ipl-logo

Dishonesty In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

1106 Words5 Pages

Lying can either make or break a person. It affects the outcomes and events that are given to the deceiver, and that individual has to live with the lies’ consequences. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the act of dishonest actions actions impacts the characters’ thoughts and decisions through the manipulation of fear and choice, whether to be truthful or not. The citizens in Salem, Massachusetts call themselves Puritans, a group of Protestants of the 16th century known for withholding a religious aspect. Even with their Puritan background, the hysteria of witchcraft seems to break through and consume their beliefs. Dishonesty is the root of every major conflict in Miller’s tale. Some have told a lie at least once, a few have more than others. …show more content…

Abigail played a major role in the act of vengeance upon others. Just like all the other girls, she told many lies that kept on piling up, bringing people down one by one. The main person that fed her hatred was Elizabeth Proctor. Abby intended to take her place as John’s wife ever since her affair with him. She stated of fake accusations to make Elizabeth appear guilty of witchcraft. Abigail states that Goody Proctor sent her spirit out to stab her with a needle. “Why, look at my leg. I’m holes all over from their damned needles and pins. The jab your wife gave me’s not healed yet, y’know” (Miller, 149), thus Elizabeth ends up going to trial. Ann Putnam as well aims to get what she desires due to her belief of Rebecca Nurse being a witch and killing her children on purpose. “For murder, she’s charged! For the marvelous and supernatural murder of Goody Putnam’s babies” (Miller, 71). Goody Nurse gets executed even though she had nothing to do with Ann’s babies; Mrs. Putnam’s beliefs kept her accusation strong. Vengeance is a sin and is used for bad intentions. Lying can associate with revenge to help get away with one’s personal goals and to avenge for their grudges as

Show More
Related

  • Lying In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

    1224 Words  | 5 Pages

    Lying comes naturally because it keeps telling others the truth knowing the relationship between two people may suffer. In The Crucible written in 1953 by Arthur Miller, characters are prone to lie not just to themselves, but also to their own friends. The Salem Witch Trials prosecuted around eighty people to death for suspecting them befriending the devil. Miller shows the major consequence for lying results in death. Characters in The Crucible lie in hopes of saving themselves from mass hysteria and the possibility of death.

    Read More

  • Honesty Of John Proctor In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

    714 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a dramatic play which portraits the Salem Witch Trials in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. Throughout the story the main characters participate in a name game trying to clear their names from accusations of witchcraft. In the end an innocent man takes blame for the issue that arose in the town. As a result of him coming forward, he was hung for his actions. Honesty is the most lacking factor in the character’s lives.

    Read More

  • Integrity In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

    552 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Crucible by Arthur Miller, is a play based on the events that occurred during The Salem Witch trials. It follows the townspeople as they accuse more and more women and men as witches. Throughout the Crucible many themes exploit themselves, and many of these themes influence the story itself. Integrity influences the reader's thoughts on different characters, corruption of justice helps the climax grow, and the mass hysteria helps to create the initial problem of the play.

    Read More

  • False Decisions Depicted In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

    1101 Words  | 5 Pages

    Finally, Rebecca Nurse also dies for a crime she did not commit when Ann Putnam tries to test her. When the judges try her in court for killing the Putnam babies, the judges sentenced her to death

    Read More

  • Abigail's Role In The Crucible '

    832 Words  | 4 Pages

    Abigail wanted revenge on Elizabeth so she accused her for being a witch and said that Elizabeth was sending her spirit to stab her with a needle. Abigail did this because she still loves John Proctor and doesn’t want Elizabeth getting in the way for her love of him. Eziekiel Cheever states this to John Proctor in “She sat to dinner in Reverend Parris’s house tonight, and without word nor warnin’ she falls to the floor…. And he goes to save her, and, stuck two inches in the flesh of her belly, he draw a needle out… she testify it were your wife’s familiar spirit pushed it in (74)”. Revenge is seen as a personal way for Abigail to get with the one she loves even though she is causing others to be negatively affected by her

    Read More

  • Integrity In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

    1145 Words  | 5 Pages

    Whenever Abigail said Elizabeth stabbed her in the stomach she had proof that Elizabeth had a doll with a needle in its stomach. For example ,‘‘ She’ll kill me for sayin’ that? Abby’ll charge lechery on you, Mr. Proctor , “(Miller II .80) This is significant because tried to get the truth, he then realized that Abigail was dangerous and would eventually turn against him.. The quote explains how much power Abigail had and why she felt so strong.

    Read More

  • Little White Lies In The Crucible

    1768 Words  | 8 Pages

    Terry Goodkind once said, “Once you place the crown of a liar on your head, you can take it off, but it leaves a stain for all time” This old adage rings true for many characters in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. Many of them lied, cheated, omitted, and manipulated their way through the court and their own neighbors for the good of their own personal agenda; and the effects of those dishonest actions affected them for the rest of their lives. My whole life I have heard it said that little white lies do not matter. But they do, they matter a lot. They build on top of each other, snowballing into much bigger lies with much larger consequences.

    Read More

  • The Role Of Lying In The Crucible

    532 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Arthur Miller’s the Crucible, the lies told by the characters are human acts of self-preservation, sometimes told at the risk of other, and sometimes told to try and assist others, which begs the question, is it ever exceptional to lie? Miller’s play begins in Act I by presenting all characters whom instigate the Salem Witch Trails. The main protagonist and the character that can be mostly accredited for the lies and accusations which cause the uproar would be Abigail. Abigail’s character is static because her actions always appear malicious and she shows great will for self-preservation.

    Read More

  • Corruption In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

    741 Words  | 3 Pages

    Salem was a town known for being as pure as possible. One of the top priorities was to cleanse the town of any evil if evil was present. The ideal image for the town was formed by their theocratic religion. The chaos caused was evitable. The play consisted of people trying to uphold standards and lying in order to keep their good name.

    Read More

  • How Does John Proctor Tell The Truth In The Crucible

    990 Words  | 4 Pages

    Vladimir Lenin once said “A lie told often enough becomes the truth.” When we as human beings lie enough, we start to convince ourselves that the tale is true. Author Miller wrote a play called The Crucible where he introduces us to characters going through tribulations, intwining themselves in a web of lies. Many of them are bombarded with words that make them convict themselves of things they did not do. When asked “are you a witch” if the answer was not “yes sir, but I want to come to God now” then they were to be killed.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Lying In The Crucible

    842 Words  | 4 Pages

    People lie for many reasons. Sometimes it’s to themselves, sometimes it’s to others. No matter who they are lying to, it always affects others around you. In the story The Crucible by Arthur Miller, lying is a very common theme. Many characters lie, which include John Proctor, Abigail Williams, Reverend Parris, and many others.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Scapegoation In The Crucible

    599 Words  | 3 Pages

    Abigail wanted to get her vengeance on Elizabeth Proctor for firing her as a maid. John Proctor screamed in rage at Judge Danforth, “She thinks to dance with me on my wife’s grave!... But it is a whore’s vengeance, and you must see it…”(3.863-8). Abigail wanted to kill or blame Elizabeth for witchcraft to get her vengeance. She may have wanted vengeance, but that did not happen as much as scapegoating like when Abigail scapegoated Tituba.

    Read More

  • Corruption Quotes In The Crucible

    1385 Words  | 6 Pages

    This disgusting behavior seen today is also seen in The Crucible by Arthur Miller. The Crucible is the story of a young Puritan woman in 1692 Massachusetts who made false witchcraft accusations in an attempt to save her life and to end a rival’s life. While her actions are horrific and the cause of numerous deaths, the actions of the adults around her that enabled her lies to cost lives are despicable. Through his dishonest characters, specifically Reverend Parris, Judge Danforth, and John Proctor, Miller exposes the evils of lying to save one’s name and the destruction that inevitably ensues.

    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

  • The Role Of Lying In The Crucible

    444 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

More about Dishonesty In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

Open Document