Cruelty is a recurrent theme in literature that often acts as a critical factor in a novel’s development. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, the occurrence of cruelty is seen to be gradually increasing as the story goes on from accusations of witchcraft that lead into chaos and death. Through Miller’s depiction of the merciless accusations and murders of innocent people, cruelty reveals a high extent of people’s animosity and vengeance that is greatly influenced by the attitude of the surrounding atmosphere. The accusations first began when the girls who were caught “dancing” in the forest were under pressure to confess what they were truly doing. A slave girl who was a part of the group, Tituba, confesses to “communing with the devil” …show more content…
It reveals how people commit cruel acts out of selfish intentions. In this situation, the girls claim to “come to Heaven’s side” by pointing fingers at others for witchcraft, although they were only doing so to get themselves out of their own trouble. These acts of cruelty reflect upon the evil motives of the perpetrators that become more common after it is done once, as seen through the continuous trials and suspicions, which acts as one of the most major conflicts in the play. Without these cruel accusations, there would be neither plot nor ending. With this same situation, it can be concluded that accusations become more frequent during an interval of time when there are more people accusing. When the girls are all brought together, the force upon exploiting blame grows stronger. In the scene when Reverend Hale says, “ Glory to …show more content…
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
In the play, Abigail Williams is shown as malicious young women, who could lie without any problems and consequences. Abigail decided for herself that she can make up the stories, accusing people of being witches, to cover
The movie, “The Crucible”, published in 1996 is a drama film that sets in Salem, Massachusetts in the year 1692 and tells the story of the Salem Witch Trials. The film documents a group of teenage girls, who are caught dancing in the woods conjuring love spells and are forced to lie that Satan had “conquered” them, shortly after, they begin to accuse several innocent individuals in the community of witchcraft. As the allegations spread, the community became increasingly paranoid as well as divided, additionally, many innocent people were prosecuted and put on trial. Remarkably, throughout the play Arthur Miller portrays the influence of groupthink, to demonstrate how a character can easily be influenced by society and changes one’s perspective on life.
“Evil hiding among us is an ancient theme” (John Carpenter). Throughout human history, harsh themes have surfaced time and time again. Within society, these subjects appear daily. In fact, in literature authors include these topics to provide further engagement for the reader. Among the themes displayed in Arthur Miller's The Crucible, the most pertinent of which are human weakness, displayed by John Proctor, vindictiveness, by Abigail Williams, and hypocrisy demonstrated by Danforth.
In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Abigail Williams and John Proctor are known to have had an adulterous affair with one another. Even though both John Proctor and Abigail are worthy of blame for their actions, Abigail is the most culpable of the two. In The Crucible, Abigail is the most to blame because of her “tempting” Proctor to carrying out the act more. During Act 1, Abigail is shown to keep egging on Proctor although he does not want to have the affair with her anymore.
She is mean. She shows that she is mean by threatening the lives of the girls if they say anything about witchcraft. “Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you” (act 1 line 460) She also shows that she is mean when she is coping Mary making the pastors in the court believe that Mary is a witch. “
In 1692 hundreds of people were sitting in jail for being witches, but none of them were really witches. An author named Arthur Miller wrote the play The Crucible based of the true events of the Salem witch trials. In the play some girls get in trouble for dancing in the woods. They claim the witches were making them do these bad things. The girls accused a lot of people and got a lot of people of hang for being witches.
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.
Then after being whipped by parris, Tituba decides to say that the devil is doing it and that she saw Goody Osburn with the devil. Then the other girls go along with what Tituba was saying and begin to blame innocent people. This is how the witch trials begin and well as John Proctor 's death will as well. Throughout the whole play these girls fake
Don’t believe everything you hear The people in the town were so quick to believe everything that came out of the girls mouths The town’s people started to point fingers at neighbors and even friends just in confusion from the lies The girls were putting on such a convincing act that they had almost everyone fooled The people that were accused had to admit to working with the devil even though they weren’t, in order to save themselves from death.
Three deranged girls, from 1692 Salem; Massachusetts, precipitated the mass hangings of twenty innocent people accused of witchery for the reason that of their adept prowess at acting, their marital status and jealousy of the newfound eastern wealth. As a result of their skills in deception, the accusers were able to dupe the jury to convict people of witchcraft. For example, Document C describes the three girls’ reactions once their target entered the vicinity. “As soon as she [Bishop] came near, all(afflicted girls) fell into fits.”
Hero: A person, typically a man, who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities; however, heroism is not synonymous with perfection. Man can be a hero in spite of having some flaws. This is apparent in The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, a story about the Salem Witch Trials in which Abigail Williams accuses dozens of innocent people of witchcraft. Despite being flawed, John Proctor, Reverend Hale, and Elizabeth Proctor can demonstrate their heroism in The Crucible. John Proctor is shown to be both a hero and a flawed man in regards to his lechery.
This starts a spree of lying and blaming which causes multiple innocent people to be hanged for being accused of witchcraft. One lie started a moment in history people today call crazy, unacceptable, and unrepeatable. “The Crucible” is a play that explains, through a crazy but remarkable story, why lying is a sin. In the present, lying could occur more frequently that truth is told.
The Crucible “The Crucible” is a play, by Arthur Miller, about the Salem Witch Trials. After reading “The Crucible”, you will be asking yourself, is it necessary for a person to suffer? The answer to the question is shown through the characters, Giles Corey, John and Elizabeth Proctor, and Abigail Williams. John Proctor is a respected puritan man in the community. John had made the mistake of sleeping with, a teenage girl, Abigail Williams.
The Crucible: How Fear Changes People During his first Inaugural Address, Franklin D. Roosevelt once announced, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”. Fear manipulates a persons rationality resulting in them behaving in ways they normally would not, especially in the story The Crucible written by Arthur Miller. The characters in The Crucible allow fear to manipulate their beliefs and actions. They all know what is right, but fear alters their mindset causing them to act differently.
John Proctor’s fears manifest when he resists in allowing Deputy Danforth and Reverend Hale post his name on the church door that he has practiced witchcraft (IV.712-717). John Proctor is Elizabeth Proctor’s husband, who has had an affair with Abigail Williams when she was still working as a maid in the Proctor’s household. When Elizabeth discovers that her husband and Abigail have committed adultery, she fires Abigail. Driven by lust and jealousy to own Proctor for herself, Abigail aspires to terminate Elizabeth by playing her Mafia-like games and forcing the other Salem girls to participate (I. 460-473). Nevertheless, later in the play, John falls into the category of a witch when Elizabeth twists the story about how she dismissed Abigail