Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, is based upon actual events in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. The Crucible highlights the tendency in America to witch-hunt and how some people used this leverage to gain power for them without telling the truth. To be accused in Salem you were sent to trial, which ultimately meant a sentence. Those people who decided to live by confessing to witchery were outcaste from society; Arthur Miller based this situation on the communist hatred spreading over American society at that particular time. Power was given to those who used the hysteria to their own advantage and the victims in due course were condemned. Arthur Miller uses a lot of imagery in his text to show the events. Darkness and dirt were used to represent sin and evil. Reverend Parris for example, questions his niece Abigail’s purity by saying; your name in the town-it is entirely white, is it not? She argues that her name is not soiled. The people of Salem are obsessed with preserving the perceived cleanliness of their souls.
John Proctor is the major character in the play, he is perceived as being pure and honest even though he had an affair with Abigail Williams, she is shown to be pure evil which out weighs our feelings towards Proctor. John Proctor throughout the play is seen to be in power. Abigail accuses Proctors wife to witchery and is determined to see that she and those who Proctor cares deeply for are doomed unless he runs away with her. When she sees that this will never happen she accuses Proctor to witchery, even though Proctor proves to the court that he did not commit acts of witchery and that Abigail and her accomplices are all frauds he still is condemned.
The Essay on Analyzing Arthur Miller’s Play “The Crucible”
In Arthur Miller's play The Crucible, John and Elizabeth Proctor are introduced as a young, married couple whose relationship had a tense undercurrent. Their actions and reactions towards one another prove that they are at odds with each other. John and Elizabeth seem to be trying to smooth out the bumps in their relationship, but for the most part they only succeed in driving themselves further ...
“She thinks to dance with me on my wife’s grave! And she might as well, for I thought of her softly. God help me, I lusted, and there is a promise in such sweat. But it’s a whore’s vengeance, and you must see it” . . . Proctor breaks down in a last attempt to save his wife and prove the dishonesty of the girls, revealing Abigail’s motivation to see Elizabeth condemned.
John Proctor is motivated to save Elizabeth but is powerless against some very good actors led by Abigail. Abigail and the other girls make a mockery of the court and show the flaws in the justice system bringing down people in their society that they believe deceived them. Proctor is a man or principle and truth; this is where he gets his power. His antagonism to Parris is consistent and is clearly respected by his fellow friends. Proctors greatest moment comes in Act Four when he suddenly realizes the importance of his principles and his own integrity. His final speech to his wife “Give them no tear! Show a stony heart and sink them with it!” appealing to our emotions to create a specific way we are to look at him. Arthur Miller creates Proctor in the image of being good even though he committed adultery compared to Abigail what he has done is forgivable.
Proctors wife Elizabeth is pictured as pure goodness. She is shown to be gentle, womanly and devoted to her family. Her character is shown to see the goodness in everyone yet whenever Abigails name is mentioned she has a little outburst of anger. “ . . . I will be your only wife, or no wife at all” appealing to Proctors principles to ensure he does what’s right. By not judging John she gains power over him.
Abigail Williams is a sensual teenager who was flattered by Proctors attention, with a high-spirited sense of mischief and enjoyment of power that she finds; she influences her friends and others to believing her. “I never sold myself I am a good girl! I’m a proper girl! … “. Even though Abigail is pictured as being the “evil” person in the story in reality she is orphaned, seeing her parents be killed, and was taken advantage of by and older man who now calls her a whore. When she finds that everyone can believe such imaginative lies she uses this to her advantage to win the heart of her once lover, but is unsuccessful.
The Term Paper on Mary Warren Proctor Abigail Elizabeth
... Abigail is a real threat and now has the girls in her power. As the scene develops, Thomas Putnam, John Proctor ... pleads with her emotionally, reasoning about life, No principle, however glorious, may justify the taking of it. ... I cannot, I cannot and John promising his wife will never die for him.He says, We ... herself for his affair. It needs a cold wife to prompt lechery. However, John is pained hearing ...
Danforth, Hathorne, and Parris employ different forms of authority. Hathorne the bishop has the authority of the church and is portrayed and the servant of god. “You will confess yourself or I will take you out and whip you to death, Tituba!” Parris uses his authority in the courts more for self-protection then justice. Danforth is the better of the three who is determined to do what he believes is his duty. He does not understand what is really happening and does what society moulds him to do. Being less in command in the beginning believes the acts of the girls and finds a hard time trying not to. “I judge nothing . . . I have seen marvels in this court . . . I have until this moment not the slightest reason to suspect that the children may be deceiving”.
The Crucible portrays many themes but in particular Power is gained by telling the truth and displays this theme effectively through the characters. We are shown how a character gains power through their principles and integrity.
