False Confession And Wrongful Conviction In Arthur Miller's The Crucible

People tend to believe what they want to believe. Whether the information is presented by celebrities, politicians, or through paid advertisements on social media, it can be misinterpreted as true, even when it was proven false. Misinformation causes people to make reckless decisions based on what they have seen or heard. False information has led to unfortunate events, such as the Salem Witch Trials and prejudice-based violence. False information connects events in both Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and current society, shaping the opinions of the public and allowing authorities to stay in power despite false evidence against them.

Imagine living in a society where you are guilty till proven innocent, instead of innocent til proven guilty. Due to the bias preference of the word of “God” in the story The Crucible By Arthur Miller, it is greatly implied that many of the casualties such as John and Elizabeth Proctor to name a couple was due to the restricted theology of church and state. In the Puritan New England town of Salem, Massachusetts, a group of girls goes dancing in the forest with a black slave named Tituba. While dancing, they are caught by the local minister, Reverend Parris. These girls are who create most of the controversy, as they lie to get through most circumstances. A specific individual is Abigail Williams, playing the victim for example as she blames Tituba in page 43 saying “She makes me drink blood!” leading to Tituba to being pulled to the side in page 44 and yelled at “you will confess yourself or I will take you out and whip you to death” making her give in, in order for him to spare her life. leading to further unjustifiable atrocities.

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

A ‘crucible’ is an object in which substances are combined and then subjected to high temperatures. Arthur Miller uses this theme to guide “The Crucible” from the exposition, when Puritan girls danced in the woods, to Proctor’s death by the hangman’s noose. Hale and Danforth are closely intertwined in their beliefs and views at the beginning of the play, but, as tensions and temperatures rise, they begin to separate; ultimately ending with contrary beliefs. In the opening scenes, Hale and Danforth are present in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 to cast out demons and witches. When the final curtain falls at the end of Act Four, Hale recognizes that the Salem Witch Trials were a result of repressed emotions and conflicts, and the desire to express them under the pretext of witchcraft. Danforth cannot and will not recognize this fact. Thus, Miller develops the characters of Hale and Danforth into foils for each other by the end of the novel; the growing tension is made evident through dialogue, character development, and through the theme of pride.

The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is written about the Salem Witch Trials back in 1692. It began with a group of girls messing around in the woods and when someone walks down and catches them dancing, which is against the rules, they were accused of performing witchcraft. This is what started the Salem witch trials. As the play goes on it tells the story about the accusations of witchcraft and the punishments results of the accusations. Throughout this play there were two main characters, John Proctor and Abigail Williams. John Proctor was a father of three boys, married to Elizabeth, had sexual relations with Abigail, and tends to stands up for what he believes is right. In the play, Proctor comes across many problems that are ethical dilemmas, one of the biggest is his reputation, and deciding whether to lie to stay alive or tell the truth and die.

In 1953 a play is written by Arthur Miller, a man questioned by the House Representatives for believing in a communist reform. A man who had refused to give up the names of others at communist meetings would be convicted of contempt of Congress, issued a fine, given a prison sentence, blacklisted, and even disallowed a US passport. All this lead to Arthur Miller writing a play called The Crucible. A play which was set in Salem, Massachusetts in the years 1692-93, the time of the Salem Witch Trials. One of the points Miller expressed was history repeating itself, showing that America was going on a “witch hunt” for those who believed in communism, just as the people of Salem went on a witch hunt for those who practiced witchcraft. Miller, having historical accuracy in his play, got the point across that history had repeated itself, yet the historical accuracy might not have been perfect in the play, mainly because plays can overlook environmental detail and will change aspects of events to add a sense of drama. Following the play were filmed adaptions which were more likely to be accurate historically since films are given more freedom with sites they can film at and editing that can be done to further enhance an event in history. The film adaptions of The Crucible are more accurate than any stage performance of it for three simple reasons; Consistency, the portrayal of characters/environments, and the addition of historical detail.

Mistakes are part of human nature. Mistakes can happen to anyone and anything. In the play The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, mistakes are shown all throughout the story. The whole idea of The Crucible is that a wild witch hunt is going on in the town. Names are being called out at random, and people are turning on one another. This story was written by Miller after the McCarthy Hearings, which was the period during the Cold War where Joseph McCarthy began to call many high level officials out for being a communist. The Crucible is right on along like the Hearings. One character who was of high respect in the town of Salem was John Proctor. Proctor is shown to the reader and throughout the play as the hero of the town. Proctor is a simple but well respected farmer in the town of Salem, who gets himself mixed up with witchcraft and the twisted and treacherous Abigail Williams. Through the writings of Arthur Miller, Proctor is shown to have many strengths and flaws that attribute him as the tragic hero of the play.

Corruption is defined as dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power. Corruption present in any society negatively affects citizens no matter what time period in history. In order to reference a time of communism, the author of The Crucible portrays character based on real life people from Massachusetts in 1693 during the Salem Witch Trials. Arthur Miller demonstrates effective usage of rhetorical strategies, such as comparisons, imagery, and tone, to convey the message of corruption and tragedies through morally ambiguous characters.

In Arthur Miller's The Crucible, choices in character development, setting development, and the structure of events contribute to the development of the central ideas of lies and jealousy. In the play Abbigail Williams goes through a lot of trouble so that she could be with John Proctor. Many people were thrown in jail and also many where put to death because of the lies she told. Lies and jealousy lead to the development in characters, settings, and the structure of events.

Questionable morals that later reveal themselves to be admirable in the actions of an individual encases the overall meaning of moral ambiguity. The character may display traits that suggest they are merciless to start; however as their story progresses the character’s true, good nature is exposed. Moral ambiguity is significant to Arthur Miller’s The Crucible because through the character Reverend Hale, it develops prominent themes of theocracy and fear through the corruption of a higher power. The themes are currently displayed in contemporary society, resulting in Miller’s play being incredibly relevant to the modern reader.

In society, we are blind to lies that are taking place around us everyday. Small lies, big lies, lies right in front of our face, and we are oblivious to almost all of it. This is shown really well in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. Throughout the play, which takes place during the witch trials that took place in Salem, lies make up a big portion of the plot. Some of these types of lies that are used are described very well in Stephanie Ericsson’s essay The Ways We Lie. These variations of lies amplify the outrage created, through McCarthyism, and the Salem Witch trials that take place in the play The Crucible.

Infused with mystery, fear grim facts and records, Witchcraft history can be traced back to centuries. During the Salem Witch Trials, false accusations were being spread around leading to the community of Salem to be filled with fear and death. In his novel, The Crucible, Arthur Miller argues that making false accusations and rumors can ruin a person’s reputation, and eventually, a community.

One definition for a crucible is “a severe test,” provided by the Merriam Webster Dictionary. As illustrated in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, few communities tested the values of mankind more than 17th century Salem, a society where a citizens’ life hung on the words uttered by his neighbor. As witchcraft hysteria quickly sweeps across the town, there are essentially two options for its inhabitants: accuse or be accused. These residents’ core principles--as well as their strong Puritan faith--are put on the line as they are forced to choose between following the crowd and staying protected, or risking their lives by fighting for justice in Salem. Miller interprets a crucible as a severe test of moral integrity through his use of figurative language and syntax, which ultimately reveals the inherent goodness of human nature; this test of honor and the prevailing uprightness of mankind is also evident in the McCarthy era in which Miller wrote the play.

Lying leads to terrible tragedies. Lying for so long will make it unpleasant to move on and the more difficult it will become. Just like how The Crucible ends. The Crucible is set in Salem, Massachusetts, at the beginning of the 1692 Salem Witchcraft Trials. The story is centralized around John Proctor, a white, landowning Puritan who betrayed his wife, Elizabeth by having sex with Abigail Williams. Back in the day, everything was black and white, meaning if something isn’t about God then it must’ve been about the Devil, they were religious people and they would not accept the fact that he had sex with someone else outside of marriage. He denied that nothing ever happened between him and Abigail. While Proctor is not taking responsibility for his actions, he causes a big commotion: people getting arrested and hanged, Abigail and a group of other girls are being accused of being part of Witchcraft. In the fourth act, Proctor is stuck in a situation where he either says the truth about who is part of witchcraft or he gets hanged. Proctor does not confess because he does not want people to use his name in vain and he knows that if he confesses it will leave a bad example for his sons, he decided to die an honest man than to live a fraud. At the end, Proctor ripped the confession knowing that he will be hung. Throughout the play, Arthur Miller creates two themes: the past will always haunt you and as people run away from their problems, their problems will continue to follow

The crucible, a play by Arthur Miller, a story about adultery, false accusations, and forgiving. The story is a real life based event that happened in the 1600’s when people were falsely being accused of being “Witches”. Along with the false accusations, it led to punishments such as death. In The Crucible, John Proctor’s reputation around the town is known as an Adulterer, he was also victim of false accusations brought against him, and he was forgiving of his sins.]