Artifice In Arthur Miller's The Crucible

In the Miller Transcript, Arthur Miller is convicted for his suspected association with communist organizations during the 1950s anti communist hunt led by Joseph McCarthy. Arthur Miller’s conviction was not based on any evidence linking him to communism other than attending a meeting with a group of suspected communist Hollywood writers whom Arthur Miller refused to identify. His trial is a great example of the unjust trials and convictions of innocent people under the suspicions of being communists during the McCarthy period.

Abigail seeks revenge on Elizabeth throughout the play because, she is in love with John, and wants to be with him. Abigail helped begin the Witch Trials by originally wanting revenge on Elizabeth, and then she assists in the conviction of many innocent people. Without Abigail wanting revenge on Elizabeth, many people would not have been falsely accused for witchcraft.

In Arthur Miller 's play The Crucible, false accusations and fear are used to imprison and kill many people accused of being witches. In this way, The Crucible stands as an allegory for McCarthy 's communist hunt, during which many people were also killed and imprisoned due to accusations of communism. By comparing McCarthyism to the Salem Witch Trials, Miller is able to communicate that people should not conform to societal trends because these trends may be misleading and cause innocent people to get hurt. Many characters in The Crucible serve as allegories to McCarthy 's communist hunt, specifically Abigail Williams, Giles Corey, and Betty Parris.

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. The status of women relies on affiliation by association, their religious status, children, and race, therefore obtaining power proves to be a challenge for many. While Tituba lacks power due to her gender, race, and indentured servitude, she ultimately achieves power by maintaining an alleged alliance with the devil and through pursuing accusations of witchcraft.

In the play, “The Crucible” many innocent lives are taken because lies and deceit play a very broad role throughout the entire play. Some Salemnites fake to see spirits to cause others to fear the innocent and get their lives taken to please the fakers.

In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, Miller demonstrated that it was Abigail William’s flaws: lust, vengeance, and jealously that led her to be responsible the most for the tragedy of the witch hunts in Salem. Abigail Williams started the entire suspicion of there being active member of witchcraft throughout Salem, Massachusetts. She did this for her own benefits and used trickery to get what she wanted. Abigail was corrupt and only cared for her own desires. There are many reasons that these flaws are crucial to the outcome of the play. These flaws will be her downfall.

Adolescent minds are the most intelligent kind of mind. A young brain is filled with creativity, imagination and innocence. Though the thought process of a teen is assumed to be selfish there are other factors involved. A combination of these characteristics seems almost dangerous. One would undermine a juvenile to use these qualities to manipulate the court for their own selfish wishes or pleasures. Abigail defies all judgements against innocence as she is the driven evil force in The Crucible.

The essential components of manipulation can range from many views of a person or an object. The main components of manipulation is the use of fear or information against a person or something. In the views of many, there is a fear, superstition, or any personal beliefs are key ways to twist the thoughts of someone or something. In The Crucible, Abigail was able to use the superstition and fear of witches against the town of Salem to manipulate them into turning against one another, faking that she was capable of scouting witches and their spirits, while she accused many so she will have a way to get rid Elizabeth while maintaining innocence. Abigail was a very strange girl but, her name was white as snow in the town of Salem, proving that she will still have a way to actually have no reason that anybody won’t believe her.

Often times you will find yourself in an either difficult, or awkward situation where telling the truth is going to alter the conversation, and the person’s mood either for the better or worst, this leaves you thinking is being honest the right thing to do?

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. The Crucible teaches its readers the true application of authority along with the misuses of it.

Arthur Miller constructs his play upon the famous Salem witch trails. Miller's Crucible was written in the early 1950s. Miller wrote his drama during the brief reign of the American senator Joseph McCarthy whose bitter criticized anti- communism sparkled the need for the United States to be a dramatic anti- communist society during the early tense years of the cold war. By orders from McCarthy himself, committees of the Congress commenced highly controversial investigations against communists in the U.S similar to the alleged Salem witches situation. Convict communists were ordered to confess their crime and name others to avoid the retribution. The new decision led to a cyclone of accusations because people realized the possibility of their condemnation regardless they were guilty or innocent. Many helped that system by untrue confessions to save their lives. Miller, among others, refused to surrender to questioning. People who were revealed communists suffered greatly (Bly 2-5).

If you are reading your history book, a play, or even watching the news today, you will see how people abuse the power that they have over somethings. There have been many leaders and people who abuse their power over civilization and places. Even the littlest taste of power often leads them to corruption. Many times, citizens and adversaries riot over some of the things that they disagree on and, in some cases, murder comes in to play.

Who knew one seemingly innocent lie could cause 19 deaths and pit an entire town against itself? That’s exactly what happens in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. Authors often use similar plot devices, and their favorite one is having their characters face a test. In a small town called Salem in early America, something terrible is happening. A small group of teenage puritans broke several rules and lied a seemingly innocent lie. That lie turns into a series of hearings where the defendant has two terrible choices. They can either lie and confess to witchcraft that they didn't commit, or hang. That one lie leads to 19 deaths. In Arthur Miller's The Crucible, many characters made crucial decisions that led to the disaster

Power in our society nowadays is very misgiven and abused. When people have power they tend to use it for their own benefit and to manipulate people into believing them. In the play, The Crucible, Arthur Miller dramatizes the Salem witch trials of 1692 in order to show his audience how easy it was to be accused and hung for witchcraft. In the Crucible a group of young girls were caught dancing in the woods and in order to not receive a punishment they lied saying they got witched. The girls blamed many people of the town of being witches and caused conflict all over the village. People in the village had power by influencing others to lie in order not to receive the consequences of witchcraft.

Throughout Miller’s play, The Crucible, the characters are faced with many different trials when the suspicion of witchcraft enters their town. These trials have forced the characters to change their opinions and develop their own sense of personal integrity. The impact of pressure on people has forced some of the characters to further from their own morals.