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A literary criticism essay on gender stereotypes
A literary criticism essay on gender stereotypes
Gender stereotypes in literature a level essays
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The Puritan obsession with reputation generally prompts a person into taking selfish actions in order maintain a good reputation among their peers. Two characters in The Crucible who are portrayed as more obsessed with their reputations than most are Reverend Parris and Tituba. The first character to take note of is Reverend Parris who’s reputation amongst the townsfolk of Salem appears to be his main concern in the wake of potential witchcraft brewing in the town. Although his daughter, Betty, laid sick in bed not moving or speaking, Rev. Parris urges Abigail to confess to what they did in the forest “for now [his] ministry’s at stake, [his] ministry and perhaps [Abby’s] cousin’s life” (11). The fact that he speaks first of his ministry …show more content…
in his concerns regarding Betty rather than her own life, displays his primary concern as being his job and not losing it. He already feels that some folk in the town are out to ruin him and the possibility of witchcraft would be his enemies’ ideal opportunity to do so. Though still concerned for his daughter’s health, when the Putnam’s push more towards the possibility of witchcraft, Rev. Parris refuses “to leap to witchcraft” for the townsfolk would “howl [him] out of Salem for such corruption in [his] house” (13). Instead of outwardly expressing his fear for his daughter to the Putnam’s, he jumps directly to his job once more and his fear of being expelled from Salem as the reverend who allowed the Devil to conjure in his dwellings. At the beginning of Act One, the reader learns that Rev. Parris does not hold a great reputation as it is, but he hangs on to any shred of good that the public may see in him. His self-consciousness and feelings of “being persecuted wherever he went, despite his best efforts to win people and God to his side [,]” fuel these major concerns for his current position as reverend of Salem (3). By not having many people like him, and without the aid of God helping him lead the people of Salem in their Puritan beliefs, Rev. Parris feels as though he is unworthy of God’s grace to preach to his people. Without God’s grace, Parris subconsciously knows that signifies that God does not love him enough to save him from the fires of Hell, in accordance to his Puritan beliefs. Therefore, Reverend Parris will do all he can to convince himself he is worthy of going to Heaven for he currently finds himself stuck in a mindset in which he is convinced the mortal (and immortal world for that matter) are against him and his efforts to prevail as an influential reverend in Salem. Yet another character desperate to maintain a holy, Christian reputation is Tituba.
Tituba likely converted from a voodoo religion of her upbringings in Barbados to the Puritan Christianity present in Salem. Although the people of Salem expect Tituba to let go of all previous practices of her former religion, clearly she still holds on to some elements of her past faith. As Parris, Putnam, and Hale try to figure out why Tituba conspired with the Devil, they scare her into believing the Devil is an evil being who means to harm the children. Tituba wishes to “be a good Christian woman” but she lacks the understanding that the Devil is not a force to be reckoned with (42). From Tituba’s prior religious views, the Devil who she conjured does not possess evil powers. The men ultimately have confused Tituba and she simply pleads for mercy in order for them to see that she is good and has no “desire to hurt little children” (42). As a minority in racial, gender, and class concerns, Tituba will do whatever she needs in order to gain the acceptance of her superiors so she can have her life and reputation as a good, holy woman. Furthermore, Tituba finds herself in a position in which she can say whatever she wishes and she will have the ears of her listeners so she takes this opportunity to remove any blame of witchcraft from herself to others in order to portray her innocence as though these other woman forced Tituba to conspire with the Devil against her will. In short, both Reverend Parris and Tituba cherish their reputations because with a good reputation, they will gain the respect and trust of others and each will go to desperate measures in order to maintain their
reputation.
In the play, The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the town of Salem faces a mask of hysteria from the accusations of witchcraft. Reverend Parris, one of the many characters mentioned throughout the play, was a man who did not want his good name to be tarnished. Reverend Parris is known throughout the town as the churchly figure. Most citizens do not like his personality, but they ultimately respect him for his belief in religion. Although many people were hung for the accusations of dealing with witchcraft, Reverend Parris is the most guilty to blame for the events of the Salem Witch Trials, because he was a fearful and terrified religious leader who really didn’t know what he was doing, as well as a selfish and greedy idiot who made quick and irrational decisions for the benefit of himself that non-surprisingly ended up killing tons of innocent people
I chose the character Tituba because she is one of the main reasons for the disturbance in this story. In the Puritan town Salem, Massachusetts of New England, a black slave named Tituba and a few girls were dancing in the forest. While dancing Reverend Parris caught Tituba and his daughter Betty acting out, suddenly Betty falls into a state like coma. Many town people gather at the Parris’s house with rumors of black magic. So Reverend Parris sent for Reverend Hale a professional on the art of black magic, then he began too question Abigail Williams which was his niece and the mastermind behind the whole episode that took place in the forest.
In The Crucible, there are many different and dynamic characters with varying personalities; one of these includes Reverend Parris. The author uses indirect characterization to describe Reverend Parris as a fearful, quick-tempered, emotionally unstable, and non-religious.
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.
Reverend Parris’ fear of losing his job provokes him to cry witch. Reverend Parris’ daughter feigns to be in a coma. When the doctor bade Susanna tell Reverend Parris that he “might look to unnatural things for the cause of it” (9), he denies that possibility because he fears that rumors of witchcraft under his roof would help his “many enemies” (10) to drive him from his pulpit. Later, by supporting the Salem witch trials, Reverend Parris secures his position in the church. When John Proctor brings a deposition to court signed by Mary Warren that calls Abigail and her girls’ frauds, Reverend Parris urgently tells Judge Danforth that “they’ve come to overthrow the court” (88). When Mary Warren cannot faint in court, Reverend Parris accuses her of being “a trick to blind the court” (107). After Abigail pretends that Mary Warren is attacking her, Reverend Parris spurs on the accusations by telling her to “cast the Devil out” (118). Reverend Parris fears that if Abigail becomes exposed he will be punished for supporting an illegitimate court procedure. When execution day arrives, Reverend Parris fears that the “rebellion in Andover” (127) over hangings will occur similarly in Salem. Reverend Parris pleads to Hathorne that “. . . it were another sort that we hanged till now . . . these people have great weight yet in the town” (127). Reverend Parris’ last attempt at preserv...
Miller touched on the subject of racism and related it to the present time with his characterization of the woman, Tituba. Historically, Tituba was a native woman; however, in the story she was portrayed as a black woman. Tituba was a servant of Reverend Parris and one of the first to be accused of witchcraft. She was an easy target because she was a minority and did not have a lot. Her different culture made her stick out, which caused people to surmise that she was a witch.
As the story of Tituba unfolds, it reveals a strong and kind hearted young woman, very different from the Tituba we meet in The Crucible. I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem unveils for the reader, Tituba's life, loves, and losses. Her long and arduous journey through life is inspired by her many female counterparts, yet also hindered by her insatiable weakness for men, who also press upon her the realities of life.
Bad reputations during this time period had greater influence on people’s lives. One way to prove this is by reading The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller. This play displays the effects of acquiring a bad reputation. Many characters from this play deal with a conflict based on a reputation they have gained. The characters with the most significant conflicts resulting from reputations are John Proctor, Reverend Parris, and Abigail Williams.
During the Salem Witch Trials, Samuel never was able to question the girls and their thoughts to see if anything was valid or truthful. Reverend Samuel Parris had no reason to accuse the people in Salem, except for believing the hearings of the afflicted girls, yet had no reason for believing them. Parris was blind by the event because of his daughter Betty Parris’s sick afflictions and the words of his niece Abigail Williams. Later after the Witch Trials had ended, Samuel gave a sermon to the congregation of the church and gave a confession of apology. Many people did not take the apology into good terms and felt that he did it only because he felt like he had to. However, he was soon kicked out of the church and a new Reverend “Joseph Green” took over trying to repair everything that was torn apart. Samuel and his family left Salem leaving Tituba which was believed to of been released out of jail and sold to pay off her
In Maryse Condé novel, I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem, Tituba is the victim of the spread of colonial ideology. Colonial ideology is established early in the novel and plays a role throughout. Colonial ideology is the reason Tituba is a slave to white men throughout the play. Colonial ideology is the reason why Tituba’s opinion is considered irrelevant by other characters in the play. Tituba’s life is filled with lost, misery, and disappointment because of the ideology shared by other characters in the novel. The spread of colonial ideology leads to Tituba’s low role in every society she lives in during her life.
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. Reverend Parris is the character that initiates the hysteria of the Salem witch trials, in a community where authorities wasted no time minding the business of its citizens, what should have been seen as teen frivolity was blown into one of the ugliest moments in American history. Parris sparks this by firstly acting on his own paranoia, which the reader would find in the introduction 'he believed he was being persecuted wherever he went';, and calling Reverend Hale in an attempt for self-preservation '….
For instance, Parris, Abigail’s uncle and the main reverend of Salem, feels great at first when people started to get accused of being witches. He knows that witchery is unlikely in Salem because the girls admitted to just playing. However, when Parris claims that Abigail can see spirits, he saves his position in the church. It is only when he sees that he may lose his life due to this lie, that he wants to stop. Parris expresses this to the judges, “Tonight, when I open my door to leave my house—a dagger clattered down” (200). Parris starts to care when his life is at stake, but he was stress-free for a while. He foresaw positive effects of this lie, but he understands his mistake of letting the executions continue. Lastly, Proctor admits to the judge that he had an affair with Abigail because he wants this injustice to end. The judge takes Abigail’s side, but they still ask Elizabeth to confirm or deny Proctor’s confession because she is known for only telling the truth. The judge demands an
Reputation is the beliefs or opinions that are generally held about someone or something. A famous American poet once said: “Oh reputation dearer far than life”. James Russell Lowell highlights the importance of reputation by declaring it more important than even human life itself. This idea is also found in ‘The Crucible’ as many characters will be challenged between telling the truth and dying, or saving their reputation. In ‘The Crucible’, this theme beholds a key position in the unrolling of the story as an impression of control over the outcome of people’s lives is created by its importance.
The theme of reputation and quest for people is also portrayed clearly in The Crucible. In the old days, children were considered unimportant. They weren't allowed to speak until given permission to, and they didn't make important decisions at all. However, during the witch court trials, Abigail and other girls had the power to say who was innocent and who was guilty. Probably, for the first time in their lives, they had power over Salem and they wanted to maintain it. Moreover, the authorities of Salem were afraid of losing authorities and power. For example, the judges, Governor Danforth and Ezekiel Cheever didn't want to admit that they were being fooled by a bunch of girls so they insisted that witchcraft existed in the town of Salem.
The underlying causes of every event that occurs on earth is bound to repeat itself; one of these processes includes the entropic hysteria following the discovery of a scapegoat for a community’s prevalent issues. The course of action described is precisely what occurred in Salem, Massachusetts, when the young girls of the town began to show symptoms eerily reminiscent of torment from a witch. Abigail Williams, niece to Mr. Parris, the town’s pastor, had started the hysteria when she accused her servant, Tituba, of bewitching her and several other girls. Abigail also happened to have an affair with a handsome farm owner named John Proctor, for whom she would do anything to be with. She began to sporadically accuse people of witchcraft to grow