Authority is the most important theme because throughout the play the judge is the chosen one as they believed because the way they think is that god chooses the right one, Judge Danforth is the protector of Salem he is the one that sentences and executes men,women, and kids. The way they do it in salem is corroborative because the judge is relied on what the victims says and they don’t always tell the truth so it’s bad on the behalf of the suspect even if they haven’t did anything. As far as authority goes in Salem it all really depends on the main man the judge to condemn one’s life good or bad, the people of Salem is kinda like today’s people because people like to change the words of some things depending on the person they are talking …show more content…
If someone would get in trouble at school they would try to switch the words up on the other victims to turn them into a suspect to get the attention off of them. “It were pretense, sir.”(Pg.1294-L.18) Mary Warren was telling the truth after she lied to the judge about seeing spirits. Warren lied because she wanted to put the attention on herself and say that someone was sending spirits against her to get check off the list as a witch. Which she was just corroborating because Abby had people to back her up, and she had no proof that she was even getting attacked by the demons that were sent. Mary Warren was lying about the demons to say she wasn’t bewitched, so to conclude that she wasn’t bewitched she said that she saw the demons coming for her.
The authority back in the Puritans age is different then it is now because they were dependent on the Judge. We the people now are not independent judiciary because we have jury in favor to vote and all have reason on what they decide. The judge doesn’t convict someone if they don’t have explaination from the victim as they do nowadays but at the same time if the judge has no prove of this accusation then he really can claim someone guilty if there is no evidence. But at the same time they can go off of word because you’re not supposed to lie under oath, if you are a religious
Despite their deeply religious values, the members of the Puritan Society in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible are equally as sinful as the rest of the world. The Puritans, known for turning to God when given any matter at hand, lay blame on the Devil, regardless of their contradictory values. By blaming on him for their wrongdoings, the Devil earns power through the Puritans restoring to involve him whenever any one thing goes wrong. Power is defined by one’s reputation, status, wealth, gender, and age; although the natural deciding factor of one’s power in the Puritan society is land, the Devil himself holds ultimate power. Despite the fact that he does not appear as a human figure, he controls the thoughts and actions of the Puritan society, serving as the ultimate threat.
Is it not a judge’s worst fear to condemn an innocent person? Shouldn’t the judicial process prevent the killing of the innocent? Can a crime based on superstition be fully and justly taken to court? When faced with a corrupt
She turns the court against Mary Warren by telling the court that she sees spirits and claims that Mary summoned the
People tend to justify their actions, regardless of the outcome. With knowledge of their actions, people misemploy their authority. A remarkable playwright of the American theater, Arthur Miller continues to capture his audience with The Crucible. In the play, Miller portrays several characters, who abuses their authority. However, of the very few, Miller creates a character who makes an important contrast to these corrupt people.
During court, Mary said she heard “the other girls screaming” and that Danforth “seemed to believe them” so she followed suit (Miller 107). Abigail and her friends saw the court believing their act, so they continued with their theatrics. This same display of emotion from Proctor also works at convincing Danforth Abigail’s words are not to be trusted, and her accusations against his wife have no
But the mainly because everyone thinks she is a witch. Due to the women in the court room continuously repeating it with details to support, making everybody believe Mary warren is a witch. Mary was the one caught in the dancing in the forest and being accused of witch craft. When Mary was in court she admitted she was witch craft but, also made everyone to think it was an act. In act 2 page 80 Mary Warren is pressured by Proctor to go to court and confess that Abigail is guilty.
Throughout history the fear of corruption and change has compelled people to go to drastic measures to prevent it. The Crucible, a play by arthur Miller, is set in an environment of religious citizens who fear that the devil and witchcraft will corrupt their society. Much like The Crucible, McCarthyism caused the citizens in America to fear corruption of the government by communism. Arthur Miller used his play the crucible as a direct response to McCarthyism and through this play Miller writes about the Salem witch trials during the McCarthy period to comment on how history repeats itself. The social and political factors in The Crucible resemble those in America during the red scare and McCarthyism.
“Mary Warren, very faintly: No, sir. Hathorne, with a gleam of victory: And yet, when people accused of witchery confronted you in court, you would faint, saying their spirits came out of their bodies and choked you - Mary Warren: That were pretense, sir. Danforth: I cannot hear you. Mary Warren:
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
In the beginning of the play Mary Warren believes that there are actually witches and the devil in Salem. When she returns from court she talks to Elizabeth and John Proctor. She says, “I feel a misty coldness climbin’ up my back, and the skin on my skull begin to creep, and I feel a clamp around my neck and I cannot breathe air” (Miller 147). Mary Warren is trying to explain to the Proctors that she was possessed by the devil in court and he made her accuse the old
Power and influence in society have a huge impact on the way things happen and affects perception. A prime example is the power that presidents and prime ministers have. Given this power they can effectively influence and persuade others. Power and influence is often associated with gender, conflict and roles and relationships. The importance of the power and influence can be thoroughly examined using texts that demonstrate ideas presented as truths.
“’She makes me drink blood”’ says Abigail (Miller 160). The Crucible is a play written by Arthur Miller. The play takes place during the Salem Witch Trials, where many people were accused of witchcraft. The accused were either jailed or hanged. In the play many characters are blind to the truth and are changing the path of life.
Everyone longs for success. They desire the acceptance and approval for following their moral compass, being rewarded, and being acknowledged. However, one cannot maintain success without a purposeful and achievable position of power. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller the power of society is bound upon a pronounced hierarchy. Men naturally are deemed as having higher status than women in society.
Mary desperately wants to tell the truth because she believes their punishment will be less severe if they are truthful. Because of this Abigail threatened her and the other girls, saying they will not tell the truth, so the girls decide to use the two afflicted girls to their advantage and claim witchcraft. Their claim of witchcraft leads to an entire mess of people being falsely accused. John Proctor knows that the girls are lying but doesn't do anything about it until his wife is arrested. Whereupon he forces Mary Warren to tell him the truth and say that she will tell the truth to the court to save all of the innocent people.
Power is defined as “The ability to do something or act in a particular way, especially as as a faculty or quality.” Throughout history, women have significantly lacked not only power but the ability to be recognized as equal to their male counterparts. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, women are somewhat able to successfully gain power from society due to the fact that they use manipulation, deceit and their sexual desire (especially the character of Abigail) to acquire positions of power in their largely patriarchal society. Women are able to attain this power through using their intellect to express manipulation, and lying in order to receive attention that translates into power.