Luke J. Williams Ansley Black English III Period. 3 4 May 2023 CAN WE CHOOSE TO NOT FEAR? The human mind has many systems to protect itself. Although fear is the most pertinent system in the human mind to avoid being vulnerable; this is illustrated best in the play written by Arthur Miller, The Crucible. In the Crucible many characters are jaded, rude, or just plain evil. Arthur Miller uses fear to make this clear. Whether they run from, hide from, or fight against what is happening in Salem, it all boils down to each character's response to fear. The reason this play feels so real is in one part due to the fact the characters are real, and two how real fear is depicted in the play. Although Fear is just an emotion. As shown in the Crucible, …show more content…
For example during WW1 many allies had irrational fears of Asians merely because of their looks. Treating them differently, whether it be by avoiding them, deporting them, or killing them. As said by Max Everest-Phillips in The Pre-War Fear of Japanese Espionage: Its impact and Legacy “every Japanese is a potential intelligence officer for Japan, but unfortunately it is not practicable to substantiate that belief by quoting incidents in support” the quote pretty much means you can’t assume everyone who is Japanese is a spy because you found a few Japanese spies. Or rather you can’t make assumptions based on faulty evidence and by making those assumptions you are responding the wrong way to fear. Instead of looking at just the data you need to look at the reasoning in the facts and understand if someone looks like something, there is a chance they may not be that thing. The best example of this “wrong response” to fear in literature is in the crucible. Although there are many characters who respond poorly to fear in the crucible Abigail Williams is the worst one. “I am but God’s finger, John. If he would condemn Elizabeth, she will be condemned” Throughout the story of The Crucible Abigail fears a lot, when she fears she will get caught she runs away, when she fears she will be shunned at the forest she blames Tituba. But everytime Abigail is faced with fear she responds by being even more nasty by choosing the most evil possible option. Therefore, Abigail Williams is the perfect example of the “bad response” to
Some may say money is the root of all evil but in ,The Crucible by Arthur Miller, fear was the root of all evil. The Crucible showed how characters crack under pressure. The cause of the hysteria in 1692 Salem that lead to the executions of twenty innocent villagers was fear. The characters that displayed this characteristic were: Mary Warren, John Proctor, and Abigail Williams. One character that showed fear in The Crucible is Mary Warren.
The Role of Fear in The Crucible Fear plays an important role in the play, The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller. Fear motivated the accusers and the accused such as the character Abigail Williams, Mary Warren, and John Proctor. Fear motivated Abigail in many ways, first was when her and the other girls were in the woods and they were dancing and Abigail drank chicken blood.
Fear in The Crucible Fear plays an important role in the play The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller. Fear motivated the accusers and accused in the play like Abigail Williams, John Proctor, and Mary Warren. Abigail Williams was really scared in the beginning of the play because she was drinking blood in the woods well all the other girls watched and danced. Another one of her fear was getting convicted by the court so she kept lying to the court so she would not get in trouble.
Fear is something everyone has no matter how strong they may present themselves. Fear is an emotion that becomes a threat because of something in ones life that was approached unordinary. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, fear is such a powerful feeling that gives huge impacts on people. For example, Abigail and Judge Danforth. Fear causes them to lie in order to protect themselves.
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt. This inspirational quote by Franklin D. Roosevelt can be related to the power of fear, which can be seen within the play, The Crucible by Arthur Miller. The intensity of the feeling of fear is very much based on personal opinions towards certain things.
The quote "Fear can prevail over reason so that fact and opinion become confused" by the mathematician and philosopher Thucydides speaks to the idea that when people are fearful, they may lose their ability to think rationally and differentiate between fact and opinion. This concept is central to Arthur Miller's play The Crucible, which depicts the events surrounding the Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts in the late 1600s. In Act III of The Crucible, fear is rampant in Salem as the court begins its hearings and trials to determine who is a witch. As a result of this fear, many characters, including some of the judges and accusers, lose their ability to reason and distinguish between fact and opinion.
In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, there are ancillary links between McCarthyism and the trials that show that fear can be used
Bradly LeMay Mrs. Easton English 5, Period 1 12 January 2016 Informative essay on reading the crucible Fear has always been here and fear will always be here all that we can do is combat it, cover it up. Every member of society is afraid of something weather it be big or weather it be small. The thing that is causing the most fear today are acts of terrorism.
It is also shown in The Crucible through Abigail's perspective as she keeps lying to keep herself from being killed. The question is how does a person respond when challenged by fear? The answer is simple: When challenged by fear, one tends to respond in a way that will protect one’s self from harm. Firstly, Dana, the main character of the book Kindred, is challenged by fear many times throughout the story.
The situation depicted in The Crucible and today have many similarities such as fear gives power to leaders, corrupted people are given power, and people are judged based on things they shouldn’t be judged on. Fear is a powerful emotion that can cause us to give power to leaders. In the play The Crucible
Amidst times of chaos when fear and uncertainty is abundant, many individuals prioritize their own survival above all else. Arthur Miller's 1953 play The Crucible, is an examination of this instinct in the framework of the Salem witch trials. Through his use of literary devices, specifically dialogue, Miller delves into complex themes of self-preservation, mass hysteria, and truth. In The Crucible, Miller employs character dialogue to illustrate the unfortunate reality that during the witch trials, self-preservation often held more value than moral principles and honesty. By exploring the different characters and their motivations, Miller reveals the dangerous consequences of prioritizing self-preservation above fundamental beliefs.
I am exploring the question of are we are motivated by fear, human nature, and just how far we will go for our reputations. All three of theses are major themes in the Cucubile by Arthur Miller. And each theme plays a major part in how the Crucible was rounded while also showing a very strong perspective on how the author wanted the reader to perceive the crucible. The reason I think that we continue to read, study, and perform the Crucible to this day is because it was a major part in history where many innocent people were killed due to fear and false accusations. The Crucible was written about a time period that Arthur Miller acknowledges as a time where fear and reputation totally took over.
The characters in the story are induced by fear, which leads to irrational behavior and in the end just to negative consequences. For that reason, fear is harmful as it can lead to the destruction of individual people and communities. In the story of the crucible, fear is the prevalent cause of the events that unfold. The fear of being accused of witchcraft causes the characters to start to turn on each other and start accusing innocent people, including sometimes close ones.
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. ”(Roosevelt). The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a historical fiction about how hysteria and groupthink can have drastic consequences. It follows the Salem witch trials and the events that led to 19 people being convicted of witchcraft and subsequently killed. The most important subject in The Crucible is how fear can affect decisions.
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.