Essay On Hester Prynne And Abigail And The Crucible

Abigail is a selfish and manipulative girl. Abigail Williams stirs up the entire town of Salem against many people, including Elizabeth and John Proctor, because of her selfish personal ambition to be John's next wife, as well as her treacherous lust for the power that she gains by accusing innocent people of witchcraft. When Abigail and John Proctor had their affair, Abigail told John “You loved me John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet! , pity me, pity me!” Abigail hates that John

His despair was inflicted upon him once he committed adultery with Hester Prynne and decided to keep it secret. “While thus suffering under bodily disease, and gnawed and tortured by some black trouble of the soul…”(Hawthorne 117). The pain came from deep within Dimmesdale, and he believed that one sin can destroy his whole life. Puritanism is now looked upon as one of the hardest religions because of their strictness in their ways of life. They truly believed that if they sinned they would be looked at as if they were scum in the eyes of the church, and this was exactly how Dimmesdale saw himself.

You drank a charm to kill John Proctor’s wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor” (Miller 19), the reader can clearly determine that Abigail will take any measure to accomplish her selfish goals. This is as Abigail is trying to intimidate the other girls into not saying anything. “She is the consummate seductress; the witchcraft hysteria in the play originates in her carnal lust for Proctor” (Schissel 3). Abigail is the core of “The Crucible”, everything originates in her desire for Proctor, and the way she achieves her goals.

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. “

A lot of Edwards writing is meant for a more mature audience and mostly Puritans. Edwards uses fear to persuade the audience into being a servant of God. He was very strict in his morals and if you did not obey God you would go to hell, and if you were a good servant you would go to heaven. As a pastor he believed everyone should go to heaven and he would do anything to make sure of that, in one of Edwards writings “From Sinners in the Hands of God” he would use words like “his wrath in hell” (Edwards 79).

The play The Crucible by Arthur Miller, is about the Salem witch trials in 1692. Several girls claim to be afflicted by witchcraft, then accuse people in the town of witchcraft who are usually people they dislike. Two of the main characters Miller focuses on are Abigail Williams and John Proctor. While Abigail Williams and John Proctor both start out with lying and selfishness, Abigail never gets better, she stays with her selfish ways while John works towards selflessness and becoming a better person; therefore, Miller displays the theme of selfishness vs. selflessness in relationships or choices.

The Appendix, Does it Belong? “You are pulling Heaven down and raising up a whore!” (Miller 120). Said “whore” stands for the wild chase of witches throughout Salem. In the appendix Arthur Miller makes Abigail Williams, from his play The Crucible, look like she is the good one.

Due to the actions following, Abigail realized she had gained a voice in society and she, along with a group of three other girls, began accusing multitudes of others during the fifteen month time span. Several innocent people were hanged in Salem village, all because four young girls had caught wind of power. Due to the social structure of Salem, Massachusetts, the witch trial hysteria thrust into action. The social structure is to blame for the witch hysteria ever occurring in Salem because if the girls had not been so attention starved, due to lack of power, then they would have never thought to even begin

“The Crucible” is a novel by Arthur Miller that focuses on what fear and ignorance can do in society. This book is a tragic tale in which the other woman, Abigail Williams, seeks vengeance when her lover, John Proctor, turns from her and back to his wife, Elizabeth. Abigail is the most responsible for the deaths that occurred during this time because she was the ringleader of all the young girls during this witchcraft escapade. Although she is guilty for these crimes, she does not feel remorse for it, except perhaps her lover getting caught in the crossfire. Reverend John Hale, the self proclaimed witch expert, feels the most guilt due to the fact that he was the one who signed off on the death warrants.

A Thousand Splendid Suns’ was written by an Afghan American writer, Khaled Hosseini. The novel narrates the strength and resilience of two women who endure physical and psychological cruelty in an anti-feminist society. It also demonstrates how The Taliban uses fear and violence to control the people of Afghanistan, particularly females. Throughout this story the novel exposes the way customs and laws endorse Rasheed’s violent misogyny and it tells the tale of two women who endure a marriage to a ruthless and brutal man, whose behaviour forces them to kill him. The protagonist Mariam is a poor villager who lives in a remote area in Afghanistan, in contrast to Laila who is a smart, educated daughter of a schoolteacher.

The Puritans were a strong unified religious community that centered their lives and their community on a specific set of beliefs. They believed that life was a test and those who passed this test would not only be successful, but also be delivered to holy blessedness all their lives and in the next. On the other hand, those who failed this test would face the consequences of a life damned by the devil. Notably in addition to that belief, they were God’s advocates and God’s law were their political laws. One specific facet of the Puritan belief system discussed in this paper is religious exclusiveness.

The first part of the trilogy, named, “Bodas de Sangre,” (The Blood Wedding) was made in 1933. It portrays a woman who runs away with a previous love interest on the day of her wedding. “Yerma” (No translation,) the second part, showcases a deadly situation in a loveless marriage. The heroine of the story strangles her husband for not understanding her need to love and have children. The third and final part in the trilogy, “La Casa de Bernada Alba,” (The House of Bernada Alba,) depicts a controlling and dictatorial mother, Bernada Alba, and her daughters.

In both “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne and “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller, there is an overarching motif of sin and the effects that sin has on the characters and the prose itself. Throughout both pieces of literature, the effects of sin are a large driving force that both progress and enhance the plot. In order to attain a deeper insight of the role of sin in both pieces of literature, it is necessary for the reader to not only look at the sins of the characters, but also look at the background and context of both prose, the treatment of the characters due to their sins, and the overall character development throughout the story. While the focal point of this essay will be to compare and contrast the role of sin in both prose, it is necessary to first look at the backgrounds and

People that are isolated and alone are often changed by the crushing weight of their seclusion. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester’s sphere of isolation plays a pivotal role in giving Hester influence in Puritan society which Hawthorne creates by employing feminist ideals in the novel. Since Hester was branded with the Scarlet Letter, she has often struggled with being isolated from the rest of Puritan society. This isolation is often represented by the symbol of spheres in the novel.

Hawthorne uses many forms of rhetoric to portray his characters, but relies heavily on pathos in the instance of Hester Prynne. She’s a member of an inherently misogynistic society, and because she’s a woman, her every act is scrutinized. As punishment for her act of adultery, Hester is ordered to adorn her chest with a permanent scarlet letter. Although the audience is well aware of the atrocity of the sin she’s committed, Hawthorne’s writing sparks a feeling of empathy within the reader. Throughout the novel, the reader is exposed to several clear uses of pathos.