The Crucible Conscience Analysis

This desperate act of self-preservation becomes Abigail's

Elizabeth’s loyalty and sympathy are portrayed when she attempts to save her husband’s reputation by lying about his affair. She also proves her loyalty to Proctor, telling a lie to try and protect him although this sadly makes things worse for him. She was determined in what she believed. Elizabeth stated this about witchcraft to Hale “ I cannot think the Devil may own a women’s soul, Mr. Hale, when she keeps an upright way, as I have. I am a good women, I know it; and if you believe I may do only good work in the world, and yet be secretly bound in Satan, then I must tell you, sir, I do not believe it”.

This portrait, however, is somewhat flawed as it appears that in Ann’s case at least, the parents of the afflicted must have a strong influence with the child, as did the other adult accusers. Initially, Ann was fed names by her parents and minister”(-Minerdescent). The girls that were tricked into believing that the accused were guilty were most likely convinced that this was pious and that God wanted them to accuse the innocent. Or the girls might be influenced by their religion, reverends, and ministers. “These evil spirits are all around….

Betty Parris’s great power throughout Act I can be seen by her ability to single handedly create chaos and hysteria within the town for her own personal gain. Her power can first be viewed after Susanna Walcott explains the possibility of a supernatural cause to Betty’s illness, leading Abigail to advise her Uncle about “the rumor of witchcraft [that] is all about: [She] thinks [he 'd] best go down and deny it [himself]. The parlor’s packed with people,sir” (10). This is the first hint that others in the town believe in the presence and of the beginnings of the hysteria that follows.

Since the beginning of time people have gone through trials in court to either be proven innocent or guilty. In the Crucible by Arthur Miller a massive number of people were being convicted in Salem, Massachusetts because of the witch trials. The law of the land states that everyone is above suspicion until they are demonstrated to be guilty by legitimate evidence; in the play the Crucible if a person was accused of an unlawful act they were summons for being a witch and working for the devil without proper confirmation. Citizens in Salem were imposed to establish their innocent or be put to death, which caused conflicting issues in the village.

All this we can learn from so in the future we won’t make the same mistakes as we did during the witch trials. Just as Abigale lied and sought revenge on John by announcing that she saw Elisabeth working with the devil. As well as not picking her over Elizabeth after their affair. Another good example from the Salem Witch Trials would be Goody Putman calling witch on Rebecca for supposedly sending out her soul to kill all of but one of Goody Putman’s baby’s before they were a day old.

Mary- Abby stop it, Abby- Abby stop it”.(act 3) Abby is a killer. She killed a lot of people during the salem witch trials including John Procter. Finally Abby is a liar. Abby lies many times in the play.

Jealousy is an ugly emotion, which provokes many human actions of destruction. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, the main theme portrayed by the characters was a hate fueled by jealousy. But not everyone in The Crucible was acting out of jealousy, some genuinely thought witchcraft was real and feared it, after all witchcraft is written in the Bible. The good Puritan people of Salem, Massachusetts filled with jealousy, greed, and fear took the idea of witchcraft and used it for their own personal gain. Abigail Williams used witchcraft in her plan to replace Elizabeth Proctor and as a scapegoat, while Reverend Samuel Parris used witchcraft to protect his namesake, and Reverend John Hale used witchcraft to further build up his witch

It all started with Abigail and Betty lying to stay out of trouble. Then, Tituba and the girls accused innocent people of witchcraft because they could. Finally, John Proctor takes pride in his faith and honor and is hanged for not signing his name to a lie. Every decision made in Salem after the witch hunts started depended on truth versus lies because if they told the truth, they would die and if the lied they would live. This essay proves the development of the theme truth versus lies in the crucible by stating three major events in the play where truth versus lies depends on what the results are.

The essential action of trying to convince people in the scene that she is telling the truth is to show the people in the scene that Abigail is a liar and reduce her chances of getting in trouble The essential action of kneeling down and begging mister Hale not to hang her is that Tituba wants to save her life. By kneeling down, Tituba shows that she is remorseful and shows submissiveness toward mister Hale. Tituba wants to appear as though she is helpless and that her life is in mister Hales who has the power to Hang Tituba.

John Hathorne was one of the main Judges in court, he believed fully in witchcraft and in the accusers, which is most likely why so many people lives were ended just from young girls acting up and accusing multiple adults. John’s great, great, grandson, author Nathaniel Hawthorne added a “w” in his name most likely to distance himself from Hathorne because of the role he played in the Salem Witch Trials. Samuel Sewall and William Stoughton were the two other judges involved in court. Deliverance Hobbs was one of the only witches that confessed without being forced. A warrant was issued for Deliverance on April 21, she was arrested two days later and committed to prison.

Aside from that, people accused others of being witches or having something to do with witchcraft if they had a grudge against them or needed something. People were able to accuse others of being witches for having too much land or for owning too many cattle. Witch trials were not only a way to get rid of the Devil, but also a way to get rid of people that you disliked. In the case of The Crucible, the witch trials began because of religious beliefs and the fear that Lucifer was controlling the children of Salem. To get out of trouble during the witch trials, those who were accused simply just accused others to be seen as innocent and avoid execution.

If someone “hangs for a witch he forfeit up his property” (Miller, 99) and then others would fight to get their property. In the Red Scare, those accused lost their jobs and their well earned respect. For example, Helen Keller’s reputation is practically spotless but once branded with communism, that went downhill. In the Crucible, Rebecca Nurse was accused of witchcraft, who was seen as the “mother” of Salem and had a pure reputation. This just shows that people blindly believed what they were told without really thinking about it.

Rough Draft As human beings, it is forbidden to kill or murder people. Why should killing an innocent new soul be okay or outright legal? Every legal surgical abortion stops a beating heart and terminates a life. Killing a fetus that has a soul ready to live is morally wrong!

The Tragic Hero, John Proctor The Crucible is a depiction of the hardships from the Puritan lifestyle. The story brought out the true characteristics of Puritan believers, shadowed by the evils in the world. During the Salem Witch Trials people were hysterical due to their dealings with the devil. Betty Parris, Abigail Williams, and Mercy Lewis started the accusations that would lead to the end of innocent men and women including John Proctor.