The Hunger For Power In Arthur Miller's The Crucible

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In the play, Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” many themes are shown. Throughout the themes the hunger for power, authority and respect stands out the most in male characters, which are the majority gender in the story. According to Webster’s dictionary, power is “the ability or right to control people or things.” Also, according to Webster’s dictionary authority is “the power to give orders or make decisions.” And lastly, Webster’s dictionary tells us that respect is “a feeling of admiring someone or something that is good.” These themes are shown to be very effective in the story because most males demand power, authority and respect. The main theme from my perspective is the hunger for power; authority and respect are the dominant themes because everyone demands them at least one time in the story. Reverend Parris is hungry for power and worries little about others. Parris ' repeats demonstrations of exceedingly selfish behavior in numerous cases. A prime example of wanting to have power and thinking only of him is when he asks for the deed to the house he lives in. He demands the deed of the house because he does not want the community to be able to toss him out because of the way he gives sermons. His possession of the deed will make it more difficult for citizens to disobey the church. Another action of Parris trying to be in power is when he commands Herrick to let Reverend Hale work to get confessions out of the remaining prisoners who are left. He claims it’s because