Fear and peer pressure can make people do crazy and unexpected things. A community in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 fell victim to a hysteria that caused the witch trials. This erupted into a unending pointing of fingers and name-calling, which unfortunately ended with the deaths of 20 people, like in Arthur Miller’s, The crucible, Salem, 1692. Starting the play, as a truthful puritan, Mary Warren wants to keep Abigail Williams and the town happy, agrees to try to free Elizabeth, but finally lies to try and save herself.…
In abnormal times or times of hysteria, one can easily be tempted to seek out a scapegoat, and if a sensible place of blame is not found, a somewhat ridiculous idea can be resurrected. These beliefs are held to be true, especially by those directly affected by these strange events, or those with an ulterior motive. The character of Abigail in The Crucible by Arthur Miller exemplifies this. She is also represented in the poem, “Witchcraft was hung, in History,”, by Emily Dickinson. In “Witchcraft was hung, in history”, what is seemingly normal is made to look like something abnormal because sometimes, in times of hysteria, people need a place to put the blame.…
deny the rules. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, the misguided teen, Abigail Williams, uses that structure against the people of Salem. To do this, she places herself in a high position, controlling the adolescents around her. This leads to the teenage girls of Salem fearing Abigail because of how she challenges the rules of their society.…
“Power changes everything ‘till it is difficult to say who are the heroes and who are the villains,” said Libba Bray. A perfect example to support this quote is how the accusations of witchcraft changed an entire village in the story “The Crucible.” Abigail Williams, a main character, was an orphaned teenage girl living with her uncle and her cousin, Betty, in the city of Salem. She was overlooked and unimportant until she was caught dancing in the woods with her friends one night. All of sudden two of the girls became ill and their only explanation was witchcraft. Abigail said she was innocent and blamed her own slave of possessing her. Abigail realized how powerful her words were and began to accuse anyone who had ever crossed her of being a witch. What people didn’t know was that it was all a lie. Throughout the story Abigail’s need for more power and attention increased until she was no longer the silly girl that danced in the woods, but a conniving and jealous antagonist.…
In The Crucible, the community of Salem was depicted as motivated by fear, greed, and revenge shown by the witch trials. Some people of the community are afraid for their lives of being condemned a witch, while others take advantage of those fears. As a result, people will do anything to satisfy the motivation including betrayal. In The Crucible, three types of betrayal are evident which are the betrayal of oneself, theocracy, and community.…
For Sophia the “beginning of her extraordinary adventures” began when she witnessed the execution of Nathan Hale, a spy. She was horrified at what happened but being only 12 she realized that she wanted to help the American cause. She just didn’t know how. Sophia at the age 12 did not know how to help, but as she grew and experienced life changing events she accepts the dangers ahead at the age 15.…
An allegory is a story, poem or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one. Arthur Miller’s novel, the Crucible is a fictional play that centers around the Salem Witch Trials. The novel can also be classified as an example of an allegory. The allegorical meaning of the Crucible is that it can be a representation of the Red Scare, the HUAC, and McCarthyism.…
The small, religious town of Salem, Massachusetts has become hell on earth as accusations of witchcraft spread like wildfire in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. The characters of this play must find ways to protect not only themselves but also the ones they love from being pulled into this predicament. The theme throughout the play is how the different forms of hysteria motivate characters to perform consequential actions.…
If you don't believe in witch hunts, that's fine. But the idea of them is very real. The Crucible is a story that takes place in Salem, Massachusetts. This small community is full of superstition and the towns people let their beliefs destroy friendships, and lives. Arthur Miller uses many repeating themes in the play The Crucible. There are many good, and bad themes that come up throughout the play. Some of the common themes of this story are lust, fear, and courage.…
"You are combined with anti-Christ,are you not?"--Danforth. Within Miller's book The Crucible he portrays and explains how Puritan life was and how the people responded to it on a daily basis. Within The Crucible there is a horrific village known as Salem and in it everything runs off of the bible and the people's thought and if they think you are a witch you will be accused and have to either confess or be brought to death. By closely looking at how Puritanism caused such havoc and destruction . Two themes that obviously dealt with the outrageous destruction and the attitudes of those people would be the philosophical theme of examined their inner lives closely looking for signs of grace or of being damned and the religious theme of which are certain that most of of humanity would be damned for all eternity.…
Arthur Miller is a great author that uses many forms of syntax, figurative language, and diction to enhance his writing throughout The Crucible. Miller uses figurative language throughout The Crucible, to put emphasis on certain ideas and things. Miller also uses diction in The Crucible to show that the story is taking place in the past and to give the story a more biblical feel to it. One other thing that Arthur Miller does really well is his use of syntax. He uses syntax throughout The Crucible to show the intelligence levels of different characters. Miller uses these three different things in combination throughout The Crucible to enhance the story and to tell the story of the witch craft trials in an insightful way.…
Everywhere you go; people are always trying to uphold their reputation. They will make others lives worse or even in jeopardy just to make sure people don’t look at them differently. To make sure their reputation isn’t compromised. In the play The Crucible, Arthur miller expresses how important ones reputation is in a small community. He shows how they will defend their reputations because it is what keeps their social status in place. John Proctor and Reverend Hale are characters who make an attempt to maintain their reputations in their time of crisis.…
Humans always want what they do not have, they try to deny it but it is inevitable. The crucible by Arthur Miller has many selfish people. First, people want thing and act selfishly. Second, People do selfish things when they want something. Third, others are hurt when people act selfishly. When characters act selfishly to get something they want, others are hurt.…
An outlook on gender roles in today ‘s advanced society is drastic contrast to the views portrayed in the crucible written by Arthur Miller depicts women as weak . None of the females in crucible posses extreme power but the truthful pre-hearted and family oriented women seemed to be even less powerful than the others . Therefore, Miller has also shown women sufferance In crucible through interpretive evidence on how tituba was being accused for all witchcraft and how she demolished the puritan society rules. According to the document women are not as inferior as men , despite how literate they are , their always fictionalize as barmaids, bitches, whores, or brainless housewives .…
Through my time being with the church I have never questioned or doubted the sacredness of our work once, but recently I have come to find myself realizing that the duty performed by reverends of this sanction are ill minded in determining the wrongfulness of a fellow towns member’s affairs. I am now considering leaving the church; I must record all of my reasons for doing so in this journal.…