The Crucible, a novel that reflects on Salem's Witch Trials in early 1692. The strict religious culture set out by the Puritans ruled the village. Unexplained acts were seen as acts of the devil and witchcraft. Salem became caught up in a hysteria about witchcraft that year. The conflict ultimately claimed 19 lives.
Nathaniel Nguyen The Crucible Arthur Miller English 2 Honors Period 2 Witch Hunting During the years 1692 to 1693, The Salem Witch Trials were a time of great fear and hysteria, as even neighbors would accuse one another of witchcraft just to lower the suspicion that they themselves were witches. Although many people nowadays are very well aware of what happened during this frightful time, most still don’t know how the Salem Witch Trials actually began. The Crucible by Arthur Miller captures the horrific experience of the Salem Witch Trials from their very beginning, to their ending when people began realizing that the entire situation had been a lie from the very start. The main character, John Proctor, may seem to be a normal, middle aged man living in the Puritan town of Salem, but however, he holds a dark secret: he cheated on his wife with a girl named Abigail Williams. What he doesn 't know, is that by cheating with Abigail, he partly started the Salem witch madness; John makes Abigail very envious of his wife, and thus, she begins accusing others of dark sorcery and witchcraft.
During The Crucible, the Witch Trials caused many court hearings. A good deal of the court hearings consisted of people over exaggerating outbursts of demons inside of them just to get somebody convicted. The Witch Trails also affected the church in many ways. Reverend Parris’ already had a wicked reputation as their minister, and the trials made it even worse. People wanted him out of the church.
She starts accusing people that she doesn’t like of practicing witchcraft, including Elizabeth Proctor. Elizabeth Proctor is John Proctor’s wife, and Abigail doesn 't like her because she wants to be with John, who she had an affair with. Abigail thinks that by accusing Elizabeth of witchcraft Elizabeth will be killed and then she can finally be with John. During these witch trials, many other people were accused and blamed for things that they did not do. It was mostly because of Abigail and her friends were lying about innocent people doing witchcraft.
Since the beginning of the play she has been notorious because of the village rumors about her provocative and quite manipulative behavior. She is not just jealous of Elizabeth Proctor - she is also mad at her and the whole village for “blackening her name” (Miller 23) and “telling lies” (Miller 24) about her. While some of those rumors subsequently turned out to be true, the society had still failed to fulfill its one and most important function - to protect its members. Instead, people put a label on a person they barely tried to understand, thus leaving Abigail with nothing more than a self-fulfilling prophecy. Well observed in our reality as well, this phenomenon has to do with trying to force a certain individual into a stereotype which in the long term might result in this person subconsciously “living up” to those statements i.e.
The citizens of Salem that were accused of witchcraft were a large group that experienced oppression in the 1690’s. When the theory of witchcraft erupted in Salem people began indulging in this madness that everyone they knew was actually dancing with the devil. They didn’t recognize how to handle this issue leading them to “hang them high over the town! Who weeps for these, weeps for corruption” (Miller Act IV). Miller emphasises the fashion of how Salem as a community handled the issue of witchcraft.
The kids that were hanged didn’t really understand why the were being hung because they do anything wrong. Also it was the fact they were related to them and they thought that their mom or father was teaching them witchcraft. The crucible was a tragedy because no one was safe and everyone was scared that the girls were going to point at them next and they would hang. The trials were unfair because if the denied witchcraft they were hung for saying that they weren’t and if they admitted they were put in jail and would confess their sins to the
The Crucible is a play, written by Arthur Miller, telling the tragic story of the Witch Trials that took place in Salem, during 1692 and 1693. John Proctor was a main character in the story, who affected the storyline with his affair, with young Abigail. An ample amount of times in this story, Proctor shows characteristics of a tragic hero. A tragic hero is a literary character who makes a wrong judgement, leading to his/her death. John Proctor shows he is a tragic hero by increasing awareness, his punishment exceeds the crime, and he was given a free choice.
According to historical notes because of Abigail and several other young girls’ strange behavior the Salem court and community accused about 57 people of witchcraft. Abigail was one of the people who reported to be a witness of the crime against God, and as a result, she was bewitched. Her state showed up in psychological disorder, but because of undeveloped medicine such diseases had not been diagnosed and treated by the doctors. No one knows what had happened with real Abigail at the end, but it is
Guilt's Effect on the Town of Salem, Massachusetts The Crucible by Arthur Miller, is a play based off the 1692 Salem Witch Trials. The play was first published in 1952, the first performance of The Crucible was in 1953. The play is a dramatized story of the true events that happened in Salem, Massachusetts. The Crucible, focuses on the inconsistencies of the Salem Witch Trials and the extreme behavior that results from twisted desires and hidden agendas. Guilt plays a major role in the outcome of the Salem Witch Trials, the need for redemption caused the towns people to blame others for their mistakes.