Throughout the play, The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, consisted of various characters that demonstrated positive and negative pride, a major theme in this playwright. Positive pride is a value of oneself that expresses worthy self-esteem, and negative pride or excessive pride exists when an individual consists of stubbornness and selfishness. The Crucible was written to invite individuals to enter what it means to be human in a sinful world. It raises questions about truth, evil and the power of dishonesty. (Nelson 2) John Proctor, Elizabeth Proctor and Giles Corey expressed positive pride, and Abigail Williams was a prime example of negative pride as a personality flaw. John Proctor, a farmer who was married to Elizabeth Proctor, developed pride within himself in the play.
He considered himself as a sinner, and to gain self-pride, he had to bypass all his flaws he had encountered in life. First, John Proctor disobeyed the contract of love and marriage and had an affair with Abigail Williams. He continued to regain loyalty and trust with his beloved Elizabeth as a way to reach self-pride. John Proctor knew his sins could be forgiven and he strived to reach comfort within his heart to live. Later, John was accused of witchcraft. He lied again to the Salem Village to save his life but when his confession was to be written out formally, he couldnt bare it and decided to tear up his last sin. He died with pride when all his sins were forgiven. Elizabeth Proctor suffered a great deal of heartache throughout the play, but was also one who showed an extreme amount of pride.
The Essay on John Proctor Goodness Elizabeth Play
THE CRUCIBLE The typical classical hero is high ranking, has admirable traits and dies as a result of some fatal flaw. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller presents John Proctor, as a character who is worthy of being praised as a hero. Though Proctor is not elevated in rank, he does meet the rest of the hero criteria, for he is a very respectable and admirable character whose flaw contributes to his ...
It took a lot for her to regain trust for her husband, John, again for what he had done to their bond of marriage. However in the end, Elizabeth forgives him for being unfaithful and blames herself for not being able to love him enough. She cannot counsel him to lie and instead tells him to make his own decision and to be his own judge. (HuskyLabs 4) She showed pride in herself to let him free. He has his goodness now. God I forbid I take it from him! (Elizabeth 145) She would only be selfish if she allowed him to live within a lie. Giles Corey, a townsman from Salem showed positive pride in The Crucible.
Corey charged Mr. Putnam with inciting his daughter to accuse a townsman of witchcraft in order to get an individuals land. He had a witness to support his accusation, but he refused to release the witnesss name in court. He believed that the witness maybe punished or arrested. Coreys unselfish act resulted him being arrested for contempt of court. Corey was also accused of witchcraft. He refused to enter the plea and was pressed for death with stones.
His honor of himself not to confess to this crime showed a great deal of positive pride within oneself. Abigail Williams was a character in the play that was disliked and showed negative excessive pride. First, Abigail began by threatening the girls that were involved in the voodoo ritual in the woods that no one will find out what happened that evening. She also showed negative pride when she met with John Proctor and insisted that their emotion for one another still existed. She also expressed how she was the only one for him and how he will always love her. Abigail stabs herself in the stomach with a needle to set-up Elizabeth Proctor and the doll given to her by Mary Warren. This act of selfishness displayed her intention of retrieving Johns love once again.
Abigail thought only of her self and her desires throughout the play and will one day shrivel her excessive pride into nothing. She will die with no goodness in her heart. Pride was greatly expressed throughout the play in various ways. Characters developed positive and negative pride. Pride guided their lives in different directions. One may die proud with human dignity and integrity or one may die heartless and dishonest.
The Essay on Abigail Williams Character Analysis
One of the main characters of the play The Crucible, Abigail Williams, is the villain of the play, even more than Parris or Danforth. In Act One her skills at manipulation are very noticeable. John Proctor, who has dumped her after his wife found out about this sinful affair, “Abby, you’ll put it out of mind. I’ll not be comin’ for you no more.” Since she was also dismissed from her job at their ...
The Crucible applied pressure to the different character situations and allowed each character to choose their path of life.
Bibliography:
Works Cited HuskyLabs. The Crucible. http://204.165.132.2:90/crucible/assign/acti.htm. Jun 1995. Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. Penguin Books: New York, 1976. (145) Nelson, Randy. Honesty, Dignity and Integrity.( The Crucible).
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