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. One of the most intriguing and problematic characters in The Crucible who causes hysteria in the town is Abigail Williams. After being caught dancing in the woods with her friends, she begins to cause disaster within the town of Salem. Days after being caught, she pours her soul out to God and admits her sin to
In Arthur Miller 's The Crucible, the main character Abigail Williams is to blame for the witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts, Abigail Williams remained a static character throughout the book. Abigail is a mean, deceitful and manipulative person who always wants her way; she has no remorse about who she hurts along her journey to get her want she wants.
A society that praises moral righteousness and piety is destroyed by a series of witch trials that are ironically immoral and unfair. The Salem Witch Trials are fueled by personal motives and feuds that emerge because of the restrictions in Puritan society. The society nurtures a culture of fear and distrust that stems from dread of the devil and strict adherence to the Bible. Salem is the perfect environment for fear and vengeance to spread through witchcraft accusations, because people have no other means to gain power or get revenge on enemies. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller portrays how the Puritan society in Salem influences the witch trials and increases their impact, because of the religion-based justice system, women and
Between the years 1692 and 1693 in Salem, Massachusetts, more than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft. Twenty of those people were executed for defending themselves against those ludacris claims. This small part of US. history was all caused by one boy-crazed teen - Abigail Williams. The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, is a play addressing the mass hysteria that swept Salem during that time. Miller writes about 17 year old Abigail Williams who has an affair with 30 year old John Proctor. After Proctor’s wife fires her, Abigail goes crazy, reverting to “witchcraft” trying to get rid of her. This was the start of what we know as the Salem Witch Trials, a period of mass hysteria and delusion. This play was used to display the
Abigail Williams seems to be a despicable character in the story The Crucible. She causes do much trouble throughout the story starting from when the girls were in the woods dancing naked with Tituba. Abby says “She sends her spirit on me in church; she makes me laugh at prayer” (Miller,1154). Abigail uses Tituba to take the blame for all the girls speaking spirits and being in the woods. She manipulates people into believing and seeing what she wants them to see she is a very decisive
In The Crucible how did the people of Salem react under the pressure of the false accusations and convictions of the Salem Witch Trials? The girls in Salem practiced witchcraft and blamed lots of the innocent people that would be tried and penalized, just to take the pressure off themselves. All of the girls are guilty and they got away with it. The mature people of Salem valued justice, this would cost them their lives by trying to disprove the court saying the girls are frauds and Danforth’s decisions were wrong. Arthur Miller makes it clear in The Crucible that justice requires honesty and you will have to be willing to sacrifice to achieve it.
Remembering the 1692 “Salem Witch Trials” along with Joseph McCarthy’s “Communist Witch Hunts” Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible in the 1950s. In a religious town of Salem, Massachusetts young girls who were caught dancing in the woods became ill and were suspected of witchcraft. They began to accuse people of the town and people eventually became fearful of being accused next. These witches and those accused were hung in order for the town to remain true to their religion. The universal ideas hysteria and reputation were causes of the accusations of witchcraft. Being the start of it all and very important to their society, both are themes that were reviled in the play.
In l993, three young children from a small town in Arkansas were found hogtied, sexually abused and murdered in cold blood; because they were different than everyone else in the town, the teenagers who were falsely accused of this crime lost eighteen years of their lives. The same thing occurred in the play written by Arthur Miller, The Crucible, the people who were different than the social norm were arrested and tried as witches. The teens from Arkansas, and the accused from The Crucible were all profiled by the public and their local justice system because they were different that their expectations of “normal”.
In the book, The Crucible Arthur Miller tries to demonstrate that the Salem Witch Trials and the red scare had a huge impact on the lives of many people. But mainly that there was lots of fear during that time. And people like for example McCarthy saw that as an opportunity to Manipulate people for personal gain. Also, Arthur Miller is showing how these two events really relate to each other and share the same concept.
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.
“As the most dangerous inmates, the witches were kept in the dungeons. These were perpetually dark, bitterly cold, and so damp that water ran down the walls” (Delusion of Satan: The Full Story of the Salem Witch Trials). Throughout the late 1600s, the accusations of witchcraft in Salem became a common thread. Over 200 people were accused and more than twenty were hanged. The idea of empowerment was altered when girls of Salem made profound accusations against well known people of the town. The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, portrays the empowerment of characters that forever affected the lives of people in Salem through rhetorical questions, pathos, and imagery.
In the fictional play, "The Crucible" by Arthur Miller, he writes about the time in which the Salem witch trials were taking place. The Play starts with the fear of witchcraft entering the town of Salem. Over time the problem of witchcraft grows fiercely in Salem and many were killed. Throughout the play Miller shows how the characters base a very serious crime on extremely minimal evidence. The entire play is based on the opinion of a group of teen girls without any actual evidence, which lead to many falsely accused people to be condemned to die.
The Salem Witch Trials were an extremely controversial period of time in our history. This was a time of suspicion and accusation of many innocent women and men that led to hysteria and complete turmoil in Salem Village. The Crucible portrays the Salem Witch Trials in a dramatic sense, but there are many similarities between the movie and the actual events. We can use these unusual events to compare to our own lives and learn from the mistakes of our past.
Arthur Miller used the Salem witch trials to shed light on what was happening in his times. Living in political distress, Arthur Miller wrote the play that resonated with not only America but the world itself. On the surface “The Crucible” is simply a play about the Salem witch trails. However, Arthur was trying to communicate something bigger to us as the audience. The Crucible” warns us that just because those authoritative figures have power, it does not necessarily mean they are always right.
One of the characters in Arthur Miller's "The Crucible" who committed the worst sin in the play is Abigail Williams. Abigail's sin is not only severe, but also has a significant impact on the other characters and the overall plot of the play. Throughout the play, Abigail manipulates and deceives those around her, ultimately leading to the hysteria and chaos that engulf the town of Salem. Abigail's most egregious sin is her manipulation and deception of the townspeople, particularly through her false accusations of witchcraft. She uses the power of suggestion and fear to coerce the other girls into going along with her lies, and then convinces the court that the innocent townspeople are actually practicing witchcraft.
In the city of Salem, there are many citizens that show great interest in the The Crucible. One of them is Abigail Williams. Abigail Williams is an engrossing character, because even though she is scared, she kept all her stories straight, she manipulates many people to be on her side, and is violent towards the girls to show that she is not scared of anything or anyone in the town and the people of Salem.