The 1996 movie “The Crucible” offers some insight to what the Salem witch trials were all about in 1692. The movie begins with teenage girls dancing in the woods and performing what looks like some ceremony led by a slave named Tituba. It is revealed that the girls were participating in witchcraft in order to cast a love spell on the young men in town. The girls end up being caught in this act and are accused of witchcraft. This event sets off mass hysteria in Salem, Massachusetts. The girls being to lie. Saying other people in town bewitched them and that Satan willed them to do those things in the woods. These lies lead to more accusations that the townsfolk say out of selfishness and greed. Some want land and money, some want a forbidden
Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible, takes place in Salem, Massachusetts during the Salem Witch Trials in 1692. During this time, many people are hung for being accused of performing witchcraft, but who is there to blame? During this time, many people feared for their lives, and others used this as a time to get rid of people. In The Crucible, Abigail Williams, John Proctor, and Deputy-Governor Danforth are responsible for the witch trials in Salem. The play begins with many girls dancing in the woods and people being accused of witchcraft.
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.
Crucible Essay The Crucible. A true story of a time of witchery and a poor court system today I 'm going to talk about the similarities and differences. But first a recap over the Crucible so first off the story opens on a fast note and shows our first character Reverend Parris him in an upstairs bedroom praying the narrator describes him as a suspicious man in his forties,One who often imagines that the world is against him. Later down the line we learn that they live in the town of Salem. The Crucible describes Salem as a strict Puritan way of life.
Most of the characters’ actions and behavior was due to what they thought the community would think of them; this was because of their religious ways. In the very beginning of “The Crucible” Reverend Parris is described as a greedy person who cares about how much he has. So when Parris spotted his niece, Abigail, and his daughter dancing in the forest, he failed to tell anyone what he saw. I believe this was because he was afraid that if the community thought there was witchcraft in his household, he would lose his position as minister of Salem. So when it came up in the court he lied about it
In January 1953, the American playwright Arthur Miller debuted his new play “The Crucible” on Broadway in New York City. It tells the story of the speculative, baseless hysteria and witch trials that took place during the seventeenth century in the village of Salem, Massachusetts and the horrific calamity that ensued. It examines the haunting reality of a society based on rigid, religious customs, superstitious norms and how these can be used as a weapon and prey on people’s irrational fears. Based on real people and actual events, “The Crucible” tells story of a gaggle of teenage girls, led by the protagonist Abigail, ‘confess’ to having seen various women and men of the town of Salem with the devil. This hysteria of witchcraft sweeps over the village - even the authorities fall under the sway of these lying young girls.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a play full of suspense and suspicion. Many people involved in the Salem witch trials died because of vengeance which is amplified by many groups. Problems arose when people began to choose sides. In the Crucible, the conflicts of the play illustrate the power of a crowd mentality to influence the actions of people.
Due to paranoia, the once quiet town of Salem, Massachusetts has erupted with accusations, rumors, revenge, and in the end, death. The one thing that makes or breaks these characters is reputation. The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, goes back to the year 1692 when witchcraft took over Salem. Neighbors are now seen as enemies and no one can be trusted. Over 15 people died in this true, American event because of false, witchcraft accusations.
The greed being that people just wanted land and property owned by the ones they accused of being witches. It is also because of the girls that began behaving weirdly. They had had seizures, screamed extremely, and acted dazed. The Crucible is a playwright about the witch trials in Salem. At the beginning of the play, the people of Salem start to fuss more and more about witches.
Society as a whole seeks to satisfy themselves. This may be at the expense of their peers or individuals they are associated with. Arthur Miller brilliantly displays this dark side of humanity’s side in his play The Crucible. This play is based on the Salem witch trials in the early 1690s. During the Salem witch trials over two hundred people were accused of witchcraft and twenty were executed.
Based on the tragic events of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, The Crucible is a hard-hitting tale that reflects upon the subjectivity of goodness and virtue, sparking the reflection of the importance of moral behavior during times of hardship and crisis. In an unyielding and restricted Puritan community like Salem village, a bad reputation could result in social exclusion and scorning from the community. As a result, many members of the community would go to extremes to avoid tarnishing their reputations. The Crucible asserts that those who are concerned only with protecting their standings are dangerous to a society, as they are willing to blame and hurt other people in order to protect themselves.
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.
Reasons Behind The Crucible Arthur Miller’s main purpose in writing The Crucible was to show the similarities between the Salem Witch Trials and the McCarthy Trials and to warn against government propaganda. At the time that The Crucible was published, America had a huge fear of communism. Anyone accused of having ties with the communist party was shunned. It much resembled the Salem Witch Trials in how the government, or leader of the time, used fear against the people to gain power. For example, Joseph McCarthy can be compared to Reverend Parris in how they both lead the people into the belief that there were intruders in their mists that had plans to sabotage the community.
Power, the ability to maintain control, command, or authority over others can often be determined by one’s reputation and his or her persuasiveness. This principle is displayed within The Crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller, in which follows the town of Salem, Massachusetts attempting to navigate through a “Witchcraft” outbreak supposedly lead by the Devil. Within such a theocratic society such as Salem, the Devil is often associated with death, fear, and uncertainty. While his name alone is often believed to be able to influence others in to following through in certain actions. The Devil, as a key figure behind the immense “witchcraft” occurring in Salem, is crafted by Miller as the most influential “character” due to his infamous reputation and his ability to control characters’ actions.
Twenty people were executed as a result of the Salem witch trials, a reign of terror that swept up most of the characters in Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible. Salem is a small Puritan town ruled by a theocratic government. The social order of Salem starts with the church leaders and wealthy male land owners and ends with young, unmarried woman and slaves. The church is structured as an earthly representation of biblical law and possesses the power to persecute those outside the holy edicts. Women are subservient to men, cannot own property and are viewed with suspicion in the church.