Salem Witch Trials And Convictions In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

The purpose of my paper is to compare and contrast Arthur Miller’s The Crucible with the actual witch trials that took place in Salem in the 17th Century. Although many of the characters and events in the play were non-fictional, many details were changed by the playwright to add intrigue to the story. While there isn’t one specific cause or event that led to the Salem witch trials, it was a combination of events and factors that contributed to the birth and growth of the trials. Some of these events included: a small pox outbreak that was happening at the time, the revocation of the Massachusetts Bay Colony charter by Charles II, and the constant fear of Native attacks. These helped in creating anxiety among the early Puritans that

What do the Salem Witch Trials and the Holocaust have in common? Despite being tragic events that transpired decades apart, innocent people were murdered upon the false pretenses of a religious driven mass hysteria and madmen. The similarities in both events are astounding as both were caused by differences in personality, culture, and way of life. There are many plays and books that perfectly convey the horrors of the Holocaust, but only one play exists that tells the story of the Salem Witch Trials to the extent that they really happened. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is believed to be a realistic account of these trials. He tells of the suffering of the people and the hysteria brought upon the townsfolk through his words. Through his mind,

In 1962 the penalty of witchcraft was to be hung or smashed. There was a big outburst of witchcraft and spells that were going around among the people of Massachusetts in 1962. Some of the women of Salem began the witchcraft many people started to catch on and fallow them. A lot of these people were hung do to what the bible said about the wrongs of witchcraft. When these women of Salem Massachusetts started to do witchcraft and pass it on to other people they were put on trial for their actions, which at the time was, illegal. It had caught on all over England and was spreading fast. Arthur Miller made a play called the Crucible that was about the Salem witchcraft trials. Arthur miller took the historical

During the Salem witch trials, many lives that were taken due to a few people’s self defence. In the book, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, a group of girls caused a whole town to go array. This group of girls were caught naked, dancing and conjuring spirits. These girls were going to accept the blame and receive the whipping for what they did, but one of the girls, Abigail, was not about to go down. Abigail had the whole group of girls convinced that it would be best to lie and to not accept the beating. By doing this, they were put into the court and used to tell the judges whether or not the people whom were accused were truly witches. Though the girls had no way of telling if the accused were truly witches, they

The Salem Witch Trials - a time where the people of Salem were controlled by Christianity, but their God was nowhere to be found during their suffering and immense fear. Many pieces of literature often try to portray the chaos and seemingly godless times that occurred in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, but the most notable piece of literature surrounding the trials is Arthur Miller’s drama, The Crucible. Miller’s characters are all based on people who were actually a part of the Salem Witch Trials and uses details from their lives to contribute to his writing. His dramatized version of the trial accurately describes the hysteria that occurred in the town, and helps lead the reader to a deeper understanding of the witch trials. By showing multiple conflicts in his play, all having to do with religion, relationships, and authority, one begins to question what actually caused the trials in his work and if the trials were truly a search based off of the need to rid the town of all evil. In the end it becomes clear that multiple characters to use the idea of witches as a way to stir up hysteria and fear amongst the people of Salem in order to gain respect and power.

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.

Many crucial events lead to the Salem Witch trials. The trials ended in a gruesome manner, and conflicts were at the root of the cause. The Salem Witch trials were the result of illogical-mass hysteria, and were induced by grudge holding people who used the trials to harm their foes.

American playwright, Arthur Miller, in his play The Crucible (1952), suggests that witch hunts still exist in American society. Miller supports this claim by drawing parallels between the Salem Witch Trials and the Senator Joseph McCarthy Trials. His purpose is to warn his readers of the dangers of mass hysteria. He uses emotional appeals (pathos) and logic (logos) to convince the reader that mass “hunts” are still a danger to Americans today. The main way, however, that Miller achieves his ultimate goal of demonstrating the dangers of individuality vs. ideology is through the vivid characterization of Mary Warren. Mary Warren is an example of an outwardly conforming character because in the play she tells Abigail that she wants to tell

"He states that you coldly prompted your daughter to cry witchery upon George Jacobs that is now in jail" (96). In the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller, people would do anything to get what they want. In the town of Salem good vs. evil plays a big role. The people of Salem are constantly debating about who is telling the truth and who is lying. People are also judged based on their religious views. Even though they had a lack of evidence, the town of Salem mislabeled people as good or evil.

Erma Faye Stewart, Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam, Korey Wise, Raymond Santana and Kevin Richardson. What do they all have in common? They were all found guilty and charged with a crime they didn’t commit, yet all of them sealed their fate themselves with a false confession to the crime. False Confession and Wrongful Convictions, they are a big reason that innocent people still go to prison in the modern day and many people have never heard or thought about it. Throughout history, people have tried to find the truth about crimes and torture was an effective way of getting a false confession. It is effective because it creates a situation for the victim where confessing, even though the victim might be innocent, would be better than not confessing. This situation is how most false confessions arise. This situation where confessing to something you didn’t commit is better than not confessing is clearly seen taking place in multiple areas of Arthur Miller’s 1953 play, The Crucible. Due to the common occurrence of this phenomenon, in times hundreds of years ago and the modern day, we must ask what causes the decision in someone to make a false confession and be falsely convicted for something they never did and how can we prevent this in order to acquire better truths and protect the innocent.

Through the course of the play, persecution was a major consequence of people’s self gain. Thomas Putnam was one who was sucked into greed. For his desperate need for land, he told his daughter to accuse George Jacobs of being a witch, so he would be forced to forfeit his land if he gets convicted, which Thomas was the only person in town that could afford it. Including, Abigail who accused Elizabeth Proctor of doing voodoo on a poppet that was supposed to be her. Cheever and Herrick were searching the Proctor home for poppets. As a result of Abigail’s accusation against Elizabeth saying that Elizabeth had a doll and stabbed her in the stomach from the doll. “Herrick, Herrick, it is a needle” (Miller 176). As a result, they found the needle

It was a cold dark wintery night in Salem Mass. Titubia could feel the wind bellow through the cabin as she gently rocked the baby in front of the fireplace. Two older children sat by her feet listening to a wild tale.

In Salem, injustice is displayed very often by people’s actions, and thoughts. People were never able to be given privacy, and could never have their thoughts, their own. During this time, people were abscessed with witchcraft, and in people’s mind, it took over their life, by accusing others, and getting them killed. This is shown by hale in Act 1, but over time, realizes that there are to many

The Salem witch trials was a story of envy, lies, and the danger of the people. Others wouldn’t defend those accused, and if they did, they themselves were eventually charged as witches. In many ways, defending others was condemning yourself. Such was the case for John Proctor in “The Crucible”. John Proctor was someone who had made mistakes, but through his own crucible made peace with himself and defended the honor of himself and the others that would not admit to witchcraft.

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.]