The Crucible Theme(S) Analysis

Hook: Crucible is a book filled with mistakes and the outcomes of those mistakes. Every single action that a person commits leads to either a positive or a negative consequence, and this piece of literature provides readers with an opportunity to analyze some causes and effects.

The play The Crucible, was written by Arthur Miller in 1953. It is a story he wrote after his own experience being accused of communism. This affected a lot of well-known people in the United States during this time, and was considered a witch hunt similar to the Salem witch hunts. Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible about a man, John Proctor, who has an affair with Abigail Williams. She catches feelings for him and tries to cast a spell on John Proctor’s wife to kill her; this gets out of hand when Abigail’s uncle catches her and some other girls dancing during the spell in the woods. Suddenly, the whole town is living in fear of who is practicing witchcraft, who could be a witch, and innocent people are killed if they don’t confess to being witches. Overall, mass fear and panic, and false accusations are seen over and over throughout the play.

In Arthur Miller's, The Crucible (1953), he shows us how hysteria took over the town of Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. In The Crucible, the townspeople were led to believe that the devil had settled in their town and witches were responsible for it. In the play many people played a part in the hysteria that consumed the town, but some people had bigger effects than others because of their decisions and moral blindness. How did this handful of people cause so much hysteria? How does a town get so easily consumed by lies? When hysteria took over Salem many people were affected, lives were ruined and many innocent people were accused.

Before the town fled with stories of witch-craft, there once was a young women who worked for a family but fell in love with the wife's husband. That husband turned out to be John Proctor and that lovely young lady, of course turned out to be Abigail Williams. For some say it was really the start of it all. In the eyes of Abigail, she is destined to be with John Proctor. She would do anything to make him hers, even if that required killing his wife Elizabeth Proctor to do so.John Proctor is not such a bad guy, but his only problem was the fact he fell into temptation of lust. Which causes Abigail to believe he loves her. Once Mr. Proctor denies her love for him multiple times, she turns into the eyes of witch-craft. That ladies and gentlemen is what catches our attention on her blaming Tituba. Abigail builds up her lies on the people of Salem until she finds the right moment to be able to claim Elizabeth Proctor as a

Langston was confident about his faith when the revival began. The reader can see he is confident in the text when Langston says, “I had heard a great many old people say the same thing and it seemed to me they ought to know.” This shows that he believed that the older people who have been saved for years know how amazing it is. He was a frequent attendee at his auntie Reed’s church. To be precise he has been to this church every night for weeks for this large revival.

In this essay I will talk about two main central ideas. First, some people accuse innocent people for witchery. Secondly, there is a lot of hatred in the town of Salem.

1. “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.” (James 1:5-6, ESV) James calls upon the people of God to pray for wisdom. But not to just pray for wisdom, but to do so in faith. James calls the unfaithful man “double-minded” as he is still has not fully trusted in Christ. James also condemns the Jews for praying only for their passions. The world James is fighting against is that of superiority-complexes and careless living. “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.” (James 5:13, ESV) Christ is the solution to the problem. It is our duty to ask him in time of need and praise him in times of joy.

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.” ( Dr. Seuss) “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” (Psalm 23:4) “God has given you one face, and you make yourself another.” (William Shakespeare) These quotes, found throughout many different time periods of history, all say the same: “Be who you are and don’t let anything change that.” These are great words to live by, but, in time of weakness, does one stay true? Can even the good be twisted? This is a theme that is represented throughout The Crucible many times. Characters such as Elizabeth Proctor, John Proctor, and Reverend Hale had good intentions

In the theater production, The Crucible, there are many different characters, with many different traits. The story is about the town of Salem, Massachusetts, and the witch trials in the year 1692. Some of the town’s girls, led by Abigail Williams, had been spotted in the woods dancing and cooking something in a pot. When the slave named Tituba was held accountable, she said that all these girls had been conjured by witches and wish to turn back to God. The girls, especially Abigail seem to be a savior to the town, by giving up witches who live there. Not everyone thinks that this is true. One of these people is John Proctor. He had an affair with Abigail, but does not want to have anything to do with the witch trials. He is forced to get involved when is wife, Elizabeth, is wrongly accused by Abigail, who still wants to be with John. John is determined, innocent and worried.

pull it down and so denounce God and place a whore in God’s place is

A theme in The Crucible is that a society ruled by theocracy and status based on religion is bound to fall apart. Salem 's strict adherence to the Christian shurch is evident in everything the citizens do. They use measures of a person 's knowledge and adherence to the religion as a means of judging their character and also their status in society. They believe "God [was] provoked so grandly by such a petty cause" (121), which is why the "jails are packed" (121). If the citizen did anything to make God angry, they were punished. This is why the judges were so relentless and naïve in putting the accused women to trial and convicting them. They believed "the law, based upon the Bible, and the Bible, writ by the Almighty God,

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

After being found dancing in the forest, Abigail took the leadership position of all the girls involved. Before entering the court, to testify in the witch trials, she said to the girls, “Now look you. All of you. We danced. And Tituba conjured Ruth Putnam’s dead sisters. And that’s all” (Miller 19). After her uncle, Reverend Paris, found her dancing in the forest she becomes so nervous by what the people of Salem will think of her, that she believes her only way out is to lie. When accusing people in trial Abigail brings Elizabeth, Proctor’s wife, name up in court and when John Proctor confronted her about it she said, “she is blackening my name in the village! She is yelling lies about me! She is a cold shoveling woman” (Miller 22). Abigail had had an affair with John Proctor and although she knows it really happened she’s denying it. Abigail worked in people’s homes as a housemaid and she knew that if she had a bad name nobody would want her working in their homes so, she lies in order to keep that reputation up. By the end of the play these lies have become too great to handle and the only way she sees to escape theme is to run. Paris is talking to Danforth, the lead judge for this trial, and he says, “there is news, sir, that the court- the court must reckon with. My niece, sir, my niece- I believe she has vanished” (Miller 116). Abigail hadn’t even told her

If Abigail was not worried about the hysteria that will start because of the accusations she will later receive she would not have told herself and others to lie about it, showing that people will lie in face in hysteria.

The Crucible takes place in Salem, Massachusetts during the time of the Salem witch trials. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller uses revenge as the main theme throughout the playwright. Revenge is the action of inflicting hurt or harm on someone for an injury or wrong done to someone else. Revenge is shown throughout the characters actions in the play. Witch craft is used to represent revenge. If someone didn't like another, they could accuse that person of witch craft and inflict harm on him or her. Many characters in the play are motivated by their desire to seek revenge. During the course of the play, revenge motivates the characters and has a huge significance in the play.