The Crucible Character Analysis

The play, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, takes place in the town of Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. This time in Salem, witchcraft was suspected of almost everyone in the town. Preserving one’s reputation becomes recurring concept throughout the play. The witchcraft accusations are usually made by people that have a biased view against others, which is why everyone tries to make sure their reputation looks well with the rest of the town. This concept is proven through the characters of John Proctor, Reverend Parris and Reverend Hale. These three characters go to great lengths to protect what the town of Salem thinks of them.

In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, John Proctor, the protagonist, is a farmer in his middle thirties. The author gives little to no detailed physical description of him, but from Proctor’s speech, we can still picture him as a strong and powerful man who is able to keep every situation under the control, the kind of personality which earns him deep respect and even fear from the people in town. On the other hand, Abigail Williams, the antagonist, plays an inferior role as an orphan who has no social status in a place like Salem. Over the course of the play, John Proctor is absolutely awakened and transformed by Abigail Williams. In the end, he overcomes the crucible by releasing himself from his guilt of

Purist Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 suffered from a rapidly increasing phenomenon: witchcraft accusations and trials. The Crucible is a play that recounts the times of this incident. For the most part, it follows a man known as John Proctor. He is a sensible, honest, and hardworking man who made the mistake of succumbing to lust which sets off a chain of events that leads to the witch trials, and to his own demise. Arthur Miller’s The Crucible’s protagonist John Proctor proves to be a flawed human being who struggles to make sense of his past relationship with Abigail, his love for his wife, and his pride.

Pride can become something that will lead a man to shame and destruction. In The Crucible this happened to one of the main characters, John Proctor, which also is the one of the Tragic Hero in the book. The Crucible is about when some town people in Salem was accused of being witches after four girls were found dancing in the woods. After 200 people were accused of being witches in 1963, 20 people were either hung or crushed by many stones. In the Crucible John Proctor, the tragic hero had a weakness as pride eventually forcing him to face a serious decision and suffering more than he should.

The witch trials in this play were based on actual events that happened in Salem in 1692. Arthur Miller’s 1953 The Crucible is a dramatization of the Salem Witch Trials. His reasoning for writing it was because everyone was hysteric about the Soviet Union and communism trying to make its way over to the United States. It was like a modern day witch hunt. In the play, Abigail Williams and a group of girls get caught in the woods. They were dancing and doing other things that puritan’s looked down upon. The girls were caught by Reverend Parris, and soon after his daughter became ‘ill’. The girls then started saying that witches came to them and told them to do bad things. They sent innocent people to hang. After studying Arthur Miller’s

Giles Corey is a hot-tempered farmer that lives outside of Salem. His wife, Martha Corey, was one of those accused of practicing witchcraft, and was sentenced to death, by hanging. Giles Corey was also sentenced to death by being pressed with stones for contempt of court. Giles Corey was one that had good demonstrations of good character in the story. In the story Giles pronounces “...I heard it from an honest man who heard Putman say it! The day his daughter cried out on Jacobs he said she’d given him a fair gift of land” (Miller, pg. 183), this quote shows that Corey is an honesty person. He then later states after the court asks him for a name “Why I - I cannot give you his name… you know well why not! He’ll lay in jail if i give his name.” (pg 183). This shows

The Crucible is set in the seventeenth- century Salem, Massachusetts during the Salem witch trial. It starts of with Reverend Parris, a man very concerned about his reputation, accusing his orphaned niece Abigail Williams of taking part in witchcraft after his daughter is unconscious after dancing in the woods. A technique used by Parris is characterization, which utilizes the thoughts, actions and dialogues in the construction of characters. Arthur Miller uses characterization to build the character of Reverend Samuel Parris as arrogant , selfish, and deceptive.

Have you ever felt like you were among frauds and liars in a group supposedly full of devotees? The people living in late 1600s Salem were known as God-fearing, yet often projected their personal vendettas onto one another through the witchcraft trials. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller utilizes characterization, dramatic and verbal irony, and symbolism to the the convey the conflict of piety and corruption, therefore exposing the hypocrisy of a theocratic community.

During the period of witchcraft, Giles Corey had suspicions about his wife, Martha Corey, that she may be into witchcraft and major hatred towards Thomas Putnam; through it all he was most trustworthy man in The Crucible. In the courtroom, Giles spoke up for the having evidence about Thomas Putnam using witchcraft to get land from his neighbors: “I have it from an honest man who heard Putnam say it!" (Miller 867). Being the honorable Giles; he discloses the name of the person who confided in him about Thomas Putnam's plans by using his daughter's impersonation of witchcraft. Giles was more loyal to others than for himself making him the upright, boy scout of The Crucible; the court, mostly Danforth, was convinced it was the man Giles was concealing was apart of witchcraft .Moments later he was arrested for content in a court; later when John asks about what happened to Giles, Elizabeth says with her good heart, "So he stand mute, and died Christian under the law" (Miller 883). When the court could not obtain the individual he was refusing to mention to the judges; Giles was crushed with rocks, a form of torture in the church, his last breath was concealing the name of the person,

Fear can motivate people to do despicable things; actions people would never commit in their right minds. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is about Salem, a small town in Massachusetts, and its outrageous witch trials conducted in the spring of 1692. The accusations started out of pure fear, and then others in the village began to accuse for their own benefit. Eventually, the situation escalated out of hand, resulting in the deaths of some very innocent people. Out of the many motifs presented in this play, one that was particularly prevalent was accusations made with specific intentions. This motif is displayed when Thomas Putnam, Abigail Williams, and Ann Putnam accuse others because of their personal motives.

Strange and peculiar happenings occur in The Crucible, a play by Arthur Miller. In this story of hypocrisy, guilt, and revenge, innocent people are accused of the bizarre crime of witchcraft. In Salem, Massachusetts, hysteria sets in among every person over fear of being accused of these shocking accusations. Each and every person experiences a severe test or trial in order to live to see another day. In addition to this, these people witnessed their own friends be sentenced to death over a crime in which many were found guilty. The morals of Elizabeth Proctor, Reverend Hale, and John Proctor are tested in the crucible of the Salem witchcraft trials.

Arthur Miller writes about the tragic results of human failings in his play, The Crucible. He presents characters from the past and infuses them with renewed vitality and color. Miller demonstrates the horrifying results of succumbing to personal motives and flaws as he writes the painful story of the Salem witch trials. Not only do the trials stem from human failings but also from neglect of moral and religious considerations of that time. Characters begin to overlook Puritan values of thrift and hope for salvation. Focusing on the flawed characters, they begin to exhibit land lust, envy of the miserable and self-preservation.

It is necessary to have trust, loyalty, forgiveness, and honesty when living in a healthy community. But when people within the community begin to show betrayal, revenge, deceit, and suspicion, then the balance of the community is disrupted. In the Puritan community, they focused on doing God’s work by taking care of their neighbors and made sure to not be distracted by matters unrelated to God. Their extremely religious and simplistic lives isolated them from any disruption in the community. However, motivations of others led to the accusations of those in the community, which resulted in chaos. This occurred in the event known as the Salem Witch Trials, where twenty were executed and hundreds of others were accused. Arthur Miller, in his play, The Crucible, demonstrates how the thirst for revenge fuels the devastation of a community through the characters of Thomas Putnam, Ann Putnam, and Abigail Williams.

The Crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller, takes place during the 16th and 17th century in colonial America. The play is based on the events of the Salem Witch Trials. During this period, many Puritans were executed or jailed on accusations of evil and witchcraft. Many false accusations came from others who were simply just trying to save themselves or cast revenge upon their enemies. The play presents readers with an example of the evil through characters like Abigail Williams, Abigail’s friends, and the officials of the court. Abigail, the girls, and the court are all equally responsible for the deaths in Salem.

One concept is capable of more destruction than almost anything else. It can change a person’s life, or end it. The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is a play that is set in Salem, Massachusetts in the early 1690’s. The play revolves around the infamous Salem Witch Hunts and their proceedings both within the court and outside of the court. Within this plotline, a theme of greed functions in the play, influencing the actions of certain characters, including Reverend Parris, Thomas Putnam, and Abigail.