that has no interest in listening. The conflict in this story occurs when people are being falsely accused of practicing witchcraft for reasons such as revenge or the desire for another’s land. An example of this is Abigail’s desire to be with John Proctor. She wants to be with him so badly that she accuses his wife, Elizabeth Proctor, or “witchery” in order to marry John Proctor. “A man may think God sleeps, but God sees everything, I know it now. I beg you, sir, I beg you-see her what she is…She thinks to dance with me on my wife’s grave! And well she might, for I thought of her softly. God help me, I lusted, and there is promise in such sweat. But it is a whore’s vengeance…” This is a quote from Proctor when he is confessing to the court about his affair with Abigail in order to save his wife and the other innocent people who have been accused. Other examples include the part of the play where Giles tells the court that Putnam is killing his neighbors for their land. “…If Jacobs hangs for a witch he forfeit up his property-that’s law! And there is none but Putnam with the coin to buy so great a piece. This man is killing his neighbors for their land!” This is a quote from Giles Corey from when he claimed that Thomas Putnam was killing others for their land. The entire play was made to be a symbol of the anti-Communist “witch-hunts” of the 1950s, the time of the author, Arthur Miller. The themes in this play are hysteria, reputation, and intolerance.
“Sarah Good, confessed y’see, that she sometimes made a compact with Lucifer, and wrote her name in his black book-with her blood- and bound herself to torment Christians till God’s thrown down-and we all must worship Hell forevermore.” (Miller 57). During the Salem Witch Trials, people were accused left and right of being witches. In 1953 Arthur Miller proceeded to write a play entitled The Crucible, which portrayed what life was like during the Salem Witch Trials. In The Crucible, the actions of the characters determine how much justice is truly present in the society.
Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, is set in Salem village where an atmosphere of enmity and mistrust has been created through the conflicts and disagreements many villagers experience throughout the play. Many of these are caused by or, similar to the conflict between Parris and Proctor, are inflated by the many accusations of witchcraft occurring in the village.
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 Crucible was written by Arthur Miller in 1952 and has remained such a renowned play in American literature because the play pays close attention to the importance of reputation, which continues to be as much of a priority in 1692 as in modern times. The play opens with girls getting caught dancing in the woods by Rev. Parris, which escalates to the assumption of them practicing witchcraft. The girls, lead by Abigail Williams, pledge their love for God and undertake the responsibility of accusing whoever they please of witchcraft, usually under false assumptions. An accuser, Mary Warren, does whatever it takes to stay on Abigail’s good side, even if that means going against the principles of her religion. Reverend Parris prioritizes reputation over religion when he pledges to not lie in court, but convinces his daughter, Betty, to fabricate a story to justify her fainting in the woods after he caught them. Lastly, when Mary Warren betrays John Proctor and claims, “You are the Devil’s man!” he refuses to confess of witchcraft to
The crucible, written by Arthur Miller, is about the Salem witch trials and how people react to hysteria created from the fear of witches. In the play, after hysteria breaks out, the Salem government starts persecute and hang people it believes are witches. This prompts people to start to accusing people of witchcraft. Some people who accuse others of committing witchcraft are Abigail Williams and Thomas Putnam. They do not accuse people of witchcraft to stop witchcraft, but for personal gain or to hurt others. Thomas Putnam, one of the many characters who takes advantage of the witch trials, is able to use the fear of witches to bend the court to his will. Hysteria causes people to believe claims that are clearly false. This allows Putnam to persecute his enemies. He and many other are able to get away with this because hysteria driven persecutions are not run like regular courts and the fact that witchcraft is an invisible crime allows evidence to be made up. The theme of The Crucible is when any persecution is driven by fear and people can and will manipulate the system so they can gain and hurt another.
“Well, all the plays that I was trying to write were plays that would grab an audience by the throat and not release them, rather than presenting an emotion which you could observe and walk away from.” by Arthur Miller. All great works provide a way to reach in and grab the audience through the reoccurring themes like, greed, jealousy, reputation and hypocrisy. Arthur Miller had one of those great works and it was called “The Crucible”. The play was based off of the witch trials that happened in Salem in the year of 1962. Some of the characters were actual characters involved in the witch trials. Arthur Miller wrote this play during the time of the “Red Scare”. Miller wrote The Crucible because he wanted to turn the The Salem Witch Trials into
Chase Buck English 10B 14 May 2024. Danger In Salem The Crucible is a story that warns us about the dangers of fear, the misuse of power, and manipulation and its devastating consequences. People in the story are often frightened and make poor decisions because they're afraid of what might happen to them. Some characters misuse their power to control others, and some trick people into doing what they want.
In the novel The Crucible, author Arthur Miller uses varying degrees of goodness and evil to control the flow of the story while showcasing a Puritan town's superstitions and fear of the devil to justify the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. The central character in Salem is John Proctor, an outspoken, successful, and well-respected farmer who chooses to maintain a certain distance from the church. Religious at heart, this man who has sinned, openly condemns the witch on his contempt for Reverend Parris, his love for his wife, and his need to take responsibility for his actions to gain the strength of character it takes to publicly confess his sins, denounce Abigail Williams, and save his soul. & nbsp; As soon as Reverend Parris is appointed to the church in Salem John Proctor begins to resent the minister's superior attitude and greed. An outspoken man, Proctor takes every opportunity to criticize Reverend Parris and the now corrupt church. This resentment leads John to use his wife Elizabeth's illness as an excuse to stay away from Sunday services learns that Parris has sent for the Reverend John Hale, an expert on witches, without calling a town meeting first. A firm believer that the citizens should decide on Salem's course of action; John uses this situation to let everyone know that he feels talk of witchcraft is ridiculous and that the minister is over stepping his bounds. The confrontation leads to a discussion about the reverend's demands for money and housing, a conversation that Proctor resumes with Reverend Hale when he visits the Proctor home at a later date. Led by his desire to punish any one who would oppose him, Reverend Parris directs Reverend Hale to the Proctor home. In his search for devil worshippers, Hale questions the devil's demands for money and housing.&nbs Proctors about their absences from Sunday church services. John eagerly responds to the inquiry stating, "since we built the church there were pewter candlesticks upon the altar;. but when Parris came, and for twenty weeks he preached nothin' but golden candlesticks until he had them. I labored the earth from dawn of day to blink of night, and I tell you true, when I look to heaven and see my money glaring at his elbows - it hurt my prayer to explain his absence by denouncing Parris'.