Throughout The Crucible, the main characters undergo many changes and are faced with multiple obstacles. The characters’ integrity, morals, and purpose in society is tested. In The Crucible, a group of girls are caught dancing in a forest. These girls are then faced with the challenge on whether or not to tell the real reason they were in the forest, or to lie in order to gain attention, in spite of the consequences. As the town begins to speak of witchcraft, the girls see an opportunity. They start accusing others in the town of being associated with the devil, along with begin to talk about wanting to become close to God again in order to save themselves. In this story, the entire town is tested on their honesty in the matter of being involved …show more content…
Reverend Parris was one of those people. At the start of The Crucible, he found girls, including his daughter and niece, dancing in the forest. He was horrified and constantly worried about his reputation if word got out that his own family was performing witchcraft. After gaining attention from the town through Abigail, his niece, admitting and blaming others of witchcraft, Reverend Parris’ views changed. He then started promoting the arrest of witches in the town and supported the hanging of these innocent people. He did not accept the fact that these people may be innocent, and also tried to hide the fact that he caught his own daughter and niece dancing in the forest. As this reverend was deceptive, devious, and dishonest, he is an example of a detrimental character and a liar in The Crucible. His niece, Abigail, is also a representation of a liar. When she was caught dancing in the forest, she blames Tituba for leading the witchcraft and forcing her to aid in it. After this, Abigail begins to lie and claim to see others with the devil. Seeing this as an opportunity to gain the man she loves, John Proctor, she then accuses his wife of being a witch. Abigail lies throughout the entire story, and at the end, she runs away. This shows how Abigail is a deceiver and is
In Act One of The Crucible, Reverend Parris was the most responsible for the uncontrollable situation about witchcraft in Salem. In The Crucible, Parris says “I cannot blink what I saw, Abigail, for my enemies will not blink it”(1093). Parris was making it clear to his niece that he wasn’t going to keep quiet on the opposed witchcraft he witnessed them do in the forest. When Abigail suggested to Parris that he should go to the people of the village and deny witchcraft himself, he refused. Parris didn’t want to tell people that he saw his daughter and niece dancing ungodly in the forest because that would also ruin his reputation.
The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and The Crucible, by Arthur Miller , both share the theme of reputation and integrity. This book and play both take place in the life of Puritans. Hawthorne expresses him theme with symbols like the scarlet letter. Arthur expresses the theme within life situations that some puritans may have went through. The main character in The Scarlet Letter is Hester Prynne, she committed adultery and was part of her punishment was wearing the scarlet letter.
Many claims are located in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. From themes of honor to themes of power. And many characters show these themes through the actions they perform and the words they spoke. But there is only one dominant theme, or claim, in The Crucible. Both Parris and Proctor convey the dominant claim that preservation of reputation is extremely important.
“Don’t touch me - don’t touch me! [...] You’re the Devil's man! [...] I’ll not hang with you! I love God, I love God. [...]
Parker Lawrence Mr.Revels English III H 26 March 2023 Lawrence The Crucible Synthesis Essay Throughout time people have used others as scapegoats in the hope of maintaining power and gaining control over the public's favor, and a society partaking in this is no different. In Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible and his writing “Why I Wrote The Crucible” he speaks on the topics of manipulation and corruption being the result of mass hysteria within a society. The events that inspired his work and this belief system were: The Salem Witch Trials and The Second Red Scare which from history are known as events of baseless accusations from which many people were falsely accused and punished for actions that they did not commit.
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible expresses emotions such as sadness, anger, and fear that afflicted the citizens of salem. Rev.Parris, Reverend of Salem, caught his daughter and niece dancing inside the forest; however, as the girls began to yell witchcraft. Parris begins to become paranoid that someone within the church is after him. The growth of the characters, setting, and plot in The Crucible are shown through the theme of the story. Parris does not go through much change, and salem itself begins to fall apart whenever the girls begin to sport.
Reputation is like a china plate. It is beautiful when well taken care of, but can be easily damaged beyond repair. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, reputation can cause the morally guilty to persecute the innocent. Pride and the refusal to accept shame leads to an obstruction of justice by those with authority. No one likes to admit that they are wrong, especially when their reputation is on the line.
Respect is a quality that, although highly valued, is very hard to attain. Therefore, once you achieve the point of being respected in society, it is important to maintain a good reputation to avoid losing that title. Reputation, which goes hand in hand with respect, is the way you are viewed to an outsider or stranger. On the contrary, your actions are not necessarily perceived as your reputation; rather, reputation is what people in the society believe to be your actions. During the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, many innocent citizens had their reputation and level of respect tarnished as a result of gossip that had been spread.
Parris gives weak justifications, nor denies any of the ongoing witchcraft accusations, which is evident specifically in court when Proctor inquires how dubious the claims relating to the women are,”‘I think not, or you should surely know that Cain were an upright man, and yet he did kill Abel. ’”(Miller III.131) Reverend Parris consecutively denies the potential of the women’s enduringly favorable reputations in the community being related to the accusations, by stating that a highly unreliable counter reason, that the Devil is disingenuous. The novel thoroughly exposes Reverend Parris as a misleadingly selfish individual, who is motivated by his avarice to amplify the hysteric
Reverend Parris was the uncle of Abigail Williams and all he wanted was to have a good reputation in the community. At the start of the Crucible the girls were dancing around a fire in the woods in the middle of the night which was perceived as conjuring spirits during the salem witch trials times. Reverend Parris was in the woods and saw the ceremony going on and when the girls got caught they scattered around. Normally that would be reported immediately and the punishment to the girls would be getting whipped. To keep his reputation reverend Parris kept it to himself until the very end of the movie when he reluctantly told governor Danforth because reverend Hale and John Proctor brought it up.
Published in 1952, during a period of cold war tensions, which culminated in the ideological witch trials of the mcarthy era in America; The crucible by Arthure miller is set in 1692 during the witch trials in salem massachusetts. The author has used allegory to position the reader to draw parrelels betweeen the to time periods and critisize the persecution that occured in both eras. One of the main themes that Miller has used to portray this viewpoint is the representation of personal integrity. Integrity is the quality of having strong moral pronciples. This is acheived through strongly contrasted characterisation of characters such as Abigail williams and and Rebecca Nurse, aswell as the inclusion of textual features such as irony, symbolism
The Crucible by Arthur Miller is an allegory to the communist witch hunts in the 1950’s, in which US senator Joseph Mccarthy and The House Un-American Activities Committee (H.U.A.C) accused people of having relationships with the Communist Party. Similarly, Abigail and the girls accused people of Salem Village for being in compact with the devil in The Crucible. For both of these situations, the only solution to clear the accusation is by accusing others of the same crime. Therefore, the theme of morality and integrity plays a part in a person’s decision to either confess and lie or live the truth.
Reverend Parris In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible the reader learns more about the Puritan society of the late 1600s. Reverend Parris, the town minister, is aghast when he found his niece and daughter in the woods dancing and conjuring spirits with their friends. His daughter, Betty, is now afflicted and unable to wake, which causes quite the ruckus in Salem, the town they live in, about what happened to the minister's daughter. Reverend Parris he fears that the people might deposition him if they hear that he discovered them dancing in the woods.
Betrayal is a major theme in The Crucible. Betrayal is what brought Salem to shambles and caused everyone not to trust one another. Having power will place you in a higher ranking. Indicating to Abigail Williams, she accused several townspeople to save herself. Williams is also sought out as the leader of the accused girls.
“The Crucible” is a play about Salem, Massachusetts and its continuous witch trials. In the beginning of the play, the girls are caught by Reverend Parris dancing in the woods (Core 1: Introductory Prepositional Phrase). This is considered a sign of witchcraft. However, the girls blame the act on being bewitched on different people in the town. It all turns out to be a fraud to get Abigail Williams, the minister’s niece, back together with her ex-lover, John Proctor, and to extract revenge on his wife.