Good Versus Evil in The Crucible by Arthur Miller Essay examples

Abigail starts to accuse several people in Salem soon after Tituba in a desperate ploy to get attention, that soon gets blown out of proportion and becomes a massacre of innocent people.

In March 24, 1692 Rebecca Nurse was a seventy year old women standing before the court while she was accused of being a witch. Rebecca nurse was a kind-hearted, and honest women. Abigail Williams and Ann Putnam Jr. were the ones who accused Rebecca Nurse. Abigail said she felt the spirit of Rebecca one morning. Rebecca could not testify against it because the examination had already been set. When judge Hawthorne asks Rebecca about the accusations Rebecca says, “I can say before my Eternal Father I am innocent and God will clear my innocence." After Rebecca contradicts many more accusations, two grown men began to accuse Rebecca. In the court room many people cried out to Rebecca, “Did you bring the black man?” Rebecca Nurse kept saying she was innocent, and that god will prove her innocence. Hawthorne starts to question these accusations of Rebecca Nurse. Many people believe that the Putnam family was behind Nurse’s accusations. The Putnam family and the Nurse family would frequently fight over whose land was whose. There were many people who risked their lives to save Rebecca Nurse by signing a petition. Rebecca Nurse never did confess that she belonged to the devil. On the final day of her examination she was found guilty. This was not surprising to the town or to Rebecca Nurse. If Rebecca Nurse would have confessed her life could have been spared, but she

She has many obvious characteristics, all of which are favorable. The quote represents her motherly personality. Since she has many children and grandchildren, she is knowledgeable about the maternal aspects of situations. Rebecca is wise, religious, and charitable too. There are three personality traits that Rebecca and I share. Rebecca Nurse and I share three personality traits specifically logical reasoning, stubborn means, and honest demeanor.

In the Puritan society, the belief was that all young girls were pure and innocent, so they couldn’t possibly be lying about the witches. Although this may be true for some girls, it is not true for Abigail. Abigail spends the majority of the first half of the book lying to her Uncle and everyone in town about the reason and the outcome of her visit to the woods. When accused of conjuring spirits, she starts the long path of accusations and tells her uncle that it was “ not [me] sir- Tituba and Ruth,” (Miller 15). This one phrase started the long line of people that were to be killed in the next few days. Again, everyone believes her because she’s perceived to be free from moral wrong. Essentially, Abigail placed the blame on a multitude of scapegoats, starting with Parris’s maid Tituba. Because of her ethnicity, Abigail found it easy to place the blame on Tituba. After being questioned by Parris and the Putnams, Abigail realizes that there are others that could get in the way, so she goes to them and says that if they “breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the [witchcraft], and [she] will come to [them] in the black of some terrible night and [she] will bring pointy reckoning,” (Miller 19). This is showing that Abigail isn’t afraid to threaten people to stay out of trouble. This goes against the belief of innocence mentioned

At the age of 24, Rebecca married Frances Nurse after relocating to Salem, Massachusetts. Rebecca bore four sons and four daughters adding to the family. “The wife of a respectable farmer,Francis Nurse, and by this time a great-grandmother,she was famed for her piety. No one came closer in character to the ideal of a Puritan saint.” (Hill 1803). Both her and her husband Francis, attended church regularly and were well respected members of the community of Salem. “Rebecca Nurse was an elderly and respected member of the Salem community. Nurse was one of the first "unlikely" witches to be accused. At the time of her trial she was 71 years old, and had "acquired a reputation for exemplary piety that was virtually unchallenged in the community." It was written of Nurse: "This venerable lady, whose conversation and bearing were so truly saint-like, was an invalid of extremely delicate condition and appearance, the mother of a large family, embracing sons, daughters, grandchildren, and one or more great-grandchildren. She was a woman of piety, and simplicity of heart." Her saintly reputation preceded her, so when she was accused of witchcraft in 1692 many members of the community came forward and spoke on her behalf. Thirty nine well respected members of the community came forward and signed a petition on Nurse’s half vouching for her behavior, while several others scared to come forward, wrote individual petitions vouching for her reputation and

First, Abigail lies and says that Tituba “sends her spirit on” her (Miller 1057). Abigail accuses Tituba of witchcraft in order to save her own name. She blames her for making her laugh in church and making her drink blood. However, in reality, these claims are false and it is Abigail manipulating the truth for her gain once again. Abigail’s lies about the serious crime of witchcraft put the lives of people in danger. Not only is she manipulating the truth, but she manipulates Salem like a puppet on a string, throwing around accusations to whoever she wants. She has the upper hand in the situation and has a deadly weapon of lies. Lastly, Abigail lies and claims that “Goody Proctor has always kept poppets” (Miller 1094). Abigail want to prove the lie that Elizabeth made an enchanted poppet of her to bring her pain, as Abigail “found” a needle in her side. However, the poppet that was made was by Mary Warren, not Elizabeth Proctor. Abigail has motive to accuse Elizabeth and get her murdered for a crime she did not commit. Abigail wants Elizabeth’s husband John, and would surely go to the extent of murder to get him. Abigail once again puts one’s life in danger for her own selfish gain through fraud accusations of witchcraft. Her selfish lies creates a clear image to the reader that she puts her own conspiring interests above the lives of others, in addition her corruption festers

I thought I was doing what was right and I believed everything I did was in the name of God. I believed all the evil I removed from this world was what God wanted and for the most part it was true. All the witches I condemned to the rope was for a good cause and the evidence against them was so evil it could not be ignored. All the deaths I ordered never left a toll on my conscience as I knew it was Gods wish. But, when I arrived in Salem it felt different, it was not like any town went to before.

During the times of witch hunts in McCarthyism and in The Crucible, people will accuse an innocent person of being a witch or a communist. In the poem, Rebecca Nurse was an innocent old Christian woman. Even though she was a very religious woman and did only good deeds, she was put onto the list of witchery. The person being accused will be put onto a list, everyone in the town eventually finds out. In The Crucible Mr. Hale makes an excellent point, “No man may longer doubt the powers of the dark are gathered in monstrous attack upon this village. There is too much evidence now to deny it” (Miller 61). Mr. Hale was saying no one can try to cover the actions of the evil people, or witches, with anymore excuses or lies to try and ignore the fact of the possibility of witches in the village. The list makes the citizens aware, which then causes the people to notice the signs and actions that make it

"Oh I marvel how much a strong man may let such a sickly wife be."

Some claimed that she used magical powers to heal people and she frequently talked to herself in different languages. They proclaimed that because of her involvement in some of the healing's by the use of medicine, Rebecca was a witch. Beaumanoir makes his final decision to accuse her of witchcraft. Rebecca knows she will have no chance of a normal trial so she ask for trial by battle.

In The Crucible, Arthur Miller writes about a witch hysteria among the townspeople of Salem, Massachusetts. Secrets are rife within the town, and suspicion rises against isolated families. Nosiness and a want to discover and exploit the truth about people arises among the population. Invading one’s personal business, however, can likely do more harm than good.

Rebecca makes her own decisions, even if in a patriarchal society women were supposed to be subservient to the men in their family. For instance, when the mother and brother of Rebecca ask her to stay for ‘a week or ten days’, Rebecca says that she would like to go with the servant of Abraham to Isaac (Gen. 24.55-59). Rebecca knows what she wants to do and doesn’t let others influence her decision. She is very independent and willing to take risks. As shown through how women

Rebecca Nurse is an example of a character who has struggled in The Crucible. Rebecca says, “There is prodigious danger in the seeking of loose spirits. I fear it. Let us rather blame ourselves.” Rebecca knows the girls who cry witchcraft just do it for attention. Rebecca doesn’t think the adults should play into it. Rebecca says, “Pray, John, be calm.” Rebecca Nurse is the voice of reason. Many characters such as Ann Putnam, get agitated with her rationalization because they want to believe in witchcraft. Ann Putnam says, “I have laid seven babies unbaptized in the earth.” Ann Putnam has had many babies die, and Rebecca hasn’t. Ann says, “You think it God's work you should never lose a child, nor grandchild either, and I bury all but one?”

Throughout the endurance of Arthur Miller's The Crucible, vengeance plays a prominent role in the actions and fates of various characters. In many ways, vengeance fuels the need for retaliation. Disputes among neighbors has bred hatred and then witch trials brought out the vindictiveness of Salem's population. This leads to the deaths of many citizens in Salem by false accusations to the court. Citizens of Salem were utilizing the court system as a means of "extermination" for people who had interests or beliefs, that were contradictory to their own. As Miller states himself, "This predilection of minding other people's business was time-honored among the people of Salem, and it undoubtedly created many suspicions which were to feed the

According to Benjamin Franklin, “It takes many good deed to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it.” In the play The Crucible, many children with intent to make a “love potion” went out into the woods and danced, cheered, one even drank blood. When they got caught by Reverend Parris, the girls took fright and some even fainted. Immediately, they were accused of witchcraft. Betty Warren was younger and very scared. She fainted and wouldn't wake. People began to worry and blamed the devil. Trials began and people blamed each other for reasons not even concerning witchcraft. People blamed each other over land feuds, revenge, and envy. Although, most concern people had was for their own reputation. In the play The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, Abigail Williams, Reverend Parris, and John Proctor were most concerned for their reputations.