The Crucible is a tragic play written by Arthur Miller in 1953. It dramatizes and fictionalizes the Salem witch trials. The play has many prevalent themes, and the main characters both advance and facilitate these themes.
The three most prevalent themes in The Crucible are intolerance, hysteria, and reputation. Because this play is set 1692/3 Puritan Salem, Massachusetts, the main theme of intolerance is widespread. In this setting, the church and state were one, making this sins of an individual public concern. Throughout the trials, intolerance for any deviation in thought and behavior is quickly made known. Any form of dissent is categorized as evil, the devil’s presence. The community’s ultimate expression of intolerance is the witch trials.
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John Proctor is a farmer who lives outside of Salem. He is married to Elizabeth, and is known as an upstanding, honest, and blunt-spoken member of the community. He is, however, the play’s tragic hero. His flaw is his lust for Abigail Williams, with whom he has an affair. This affair results in Abigail’s jealousy of Joh’s wife, Elizabeth, and sets the play in motion. When the trials begin, John withholds the information of the affair to protect his name, playing into the theme of reputation. By divulging this information early, John could have halted the trials. Though because he waits to give that information, the hysteria had grown so much due to his lack of inaction, that he himself is arrested or being a witch. Thus, his silence advanced the town’ hysteria. Proctor eventually makes a true personal and faithful stand to die rather than sign an untrue confession, but he becomes a victim of the town’s intolerance and is hanged. Abigail Williams, the second major character, contrasts John Proctor. She is relatively non-complex, and is most decidedly the villain. She is written as a Jezebel figure and is driven only by her jealousy, sexual lust, and desire for power. Abigail tells lies and manipulates the entire town, starting up the witch trials to serve her own purposes. She plays off of the town’s inbred intolerance to send nineteen people to their deaths in order to gain revenge on Elizabeth Proctor. By inciting and fueling the hysteria, she gets John Proctor killed for slighting her. Because she was an orphan and unmarried young woman, she had no reputation in Salem and was considered only better than the slaves. Because of this, she had nothing to lose by starting this persecution marathon. Even though John Proctor and Abigail Williams are opposites, their connections and the setting of Salem cement their roles in the
Out of all the characters in the book, there are many that contributed to the hysteria of the witch trials, however, of these characters Abigail Williams contributed the most. In the beginning of the play, we see Abigail and a collection of other girls dancing and making a charm in the woods. Abigail made this charm in order to kill Mr.Proctor 's wife. If Abigail wasn 't so crazy in love with John this scene in the woods probably wouldn 't have taken place. Therefor, Parris would have never caught the girls and there wouldn’t be rumours of witchcraft.
Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible, takes place in Salem, Massachusetts during the Salem Witch Trials in 1692. During this time, many people are hung for being accused of performing witchcraft, but who is there to blame? During this time, many people feared for their lives, and others used this as a time to get rid of people. In The Crucible, Abigail Williams, John Proctor, and Deputy-Governor Danforth are responsible for the witch trials in Salem. The play begins with many girls dancing in the woods and people being accused of witchcraft.
The Crucibles Relatability to Modern Life Miller's play The Crucible was written in 1953 and was first performed later that year. The play is a relatively fictionalized story of the Salem witch trials in the Massachusetts Bay Colony that took place in the late 1600s. The Crucible was a relatively enjoyable play because its ability to be relatable. The Crucible is relatable to modern audiences because of the similarity of conflicts, characters, and people's actions.
She was a savage, angry teenager who everyone thought was an angel. According to Shmoop, “Abigail flirts with John Proctor. She tries to get him to admit that he still wants her and expresses anger toward his wife for “blackening” her name in the village.” As we can see, Abigail Williams wasn't the kindest person out there.
The Crucible - Conflict Analysis John Proctor Internal: John Proctor’s most eminent internal conflict is over the sin he has committed, adultery. Proctor cheated on his wife with Abigail Williams, and this makes Proctor feel incredibly guilty because in the town, he is “respected and even feared” (19). He tried very hard, and succeeded, with keeping this moral crime to himself. He still walked about Salem as if he was “an untroubled soul,” (21) however, avoiding the sin again would be a difficult task. Abigail flirts with him, in attempt to have him for one last night, and it’s obvious Proctor has an arduous time pushing her away.
John Proctor, Deputy Governor Danforth, and Abigail Williams were worried about their reputation in town, and they were willing to commit many sins and harm others to prevent this from happening. To begin with, John Proctor was seen as a good citizen. He was well-respected among his neighbors and other people in Salem because of his upright morals. He had an affair with his old servant, Abigail Williams. He tried to keep this hidden from the people to keep his good name.
For example, Abigail Williams had an affair with John Proctor who was married to Elizabeth Proctor at the time and got discovered. However, Abigail Williams still “loved” John Proctor and was rejected. Later, she accuses Elizabeth Proctor for witchcraft, an action she uses as her revenge. These acts of cruelty ultimately affect all the victims and their families in this play as their consequence is to be hung. The vulnerability and sense of helplessness are all revealed in the victims as they are facing their
John Proctor also claims in court that “she only pretended to faint” to try to convince that she is being attacked by witches and devils. Abigail Williams evil actions caused lots of people to suffer. Abigail Williams, a static character does not change by the end of the play because she continues to protect her reputation instead of telling the truth. Throughout the play Abigail choose to continue to lie about the witchcraft instead of telling the truth. She is a static charatcer because she had many chances to stop the trails, and tell the truth.
Abigail is willing to accuse any one in her path of witchcraft even if it means taking the lives of those close to her. Abigail Williams’ emotional desire guides her actions even if it conflicts with morality. Abigail williams is driven to do unthinkable things because of her love for John Proctor. Abigail works in the Proctor’s home and while doing so she finds herself attracted to John. Abigail’s obsession with Proctor leads them to have an affair, which they try to keep
Proctor is widely respected in the Salem community. However, he has a secret that threatens his reputation. He cheated on his wife Elizebeth Proctor with Abigail Williams. As a result, he has a strong internal conflict regarding his integrity. Proctor is a benevolent man at heart, however he has sinned according to puritan law.
Abigail Williams was taken away from John Proctor by his wife, Elizabeth Proctor. Abigail then only wishes to be back with John and she fights for him. Her way of getting him back is to put Elizabeth in jail due to “stabbing” Abigail in the stomach with a voodoo doll. Proctor shows the court what type of girl Abigail really is when he calls out, “I have known her, sir. I have known her.
The Crucible is a 1953 play written by Arthur Miller. It is amplified and somewhat novelized story of the Salem witch trials. Miller wrote the play as a parable to the McCarthyism persecution of communist sympathisers. In this play, a group of Puritan girls are found dancing and conjuring with the devil in the forest. Soon the whole village of Salem knows about the dancing and starts accusing people of witchcraft.
“Character Analysis over The Crucible” Arthur Miller is a commonly-known playwright, most famous for his 1953 play, The Crucible. The basis for The Crucible came from the witch trials which occurred in Salem, Massachusetts during the puritan era. Miller even uses some of the same characters in his dramatized play that were a part of the original witch trials in Salem. However, Miller made a few alterations to the historical members of the Salem society in order to suit his dramatic purpose in The Crucible, particularly Abigail Williams, John Proctor, and Reverend Samuel Parris.
This secret was his affair with Abigail Williams. Abigail Williams was trying to get rid of Elizabeth, because she wanted to take over her spot as John Proctors wife. Due to Abigail's jealousy and revenge for Elizabeth she mentions Elizabeth's name during the Salem witch trials which causes nothing but chaos. During this chaos, John Proctor displayed traits of being short tempered and aggressive. The characteristics of anger, aggression, innocence and compassion where portrayed by John and Elizabeth Proctor in the story The Crucible by Arthur Miller.
Abigail Williams is the catalyst to the witch hunt and is relentless in her plans to have Elizabeth Proctor killed, destroying the lives of many just because in her head that would mean John will want to be with her. She is obsessive and seems to lack