Arthur Miller: Reading Response Journal: The Crucible

Their devotion to their own code of ethics supersedes their loyalty to the community. In the beginning of the play, Proctor and Hale have contrasting views of the witchcraft occurring in the town. Proctor is skeptical when he first hears of it, “I come to see what mischief your uncle’s brewin’ now. ”(22)

Salem was surprised and scared of what happened during the 1690’s. Rosalyn Schanzer wrote the book Witches! The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem, which is a book that describes the life in Salem during the witch trials. The witch trials was a period of time when people accused others for being witches and using witchcraft. It was a devastating time for the Puritans.

In Document C Cotton mather, Memorable Providences Relating to Witchcraft and possessions, Boston, 1689 states, “These evil spirits are around… army of evil spirits under

He uses his bibliocentric views and high status to justify his selfish motives and protect his reputation. This is apparent within the very first lines when he finds out that his daughter, Betty, is sick. “Abigail, I have fought here three long years to bend these stiff-necked people to me, and now, just now when some good respect is rising for me in the parish, you compromise my very character.” Instead of being worried about Betty’s health, he is more concerned about his reputation and what people would think if they suspected witchcraft. This is repeated throughout the first act when he calls Mr. Hale claiming that he will be able to prove that there’s no witchcraft involved.

Equally important, Abigail told Proctor that his wife Elizabeth, who knows about their affair “is blackening my name in the village! She telling lies about me!”(Miller 24) , but Proctor finished the conversation with a “do you look for whippin’?”(Miller 24). This event doesn’t seem like much but it’s when at the end of act 1 the girls began to confess that they were doing witchcraft and declare that other people in the village were witches as well, and Proctor knows what really happened in the woods. Moreover, in act 2, John Proctor and his wife Elizabeth have a conversation about the nonsense of the girls accusing people of witchcraft, and she told him to go to court and tell them what he knew, but he only answered with an “I’ll think on it”(Miller 53) because of lack of

Some neighbors would accuse each other, and a lot of people believe that they accused each other because they had disagreements about who owned what land. If this is true, then maybe it did not recur due to too many people were starting to not believe it. While many people may believe this speculation, there are numerous others who may find other theories more plausible. In conclusion, there are numerous theories for why the Salem Witch trials started.

This moment shows the Putnams large role in the blaming of witchcraft because after they ask about a name people respond with those exact names although the blaming wasn’t real. Another person who contributed to the witchcraft hysteria is Reverend Parris. Samuel Parris was quick to blame and quick to make bad remarks about people he didn’t like. Most of all Parris wants to keep up his reputation so if word got out that he niece was acting like a barbarian in the woods he would be shamed upon. In the play Parris says, “If you trafficked with spirits in the forest I must know it now, for surely my enemies will, and they will ruin me with it.”

In the play/act The Crucible by Arthur Miller was a tragic and sorrowful play. The overall summary of the play was is about the Salem witch trials in 1692. A few young ladies claim to be burdened by witchcraft, beginning with Reverend Paris’s little girl Betty. The tormented young ladies blame individuals in the town for witchcraft, frequently picking casualties who they or their families hate. In this story the whole reason for the tragic ending is often thought to be just Abigale, but that is not true.

Hales search for truth lead him into scenarios that would change his character, none more powerfully than his signing away the life of accused witches. In The Crucible Reverend John Hale is depicted as a young minister from the town of Beverly, who is an expert in the field of witchcraft. The young minister sought to destroy such demonic arts through God’s name. Hale is appointed to diagnose those afflicted with witchcraft believing he might save souls by doing such.

In the play, The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, many unprecedented events occur in the period of The Salem Witch Trials, one of the most unprecedented being the countless accusations of villagers being accused of witchcraft. However, the fact of the matter is that not many individuals really thought about what drove society to do the unthinkable, or the influence that could have caused many other individuals to take decisive actions to no prevail. In a couple of ways, society unknowingly used the means of peer pressure and life threats to ultimately cause an individual to take decisive action. One way society unintentionally influenced the action of many individuals was through the excessive use of peer pressure. For instance,

To begin with, Abigail Williams starts the accusations of witchcraft in order to fulfill her ulterior motives. We first see hints of her motives when Abigail tells John Proctor, a married man under whom she had worked that, “I am waiting’ for you every night”(1099). While Abigail worked under John and Elizabeth Proctor, she had developed feelings for John. Elizabeth removes her which angers Abigail deeply.

The book by Rosalyn Schanzers Witches! The absolutely true tale of disaster in salem gives information about the salem witch trials. The surroundings of the trials(such as weather)changed from winter all the way through spring 1692.They also were very paranoid of a lot of things. Such as witches and the devil. The main theories i will state are Reasons for the witch hunts.

Now since this has happened we learned that witches do not exist and later in the book it says that some of the accusers lied and now there is a law that makes sure that everyone has a fair trial. The trials in 1629 were not fair because the judges did not listen to the accused, the court used spectral evidence, and the judges already had their mind set on what they were going to do in court. Many people were put to death because of these

The Devil would have people whom were called witches that made a vow to worship and serve him(Lambert). This derogatory term of witch soon spread around Europe among this time. The calumniation of fear was building up amongst local neighbors in fact. With these fearful terms and news about witches it was when the trials were soon to occur. Many books were created during the time period of the witch hunts, one book in particular which was created around 1486 named “Malleus Maleficarum” which translates to Hammer of Witches(University of Pennsylvania).

Before them, the relationship was peaceful and without