Meghan Sweeney 12- 18- 15 Crucible Essay Arthur Miller’s play ‘The Crucible’ is based on the Salem witch trials of the late 1600s. It is also a symbol of the 1950s Communism trials in America, which Miller was questioned in. The play begins with the town reverend’s daughter laying unconscious, supposedly bewitched, after being caught dancing naked in the forest with numerous other girls, one of which was Reverend Parris’s niece, Abigail Williams. This false accusation, and numerous others, lead to many being condemned to death. In addition, it is the beginning of a series of false accusations that control Salem, spreading paranoia and frenzy throughout the village, before resulting in the deaths of the play’s foremost moral characters, …show more content…
Her selfishness is apparent in Act 1, when she says to her friends, “Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you” (19). She won't let her friends tell the truth unless they get caught for what they did. Parris is her only parent figure, due to the murder of her parents in her childhood, which is discovered when she is labeled, “...a strikingly beautiful girl, and orphan, with an endless capacity for dissembling” (6). When she is first introduced, the audience is made to feel compassion towards her when it is indicated that she is an orphan. In addition, her [Puritan] religion is intolerant of anything against the social norm. This [her religion] has taught Abigail how she should act and she knows self-indulgence isn’t allowed. However in the beginning, she lets herself appear more naïve and vulnerable, especially in the company of John Proctor, than further on in the
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
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is a tragic play set in 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts, where Miller uses the Salem Trials as a metaphor for the 1950s McCarthy hearings. In Salem, people value their good names. The Puritan community acts as a theocracy in which there appears to be no right to privacy, and people must conform to a strict moral code. The theme of reputation, lying, and deceit are shown in Abigail, John Proctor, Elizabeth Proctor, Mary Warren, and other characters. In the play’s dialogue, Miller uses Biblical allusions, situational irony, and dramatic irony to develop these themes.
The selfishness of Abigail is shown when Betty says, “ You did, you did! You drank a charm to kill John Proctor’s wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor!”(19). Another quote is when Abigail says,” Shut it! Now shut it!”(19). The quotes show that Abigail was trying to keep a secret from John Proctor. As seen in these texts, Abigail was trying to put a charm on Elizabeth Proctor in order to have John Proctor’s love. She really wanted Elizabeth Proctor dead because she wanted to keep John Proctor all to herself. This was very selfish on her part because she wanted John Proctor to be in love with her instead of him being in love with his wife, Elizabeth
In the quote from the play “Excellency, it profit nothing you should blame me. I cannot think they would run off except they fear to keep in Salem any more.” (127) Parris is talking about the only reason for her to leave is out of fear. Abigail doesn’t make very good decisions, once she realizes what she has done she doesn’t know what else to do besides leave Salem. When you make rash decisions it will most likely lead to a bad
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.
The Crucible is a play is referred to the Samel Witch trials that takes place in Massachusetts in 1962. Abigail Williams is the leader of a group of girls who are a part of the Samel witch trials. Abigail is Betty Parris cousin and the niece of Reverend Parris. She never went down without a fight. Abigail is selfish and only cares about her own goals. Throughout the whole pay she shows her greedy, dishonesty, manipulative character.
The Crucible is a play constructed on conflict, lies and deception, written by Arthur Miller in 1952. The key theme of this theatrical four-act drama is ‘Wheels within wheels’. Set in Salem, in the heart of puritan Massachusetts, in 1692, the plot follows a community of villagers plagued by accusations of witchcraft. Amidst the executions of their friends, the remaining villagers turn to religion, rumours and secrets to alleviate the tragedy, and gravity of the circumstances unfolding on their doorsteps. Throughout the play, we become progressively responsive to the fact that sex/sexual repression are the motives behind a significant volume of
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.
The playwright, Arthur Miller, wrote ‘The Crucible’ in the time period in which World War 2 had just ended a few years back. This affected Arthur Miller’s writing process because the United States was concerned about the rising of communism ideals and the expanding power of the Soviet Union. People pointed fingers at each other and accused each other of being communist. Arthur Miller conveys the Salem witch trials as an allusion to McCarthyism, which led Americans to feel that they were surrounded by a Communist threat. In the play, ‘The Crucible’, during the spring of 1692, in the small Massachusetts village of Salem, the Salem Witch Trials were commenced by a group of infamous girls who were suffering from hallucination and seizure, as if
The Crucible is a play by Arthur Miller written in the 1950’s. It was set in the 1690’s in Massachusetts. The play is about the witch trials and how something like a group of girls in the woods could lead to about 200 people being hanged and accused of witchcraft. The people of Salem were new to Massachusetts as they were puritans who went off to America to set up a new religious colony . The people were new to their surroundings had the Native Americans as enemies because they took their land. Although the Crucible is about the witch trials, it is thought to be a metaphor for the McCarthy Communist trials
The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a famous play which was written in the early 1950’s. The Crucible is a play based upon the events in 1692, which led to the ‘Salem Witch Trials’, a series of hearings before local magistrates to prosecute over 150 people accused of witchcraft. This was due to the hysteria caused by a group of girls accusing innocent people of witch craft. The play was set in Salem, Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. Salem was a very isolated and puritanical community, so their biggest fear was the devil and witchcraft. A person being accused of witchcraft was the worst thing possible in this society.
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.
In The Crucible Abigail actions shows that she is selfish because, In the first act when they were about to get caught for doing witchcraft ,she got the other girl to blame others for witchcraft. It shows abigail is only for herself because she really didn’t care if other gets hanged . She only cared about her being with john and making everyone else pay for it because he doesn't want her. In act two Abigail seen mary making a rag doll and stuck a needle for safe keeping so she seen it as her way to get Elizabeth out the picture and that was selfish of her. Abigail also showed villainous because she used all wicked ways to get people killed but at the end she was hurt because the men she wanted was hanged for something she did and she could
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.
The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, depicts real historical occurrences from the Salem Witch Trials within a dramatic, non-fiction play which is able to explain themes and motives behind the events. The play is set in Salem, Massachusetts where there has been a break out of rumors and talk about how there may be a presence of witches in the town. Throughout the play there is clearly a definitive point for each character at which, through the text, each character is exploited for attempting to manipulate the situation in the town. Salem is full of strife and people are seeking revenge and thus, accusing their neighbors of witchcraft in order to condemn them. There are mixed opinions in the town on whether or not witchcraft is a real dilemma or simply a case that has been blown out of proportion. However, where social standing is based upon whether or not the people follow religious rules, reputation is highly valued. In the play, the characters have definite motives for acting as they do during the trials and for trying to manipulate the situation in a certain way. Abigail Williams, John Proctor and Reverend Parris are all prominent characters throughout the play who all have the same motivation during the Salem Witch Trials. In order to protect their reputations in the town they all act in certain ways and attempt to manipulate the situation.