Who Is Weak In The Crucible

The concepts of weakness, courage, and truth all play significant roles in Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, because characters inside the story represent them. The definitions of weak, courage, and truth are all different for each person, however within the story, each was defined.
What is the definition of weakness? Is it not being able to protect the ones you hold dear? Is it being pressured into giving up something? Or is it something more than those? John Proctor, a man of honor who kept his name clean, was weak, and because of his weakness many people died including himself, and those that he cared about. He was not physically weak, but mentally. If only Proctor had the guts to be able to tell the court what really happened, then so

many innocent people would not have to die. He could have saved his family, his friends, and the people that he cared about, but because of his weakness, they all died.

Weakness in my opinion is a sin. Only the strong survive in this world, and the weak ones will eventually die off. Of course, Proctor was not the only person that was weak, Elizabeth Proctor was also weak. She did not have the courage to tell the court what really happened, she did not resist when the arrest warrant came for her, and she also did not have the guts to tell John what she really thought. In fact, the whole entire town was weak. The Civilians are weak because they are afraid of the witches, which they never saw might I add. The townsfolk could not serve their own problems so they had to call in someone else, which is a sign of weakness. The girls that were going along with Abigail were also weak. They got on the bandwagon in order to save themselves, which is smart, but still weak. If they all banded together and took on

Abigail, what would they need to be scared off? Reverend Parris is also another example of weakness. He is afraid of being killed, as any man should, but he was so scared, he did not dare tell the “whole” truth to Danforth. Each person in Salem is weak, except for Abigail, she was not weak.
When a person is courageous, they gain, “strength in the face of pain or grief” (Google).

Not everyone can be courageous, but the few that are, are either dead or alive. Giles Corey is a fine example of someone who is courageous. Not willing to give up the name of the one that said Thomas Putnam was a bad man, challenging the court in order to get his wife back, and finally dying while still holding on to his beliefs, not many can accomplish what this person has done. To not turn in the name of the person that is saying Putnam is a bad man is already going against the court, but would a normal person be able to keep up his facade even though they know they will die? Not many people can say, “more weight,” (Corey) in the face of death. And certainly not many are able to overcome the shadows of death and still hold on to their beliefs. Giles Corey is truly a courageous person, but know that he is not the only one. Others included Francis Nurse who also went against the court and even, John

Proctor.
There was no truth in Salem during the witch trials, because each person was telling lies. Abigail can be described as cunning and manipulative which got her this far, but there is without a doubt, that there is no truth in her. If people did not jump to conclusions and investigated the “true” reason why things happen then, people would not be hanged. Nobody in this story represented the work “Truth”. Even though they are all followers of God, none of them spoke the truth. Even Rebecca Nurse is no exception, the reason that she was caught was because of her killing babies during childbirth, but did she say the number of people that she successfully delivered? Ann Putnam lost seven babies but she blamed it all on someone else, however we only drew that out of context. Why did she not say her lifestyle before she had the babies? What if that is the reason why she cannot have babies? Rebecca Nurse should have said what she thought and not try to comfort other people. Parris spoke lies in order to stay a Reverend, and that eventually cost the many lives of people.
Weakness, courage, truth all defined the little town of Salem. And it was those things that lead to the death of so many people. However, this does not mean those things are a bad thing. Without weakness you cannot get stronger, without courage it is not possible to face through adversity, and without truth, people would only know lies. They all played a role in The Crucible and that is why the book was so great.