Arthur Miller is a commonly-known playwright, most famous for his 1953 play, The Crucible. The basis for The Crucible came from the witch trials which occurred in Salem, Massachusetts during the puritan era. Miller even uses some of the same characters in his dramatized play that were a part of the original witch trials in Salem. However, Miller made a few alterations to the historical members of the Salem society in order to suit his dramatic purpose in The Crucible, particularly Abigail Williams, John Proctor, and Reverend Samuel Parris.
In the book, The Crucible, Arthur Miller introduces us to John Proctor. Proctor is married and simple, yet he's argumentative toward his town for the persecution of “witches.” Proctor faces conflict throughout the town, his morals are challenged and his view on ethical implication are changing.
Everyone can relate to an archetype character in a movie, book, or television show. An archetype meaning to me is when a character can resemblance a certain topic. Example of common archetypes would the following a hero, caregiver, damsel in distressed, lover, villain, or tragic hero. In the play, The Crucible, we learned that some of the characters had common archetypes. This was a tragic play which means it has a tragic hero. Tragic play is similar to tragedy means, “drama that deals with sad or terrible themes, as opposed to comedy.”(SD,332) A tragic hero normally has the characteristics of a person of noble stature, not an ordinary person, someone who is good but not too good, causes his own destruction for a greater cause, and the death will be seen as a waste of human potential. The tragic hero in this play would be John Proctor because he has a high social status, is good but not too good, and the audience shows pity for him.
Individuals must stand in opposition to collective injustice. By the end of the summer in 1692, twenty three innocent citizens of Salem, Massachusetts had lost their lives to the tyranny of the Salem witch hunts. By the end of the year 1956, countless U.S. citizens were victims of a second witch hunt which destroyed careers, friends, and lives. This is why there should be opposition against collective injustice. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible innocent people were getting accused and punished for witchcraft, when in fact they were not guilty. There should have been more freedom of speech among the people to where they could stand up for what is right without being accused. In order for collective injustice to terminate, individuals must
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a classic novel that takes the reader on a series of thrilling adventures full of life threatening situations, racism, and slavery. The author Mark Twain, uses the novel to highlight the flaws in society by creating a character like Huck, whose personal sense of morals and justice are more noble than those of the very people trying to civilize him.
When push comes to shove, everyone makes a tough decision, but in the end the decision was either out of fear to protect themselves, or a strategy to gain a designated amount of authority. In today 's society, many of the decisions people make lead to riots in the streets and people getting hurt. Similarly, the Ferguson riot in Missouri years ago, where many civilians were injured because of decisions made by everyone involved. Whether it turned violent because they wanted to prove something or because they feared the police when they showed up. In the story, The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, the characters also illustrate the fact that it is human nature to defend oneself, to strive to survive despite the harm such actions can cause to
Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible in 1953. He wrote this because he had a story to tell, a story about modern issues which is individual freedom versus conformity. During the 1950s there was a period of political dispute in America, many were suspected of being communist and were put under investigation which was led by senator Joseph McCarthy, even though the play was dated back to 1693 there was a parallel between the Salem Witch Hunts which was described in the play and the general political atmosphere in the 1950s. Arthur Miller was summoned by the “House of committee” on Un-American activities, he was accused of being a communist, and he also refused to name others as a communist, he was sentenced to thirty days in jail. In the overture
In many plays and books, characters tend to go through different types of conflict. These conflicts include external and internal. An external conflict is a struggle between a person and an outside force; an internal conflict is a mental struggle arising from opposing demands or impulses within a person or character. "The Crucible" is a play written by Arthur Miller, based on the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts. This play is about a married man, John Proctor, who has an affair with a young adolescent named Abigail Williams. When the affair is brought to a halt due to John’s guilty conscious, Abigail begins to go through a downward spiral. Abigail worked for Elizabeth, who just so happened to be Mrs. Proctor's wife. When things
Everywhere someone looks, he or she is able to see the effects of mob mentality at play. It is in the instincts of humans to follow the crowd and to be accepted by others. Such simple and fun events, such as a football game, can quickly change into a violent riot because of a simple action from one person. Fear and the greed for power are key ingredients that motivate mob mentality. The right individual can control an entire society’s mentality. On the other hand, another individual could be powerless against the force of said society’s mentality. The article, Society vs the Individual in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible by Jean-Marie Bonnet, explores the constant power struggle between the individual and the community in the play, The Crucible.
To what extent can society be blamed for an individual’s actions? In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, this question is addressed, with a group of girls from Puritan society as the example. The Crucible tells the story of the Salem witch trials in the 1690’s. After being discovered dancing and participating in illegal activity in the woods, a group of girls cry witchcraft instead of admitting to their wrongdoings. While these girls are in no way exempt from the blame for the events in the play, the blame can also be placed upon the strictness of Puritan society.
I will be telling the point of view from some main characters. Point of view is the way people see and understand things. In my fiction resource George acts carefree. He explores the ship, enjoying himself. He also has many adventures, including sliding down the great banister. However he also displays courage when he discovered what happened. He leads his friends to a ladder that would bring to the lifeboats.
Mark Twain emphasizes the theme that a person's morals are more powerful than the corrupt influence of society in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Based on how Huck Finn views the world and forms his opinions, he does not know the difference between right and wrong. In the novel, Huck escapes civilized society. He encounters a runaway slave, Jim, and together they travel hopes of freedom. But along the way, Huck and Jim come across troubles that have Huck questioning his motives. Throughout their journey, Huck is aware that Jim has escaped but does not know whether or not to turn him into the authorities. Huck’s mentality about society matures and he realizes his need to protect Jim from dangers. As the novel progresses, Huck begins to realize the flaws in society. Huck ultimately chooses to follow his own
A little girl, named Sophia walker, was given a small doll by her parents. The doll was gift from her great grandmother who had sadly passed on. Sophia was instantly unsettled by the doll, which has murderous black eyes which seemed to follow you around the room with an unfavourable grin on its face. Sophia, had the impression that she had to accept the doll, as she was well raised and didn 't want to upset her parents by not taking it. Her parents told her that the doll 's name was Suzie, which made Sophia even more scared of it. Sophia thought to herself that “It was just a doll and that there was nothing to worry about” so she put her mind to an ease.
There are two ways that stick out to me that The Crucible is an allegory for McCarthyism. In Salem the people accused were “tried and the court had the power to hang them” (52) if they didn’t confess and accuse others of being witches. This same thing happened during McCarthyism, those accused were assumed guilty, put on trial, and expected to accuse other people of being Communist. Since the girls were “all marvelous pretenders” (106) and lied about actually seeing spirits they ruined lives of many people. This same thing happened with McCarthyism, since McCarthy claimed he had a list of over 200 names of Communists in political positions he ruined lives as well.
Mr.Miller wrote the tragedy of the crucible. The setting of the crucible is in Massachusetts bay during 1692/93. The tragedy is a dramatized and partially fictionalized play. The tragedy of the crucible begins with a rumor that started with nine girls. The play focuses on the inconsistencies of the salem witch trials and the behavior that can result from dark desires and agendas. Miller bases the historical accounts of the salem witch trials. He focuses on several girls and a slave dancing in the woods. They were conjuring or attempting to conjure spirits from the dead.