ipl-logo

Theme Of Arrogance In The Crucible

735 Words3 Pages

Arthur Miller's The Crucible highlights a human frailty, arrogance, responsible for the witch hysteria in the 1690s. Each character portrays arrogance which make him abuse power. The play explores the human nature of being arrogant and the fear of tarnishing one's reputation, by acting unmorally. Through Hale's, Parris's, and Danforth's actions, Miller indicates that arrogance is the frailty most responsible for the witch hysteria. Initially Reverand Hale's education and which portrays him as arrogant and lets him assume that he has the power to accuse innocent people of witchcraft, however after he realizes the effect that his power has on innocent people, he quits the court. Initially Miller describes Hale as having the "...pride of the specialist whose unique knowledge has …show more content…

This clouds his judgement to analyze evidence presented by the suspects of witchcraft. Danforth says,"We burn a hot fire here, it melts down all concealment", this quote shows that the the court only hears the truth and supposedly ignores the lies" (83). This is an inaccurate and an ironic statement. Even though, Danforth says that the court ignores all the lies to get to the truth, it is evident that this happens through the accusation of innocent girls. Danforth's power blinds him to the truth, and prevents him from seeing the effect that his actions have on the lives of innocent people Arthur Miller argues that being fearful or damaging one's reputation is what caused people to act irrationally and against their morals, coming off as selfish and arrogant, and leading to the Salem Witch Hysteria. Through the characterization of Hale, Parris and Danforth, it is evident how excessive pride makes people unwilling to admit to their mistakes, with the fear of a reputation damage. Miller's descriptions of the frailty of arrogance, can be used as an example of how arrogance turns people against each

Show More
Related

  • How To Stop Panic In The Crucible

    602 Words  | 3 Pages

    Stopping Panic One of America’s greatest plays is “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller. The Crucible is based off of the true events of the Salem Witch Trials, which caused mass hysteria all throughout Salem; However, it was a satire that explained the hysteria during Arthur Miller’s time known as the “Red Scare”. During this satire, he uses characters that had real-life counterparts to explain how mass hysteria, which is exaggerated and uncontrollable emotions of fear, to show how people of his day were doing the same things and how they needed to stop it before it got worse. In the play, two characters who could have stopped the hysteria that plagued Salem were Abigail Williams and Reverend Hale. One character that could have stopped the hysteria was Abigail Williams.

    Read More

  • Does Abigail Williams Cause Mass Hysteria In The Crucible

    875 Words  | 4 Pages

    During the late 17th century a total of 200 people were accused of participating in witchcraft, while 19 people lost their lives to the mass hysteria. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, a group of girls start a huge uproar in Salem, Massachusetts when they start screeching about Salemites being associated with the Devil. Throughout the play write, it shows the consequences of mass hysteria and how it puts people's lives in danger. Abigail Williams causes a wave of mass hysteria and because of her trickery, innocent people have died by her and the other girl’s actions, for this Abigail is the most unforgivable character in The Crucible.

    Read More

  • How Does Arthur Miller Present Hysteria In The Crucible

    707 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hysteria in Salem The Crucible is a play written by American author, Arthur Miller, in 1953. It is a somewhat fictional play about the Salem Witch Trials. Miller wrote it as an allegory to the Red Scare, the promotion of fear of a potential rise of communism. Miller himself was blacklisted for refusing to testify in front of the HUAC, a committee that was created to investigate any person who might be a communist.

    Read More

  • The Crucible: Theme Of Hysteria In Everyday Life And Society

    481 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Crucible Essay The theme of hysteria is evident throughout Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and in everyday life and society. Driven by self-preservation, hysteria influences many characters’ actions and leads to the devastating witch trials in Salem. For instance, many characters in The Crucible are driven to execute drastic actions to sustain their reputation and protect themselves.

    Read More

  • Who's To Blame In The Crucible

    626 Words  | 3 Pages

    Reverand Hale is responsible for the witch trials becase he lends his expiertise in the matter to Abigals advantage. On many occasions, Hale supported some of Abigals clames in the court, and without his input on the matter the claims may have never been taken seriously by the Judges. Hale believes the girls and supports Abiglals claims until Elizebeth and Rebecca are arrested, and at that time he relizes that the girls are a fraud. Even though Hale is now on the accused side and is trying to keep them from hanging, the damage is already done, and without Hale, the court might have not taken Abgigal seriously. But because Hale is supposed to be "the expert" they believed him.

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis Essay On The Crucible

    630 Words  | 3 Pages

    Shawn Jande Ms. Clancy American Literature B3 15 November 2015 The Crucible Analytical Essay Imagine, being accused of a crime you didn’t commit by your neighbors and friends out of jealousy, and desire. This is what many people in the town of Salem had to go through during the time of the Salem Witch Trials. People's motives such as: gaining and maintaining power, and aspirations for what other people had caused them to make irrational, and atrocious decisions. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, desire and power drive characters to create chaos in the community.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Ethos In The Crucible

    1198 Words  | 5 Pages

    In The Crucible, John Proctor the protagonist, becomes a victim of the witch trials when his wife Elizabeth, is accused of witchcraft. In order to free his wife, Proctor must convince Judge Danforth of his wife’s innocence. Judge Danforth does not sign condemnations lightly and takes meticulous inspection of his cases to determine the guilty party. He is also a highly religious man who takes matters between God and men seriously. It is because of Danforth’s dedication to the law and God that Proctor utilizes ethos, logos, and pathos to persuade him.

    Read More

  • How Does Reverend Hale Change In The Crucible

    273 Words  | 2 Pages

    Reverend Hale is the character that changes the most in Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible because his feelings on witchcraft turns from full belief to unbelievable doubt, his thoughts on Proctor changes from thinking that he is evil to thinking that he is a good and honest man, and he switches from doing God’s work to doing the Devil’s. Reverend Hale makes a huge change on his claim of witchcraft. In the beginning of the play when Reverend is called to the town of Salem to see if the reason why Betty and Ruth are unconscious is due to witchcraft he brings with him many books. When Reverend Parris sees this he makes a comment that Hale responds to him explaining his expectations. This shows that Reverend Hale is focused on one thing, finding

    Read More

  • How Is Abigail Corrupt In The Crucible

    692 Words  | 3 Pages

    Society as a whole seeks to satisfy themselves. This may be at the expense of their peers or individuals they are associated with. Arthur Miller brilliantly displays this dark side of humanity’s side in his play The Crucible. This play is based on the Salem witch trials in the early 1690s. During the Salem witch trials over two hundred people were accused of witchcraft and twenty were executed.

    Read More

  • Who Is To Blame In The Crucible

    811 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a dramatic play that expresses a very important message and that is how far people would go to save themselves from the hands of death. There are many characters in the Crucible who are guilty of taking innocent lives, but there are three major characters who, without a doubt, are the most at blame. The play takes place in the city of Salem, a city filled with people that would do anything to keep their reputation clean. Throughout the play, Miller is introducing multiple characters that experience changes in their decisions and negatively influence more people eventually leading up to the witch trials. The main point that the story revolves around is that people would rather lie and blame someone else instead of confessing and accepting the punishment.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Integrity In The Crucible

    914 Words  | 4 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • What Is The Hypocrisy In The Crucible

    561 Words  | 3 Pages

    The play, The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller demonstrates the implications of a society in complete chaos over an irrational fear of witchcraft in the town of Salem, Massachusetts. Fear plays an immense role in the way people make their decisions, such as when the characters of Danforth and Mary Warren resort to hypocrisy when no other options remain. Danforth and Mary Warren both embody hypocrisy, as seen when Mary says she cannot lie anymore and then lies when she becomes scared for her life, and Danforth when saying lying will send a person to Hell, but then forcing people to choose between lying and death. Mary Warren exemplifies hypocrisy extraordinarily well in the scene when she and Proctor travel to the courthouse so she can confess that the girls have pretended everything and they never actually saw spirits.

    Read More

  • Character Analysis Essay On The Crucible

    925 Words  | 4 Pages

    “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.

    Read More

  • The Crucible Power Analysis

    705 Words  | 3 Pages

    One of the main elements that eventually build up to the main plot in the play is power. Many of the characters in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible have a strong desire for power. The Salem witch trials empowered several characters in the play who were previously marginalized in Salem society. It gave them the chance to misuse it leading to horrible suffering and even deaths of some innocent people in the town. Some of these characters are Abigail Williams, Deputy Governor Danforth and Reverend Parris.

    Read More

  • The Crucible Reverend Hale Essay

    671 Words  | 3 Pages

    Reverend John Hale There are two types of characters in a story, dynamic and static. A dynamic character is one that changes drastically in a story. One dynamic character in The Crucible by Arthur Miller that changes significantly is Reverend John Hale. Reverend Hale is a dynamic character because of the major changes he goes through during the play. In the beginning of the play Mr. Hale wants to find all the witches, and wants them to confess because he thinks they are a sign of the devil.

    Read More

More about Theme Of Arrogance In The Crucible

Open Document