A crucible is known as a very severe situation, or a trial. In the play, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, the people of Salem experienced a crucible when they went through the witch trials. The trials became so severe that innocent people were dying in ways such as hanging or having boulders placed on them. The Crucible got its name from the trials, the impact it had on society, and other after effects of the trial.
People have a tendency to fight for themselves and for what they believe in no matter what the cost. This is shown in Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible when people in a village, named Salem, try kill their neighbors by blaming them for witchcraft. With characters such as John Proctor, he tries to bring justice to the town of Salem with all the false accusations with Reverend Hale. However with Judge Hawthorne, Abigail, Parris, Putnam, and the townspeople standing in their way, Proctor and Hale must fight through to bring justice. However in the end, 20 innocent people died because of people’s vengeance, hatred, and greed.
As you can see, both of the events caused a great toll to those involved in any of the two situations. To begin with, The Crucible also known as the Salem witch trials was a court in the Puritan New England town of Salem, Massachusetts trying to accuse more than two hundred
Causing many suspicion of demonic activity throughout the salem village, hysteria spread quickly as the population ascended to witchcraft creating the act of cynicism. Most conducted these suspicions though dissecting their physical and mental image meaning that most of the civilians would convert to supernatural explanations in order to assume the act of demonic possession and I quote “Good also had a reputation for holding a grudge and for muttering curses against those who crossed her, which would have alarmed her neighbours, not least because many people believed that such curses would work” ( The Salem Witch Hunt, p.69). This quote taken from Sarah Good’s bibliography confirms the suspicions of witchcraft as these sign were depicted as supernatural to the puritans perspective. Being fearful of the devil, most puritans believed that the abnormal should endure punishment as for these acts were created against the church law leading to christian ignorance and disbelief and I quote “They also show how easily people could become convicted that hostile neighbours were wielding occult forces against them”(The Salem Witch Hunt, p.69).
During the Salem Witchcraft Trials, hysteria spread in the quaint little town of Salem, ruining people’s lives and reputations. The Crucible perfectly illustrates that a person 's reputation is important in most aspects of their life. Although the perspective of what is a “good name” has evolved throughout the years, it still remains as significant as it once was in modern
As a result, people begin to blame witchery on others whom they have vengeances with. These actions result in many well, respected people's execution. A prime example of a character who goes through this process is John Proctor. The court of Salem tests John Proctor by threatening him to confess in exchange for his life. This brings out many of his weaknesses and strengths.
This quote helps explain how they assume everything is associated with the devil and everything is an attack against the court. This quote is a different one,“Abigail were stabbed tonight; a needle were found stuck into her belly.” This really did happen but they still exaggerated it. They were accusing everybody in town and finally they found out it was Proctor that did it. This quote is a bigger part of the story and it really was a turning point for the play.
So when the witch trials started, these motives came into play. We can infer that these motives came into play by the famous play, The Crucible, where it shows in one scene how a girl (Abigail) accuses a man’s (John Proctor)
All through history millions of individuals have been shunned, arrested, brutally tortured, prosecuted, and persecuted as witches. One would think that post colonization of the United States these unjust acts to human kind would have ended, but that was not so. In 1692 the Salem Witch Trials took place, an event that was a major catastrophe in United States history. It began when a group of young girls in Salem, Massachusetts declared that they were possessed by the devil and made accusations that several older women were practicing witchcraft and fraternizing with the Devil.
One Choice Can Change Lives Who knew one seemingly innocent lie could cause 19 deaths and pit an entire town against itself? That’s exactly what happens in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. Authors often use similar plot devices, and their favorite one is having their characters face a test. In a small town called Salem in early America, something terrible is happening.
In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, innocent people are falsely accused of witchcraft and are killed as a result. The importance of one’s reputation is one of the themes presented in the play, as the townspeople are held to very strict moral values and must uphold their good name in society. Some characters in the play that apply to this theme are John Proctor, Elizabeth Proctor, and Abigail Williams. Those three characters pertain to the theme the most out of all the other characters in the play because their reputations are misrepresented in the court in some way or another. Each one of them were, at one point in the play, being accused of witchcraft or lies from another person so that the person accusing them might save themselves.
Rumor Has It In the United States, sports stars are constantly being judged for what they do. Some people are known for having a bad reputation such as Tom Brady for the allegations of him cheating. The same can be said about the characters in The Crucible by Arthur Miller. The Crucible was based on the Salem Witch Trials where there was suspicion of witches in Salem which caused many people to be hanged.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a historic play but more importantly is a social and psychological drama that takes place in a small puritan town in Salem Massachusetts. Many different themes find their way through this play but the most important theme is the danger of Hysteria, reputation, and Intolerance can destroy a town no matter the strength of the people in the town. As this play was written during the red scare during the cold war this play shows many aspects as McCarthyism which had similar event that the Salem witch trials had but with the red scare. Hysteria was a major factor in the many accusations of witchcraft that occurred throu out the play “The crucible”, the first example is when the young girls of the community of Salem,
The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, is a story of a scandal that ultimately results in the hanging of several innocent townspeople. The tale, which takes place in the Puritan town of Salem, Massachusetts around 1692, opens with Reverend Parris, the town minister, noticing a group of young girls attending a questionable gathering in the woods. The Puritan religion is a very strict faith in terms of the way a person may conduct themselves, which means that actions modern people find rebellious would be considered quite nefarious to a Puritan. As the story gains momentum, many corrupt people like Abigail Williams steer the situation in a direction that leads to distrust between neighbors, revenge, chaos, and even death for some. Incorporating these factors, Miller emphasizes the hysteria that develops when people fail to seek the truth with the character of Abigail Williams, a self-absorbed
Reputation is what one is perceived as or what they are associated with. Reputation is everything in a small town. In Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, this is especially true in the meager town of Salem where social standing is tied to one’s ability to follow religious rules. Having a good name is how you do business with others or get a fair hearing. Miller addresses the theme of reputation in The Crucible through Parris, Proctor and Abigail’s actions showing how far one will go to keep their reputation untarnished.