Powerless Women In The Crucible

The town of Salem in 1692 is dominated by men. Salem is a Puritan patriarchal society, where the men hold all the power and life revolves around the church. This was the norm during that time and Miller establishes the culture of the town with leading male characters like Samuel Parris, John Proctor and Giles Corey who all speak on behalf of women and disregard the things they say. On the surface, it seems that men have all the power in the town and the women are expected to be seen and not heard. However, in private the dynamic between men and woman is shown by Miller to be different. The relationship between John and Elizabeth Proctor is an example of this. There is tension between the two after Elizabeth finds out about John’s affair with their

Women and children are regarded inferior to men in social standing and have restricted power, which causes the group of girls to accuse people as a way of gaining power. If women and children were not so restricted and put down, Abigail and the other girls would not be motivated to seek power through the means of witchcraft accusations. Abigail, by nature, is very controlling and orders around the other girls by threatening, “Let either of you breathe a word...and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring some pointy reckoning that will shudder you” (Miller 317). As a woman in Puritan society, Abigail has no other means to exert her power over others, so she resorts to accusing people of witchcraft to gain authority. John Proctor wants his servant, Mary Warren, to help him free Elizabeth and stop the wrongful court proceedings. However, after being threatened by the group of girls and ordered around by John, she declares “I’ll not hang with you! I love God, I love God” (Miller 397). Mary turns her back on John because she is

The Salem Witchcraft trials was an outrageous event that began in 1692, and ended May of 1693 seeing the execution of many people. Unfortunately most of the victims of this phenomenon were women. For the most part these women were accused for very trivial reasons, such as for being widowed, being of old age and living alone, or for simply collecting herbs and other plants. During this time in history women and men were treated very differently both as they should contribute in the home and in society, this would have presented reasons as to why women were predominantly accused of witchcraft, along with any religious beliefs. The Crucible by Arthur Miller takes place at a time of a patriarchal society, the roles of men and women were different, along with how they were treated overall in society. This contributed to the stereotype of women being the ones predominantly associated with witchcraft.

The year is 1692. Throughout the small, Puritan, seaside community of Salem, rumors and accusations fly like gusts of ocean wind. Neighbors turn on neighbors, and even the most holy church-goers are accused of being the devil’s servants. The Crucible details this real-life tragedy of the Salem witch trials, in which nineteen members of the Salem community were hanged for alleged witchcraft. Abigail Williams, a seemingly innocent girl, accuses dozens of Salem’s citizens of witchcraft through the support of her mob of girls and the complicity of the court officials. The title of this play gives significant insight into the experiences of several of these Salem citizens. Although a crucible is often used in chemistry for heating up substances, the title of the play carries a much greater weight. In his famous play The Crucible, Arthur Miller uses the title of “crucible” to signify the severe and unrelenting tests of faith and character that many of the community members endure throughout the Salem witch trials, which he achieves through the use of figurative language and fallacies of relevance and insufficiency.

In Arthur Miller's play The Crucible, Arthur intrigues audience time and time again with the historical context, social implications, and the Salem, Massachusetts Witchcraft Trials of 1962. Most members in Salem feel the need to prove their authority in ways such as accusing those who have done nothing or hanging them without proving their innocence first. The thing is authority is not made up by an authority figure, but by society. Miller’s The Crucible, demonstrates how people misuse their authority for cruel purposes through a fascinating plot, well-crafted characters, and well-set theme. During the hysteria of witchcraft trials in Salem, there were multiple figures of authority or per say the community who abused their power, Reverend Hale, Abigail Williams, Reverend Parris and Judge Danforth.

There are various ways you can portray women throughout, The Crucible. Women are raised with high expectations, morals, and majority are raised in a Christian household. Although there’s the other types of women that are the complete opposite. In The Crucible, women are viewed in many different ways based on their actions and behavior. In Margaret Atwood’s poem, “Half-Hanged Mary,” she views women the same way. The author in The Crucible, Arthur Miller, uses very important women to characterize the certain roles of women. The author of the poem, “Half-Hanged Mary,” also uses a woman to portray the roles of how women were treated in the poem, as well as the story, The Crucible. Both of these authors, Margaret and Arthur, compare the similar roles of women based on their well being and moral upbringings.

The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is a rich and enticing play set in the late 1600’s describing the epic horrors and emotions through the events of the Salem witch trials. The Crucible, focuses primarily on the inconsistencies of the Salem witch trials and the extreme behavior that can result from dark desires and hidden agendas. The play begins with the discovery of several young girls and an African American slave, Tituba, in the woods just outside of Salem, dancing and pretending to conjure spirits. The Puritans of Salem stood for complete religious intolerance and stressed the need to follow the ways of the bible literally without exception. The actions of the women in

Sparknotes emphasizes the role of empowerment by stating, “The witch trials empower several characters in the play who are marginalized in Salem’s society”. In fact, by empowering individuals who were previously powerless, the society (in The Crucible) crumbles. Arthur Miller is trying to convey that absolute power will often lead to corruption.

The idea of witchcraft seems preposterous now, but it pulled me into its issues with its bony hands. The renowned play and film The Crucible, by eminent author Arthur Miller, is a great tale of deceit, religious persecution, justice/injustice and paranoia, which shows the ignorance and the perplexing nature of the 17th Century Puritan society. The mysterious world of witchcraft and witch hunts is the centrepiece of this story, which parallels to the Senator Joseph McCarthy communist ‘witch hunts’ in the 1950s. Similarly, I can create a link to contemporary issues in society, whether it takes place in the school playground or politics. As we can all recall, abusive power was a severe problem in the villages of Salem. It afflicted on a person’s ideologies and how they were represented and symbolised by others. My curiosity is conveyed through Abigail. This protagonist is seen as inhumanly diabolical, as she does not express any remorse, via the motif of manipulation and accusations. This is all refracted through the lenses of my own attitudes, values and beliefs of an egalitarian society. So today I am here to explain and engage with you why I entirely believe this story, from many years ago, can reproduce the same apprehensions of abusive power in society today.

In “The Crucible,” Arthur Miller uses the characters Abigail and the three girls as feminists to gain power. “American laws wanted to move women closer to equality through an Equal Rights Amendment that would ban governments discrimination based on sexes”. “Feminism is the advocacy of women's rights on the basis of equality of the sexes.” He portrayed this by women having the power in a positive and negative way. In the town of Salem, women were given less amount of power, with their ability to have judgments upon other women and men as being witches and wizards. There was no need of evidence to prove if a person was a witch or not. This power was given to Abigail and the girls implying larger comments on the negative effect of women holding power. Although there were good things and bad things about women having power, Elizabeth Proctor lost power over her husband because John Proctor is the head of the house, but “she is submissive to him.” Elizabeth is not secured within her relationship with John Proctor because he had an affair with Abigail Williams. Elizabeth is upset and deeply hurt, and constantly reminding John Proctor that she is still hurt because he cheated on her. Society’s view a husband having more power than the woman. Elizabeth began to have the position of a stereotypical wife. She doesn’t lose power, but suppresses her power and holds her power privately. Society view women to be weak, not intelligent, so they deserve to have less power, and

The Crucible by Arthur Miller is an elaborate play that tells the story of the village of Salem and how the community slowly falls apart because of a strategic witch hunt ploy. The fear of witchcraft turns the once peaceful village upside down and accusations destroy the lives and reputations of so many people. Different characters’ actions have different impacts on the community, but one character stands out the most. Abigail Williams from The Crucible is a clear representation of how impactful the power of manipulation and deception is in a vulnerable society to create mass hysteria.

The roles of the women in the drama are significant because of the way they shape the story and help the reader understand the nature of one of the strangest events in human history. Throughout the novel, women are portrayed in many different ways. Some are shown as being good and moral people while others the complete opposite. Arthur Miller's treatment of women in this play show women as weak beings who give into their husbands. Each women in the drama plays a significant role in showing the different archetypes there were among women especially Mary Warren, Elizabeth Proctor, and Abigail Williams. In addition, Kohlberg’s Moral Stages are six developmental stages of human moral reasoning which can tie into the view in which we have of the women in the play.

The outlook on gender roles in today’s advanced society is in drastic contrast to the views portrayed in The Crucible, set in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692. The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, depicts women as weak creatures, who are expected to submit to men, and whose only access to power is through dishonest means.

The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a historical play set in 1962 in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts. As you may know, you've all placed your trust in the words and actions of someone close to you. And what do they do? They betray you! It's rarely justified, and can happen to the best of us. Based on authentic records of witchcraft trials in the seventeenth-century this play explains how a small group of girls manage to create a massive panic in their town by spreading accusations of witchcraft. These rumors in turn are the causes that many citizens are hung for. This essay will show how the lies and betrayal of a few individuals eventually leads to the downfall of Salem and its society.

In the Crucible, there are only a few types of woman being displayed. There are three contradistinctive personalities show in three different women. A few are shown to be moral, truthful people, while others are shown to be dishonest and deceitful. It can be concluded that the playwright is not a feminist. The author, Miller does not portray the females as impeccable and immaculate. Instead, Miller shows many slipups and vulnerabilities of the females being displayed.