Jacob Fortune
Mr. Schultz
Language Arts 11
16 March, 2023
The Class Allagorys of The Crucible
In the Crucible by Arthur Miller, the events portrayed in Salem have a dark underlying theme of classism and the dynamics that come with it. Although these themes aren’t the most prominent in this story, key moments that fully and sickeningly display the very real classism that came with the Salem witch trials are present throughout. These themes were likely purposefully included by Arthur Miller to mirror the real modern day, as the rest of the story eludes to the McCarthy era that the play was written during. Theres multiple characters in the story that represent the upper-class citizens, one of which is Parris who drops the infamously telling
Christopher Speckert English 9-10 A Mrs. Slagel 5 November 2015 Whose Fault Were the Salem Witch Trials? In Arthur Miller's famous book; “The Crucible” many people are fighting to prove their innocence to save their lives. If they admit to being a witch and practice witchcraft then they can live, but have to be known as a witch for the rest of their lives (Miller 1234). But if they refuse to confess being a witch then they will be killed (Miller 1272).
The Crux of The Crucible In life there aren 't many things that are certain. The one thing that you can always count on is the ever precedent flaws of man. The characters, and the actual people they are designed after, in Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, show us what we as humans are like at our worst. Miller, creator of the movie and play, “The Crucible” made a story based on the true events of what happened in Salem during the years of 1692 to 1693. The book follows a set of about five characters.
Parris is bound to his own greed for power that he dismisses his daughter, Betty’s, well being to avoid the criticism of the town. He is so blinded and most of his actions are for personal gain and in ways to benefit him. For instance, when Parris was in court during John and Elizabeth’s depositions. Parris claims “This is a clear attack on the court!” (Miller 107).
Peter Bocompani Mrs. Wasley English 10H 6 March 2023 The Crucible Playbill Project My playbill focuses on many aspects of The Crucible, and it also includes lots of symbolism connecting to the play. For example, the dark forest in the background of the playbill symbolizes the evil of humans, as it is a “dark” and “threatening” place where the devil is said to live. The forest is also the place where the girls are accused of doing witchcraft at the beginning of the play, leading to the town of Salem’s negative view of the woods.
Reverend Parris makes clear how important his reputation in the community is to him and how afraid he is of jeopardizing it. He makes choices that ultimately contribute to the tragic events of the play because he is fixated on upholding his reputation at the expense of his parishioners and the community as a whole. This serves as a reminder that reputation may affect others and motivate both positive and negative
In The Crucible, Arthur Miller uses characterization, setting, conflict, and motifs to explore the similarities between the oppressive society of the 1950s and the Salem Witch Trials of 1690. In Act IV of the play, Miller continues to build upon this commentary by demonstrating how the same tendencies of human nature can cause the same prejudice and suffering in both societies. In Act IV, the audience sees how the same human tendencies that drove the Salem Witch Trials continue to cause suffering in the McCarthy era. Miller uses Reverend Hale to demonstrate this.
The Salem Witch Trials forced townspeople to lie and possibly lead another to death or deny accusations and get hung as a result. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, people with authority in Salem make unfair decisions in order to punish those that have been accused of witchcraft. Judges knew the hangings were wrong, but continued to hang innocent townspeople. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller shows hypocrisy,judgment, and abuse of power throughout the town of Salem by explaining people’s lies and accusations in the play. Authorities in Salem were not truthful, felt little sorrow for their wrongdoings, and used their power to their advantag,in a bad way.
Spencer Davis Mr. DeMello American Literature 3/16/2023 The Crucible Essay Rough Draft Intro Paragraph: Truth/Lies From 1692-1693, 25 people lost their lives as a result of the Salem Witch Trials. These trials were fueled by lies and misinformation. The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, details the severe effects of the Salem Witch trials on a Massachusetts Bay Colony in the late 1600s.
In modern times, witches are fantasy characters seen in media, but in the town of Salem, they are a real fear. A fear that drives people to insanity and leaves some questioning if reputation is more important than integrity. Arthur Miller enlightens these questioning people in his play The Crucible by describing the witch hunts in Salem. The play follows the people of Salem as the town falls into a witch hunt when a group of girls accuse an innocent slave of witchcraft to save themselves from getting in trouble. It describes the corruption of the authority figures as they force innocent people to confess and accuse others of witchcraft, and it shows how fear can cause a whole town to go against their better judgment.
Shawn Jande Ms. Clancy American Literature B3 15 November 2015 The Crucible Analytical Essay Imagine, being accused of a crime you didn’t commit by your neighbors and friends out of jealousy, and desire. This is what many people in the town of Salem had to go through during the time of the Salem Witch Trials. People's motives such as: gaining and maintaining power, and aspirations for what other people had caused them to make irrational, and atrocious decisions. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, desire and power drive characters to create chaos in the community.
In The Crucible, Arthur Miller creates an indisputable connection between the Salem Witch Trials and the Red Scare, the fear and persecution of suspected communists in the USA between the 40s and 50s. The hysteria and paranoia that took America by storm during the Red Scare are effectively criticized through the use of characters and plot. Through the depiction of the Salem Witch Trials, Miller shows how patterns of investigation, accusation, and punishment are correspondent between the trials and the Red Scare. The common themes of fear, hysteria, and dangerous mob mentality are explored through the use of irony, symbolism, and characterization. Arthur Miller successfully creates an allegory of the Red Scare in The Crucible while showing
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.
Social class happened throughout the whole entire play. Parris states, “I cannot go before the congregation…”. That has a relationship with social class by Parris saying that he puts the congregation before himself. He means that maybe the congregation has a higher class than him. Parris was hated in the play mostly because he was a liar and tried
One of the main elements that eventually build up to the main plot in the play is power. Many of the characters in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible have a strong desire for power. The Salem witch trials empowered several characters in the play who were previously marginalized in Salem society. It gave them the chance to misuse it leading to horrible suffering and even deaths of some innocent people in the town. Some of these characters are Abigail Williams, Deputy Governor Danforth and Reverend Parris.
Salem in The Crucible from Arthur Miller is the home to chaos and murder due to witchery that is still unclear as to whether it happened or not. These events caused major changes in the characters from start to finish, at the same time a change in society. Furthermore, calling what happened in Salem a tragedy is an understatement when Salem is clearly in a state of anarchy. Similarly, authority is discontinued and Salem enters a “she said he said” state of mind which only further confuses Salem while also hiding the true slaughterer of innocent Puritan people right in front of their faces. Furthermore, this rising anarchy inhibits the people of logical thinking and hides major perpetrators right in front of them.