...moral standards. However, individuals are capable of abandoning morality as a whole, resulting in significant repercussions. William Shakespeare and Arthur Miller show evidence of this in The Merchant of Venice and The Crucible, when their characters step away from their morals and carry out wrongful actions. Although the underlying reason for the characters’ social demises is similar, the motives for their actions are specific and personal. By carrying out actions fueled by revenge, both Abigail...
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...Mean girls. Everybody knows one. They are the ones that take advantage of others, yet they get away with it. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, Abigail Williams is one of those mean girls. The Crucible displays the chaos of the Salem Witch Trials, during which, an accusation meant time in jail and a trial. If the indicted person admitted to practicing witchcraft and repented, he or she was set free; but if the accused did not confess, that person lost their life. Abigail is one of the girls that charges many people of witchcraft, which leads many of those people to their hanging. She especially has it out for John Proctor’s wife, Elizabeth, because Abigail would love to replace her. Ever diabolical, Abigail accuses Elizabeth of witchcraft...
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...As Arthur Miller once stated,“there is prodigious fear in seeking loose spirits.” The theme that the tragedy fiction play, The Crucible, displays is hysteria and desire leads to unconscious consequences. As conveyed throughout the play, hysteria is most clearly observed in the villagers' illogical acceptance of the girls’ claims of witchcraft. Specifically, Act III depicts the idea of mass hysteria devastating the community when the afflicted girls led by Abigail, accuse Mary Warren of witchcraft for testifying against them. Furthermore, several people including Mary Warren have indicated that the witchcraft accusations are false yet the court refuses to be persuaded. Arthur Miller’s play the Crucible was an exaggeration of the Salem witch...
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...Charlie Chaplin is a Communist (Biography.com staff; Andrew). Multiple other renowned actors, screenwriters, and directors were accused just like this during the Red Scare (Andrew). Miller created The Crucible during this time of paranoia (Hosey). In the 1950s and 1940s, after the Cold War, Russia became a direct representation of everything anti-American, thus Communism was anti-American (History.com staff). The House of Un-American Activities Committee was created to rid America of Communist (History.com staff). McCarthy lead this extirpation and exacerbated the situation to a point of utter chaos and paranoia called the Red Scare (History.com staff; Hosey). This campaign began with an attack at the liberal Hollywood, blacklisting of Hollywood...
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...In the texts the crucible and Year of Wonders, both contain strong, kind female characters that are devoted to do what is right. Through the characters Elizabeth Proctor from The Crucible and Elinor Mompellion from “Year of Wonders”, we see wives of religious and powerful men showing compassion and kindness to those that surround them. Elizabeth Proctor must deal with a lot of conflict during the crucible. Not only does she have to deal with the fact that her husband John Proctor had an affair with Abigail Williams she then should deal with Abigail’s making false accusations about her. This all leads up taking its fall on Elizabeth. In contrast Elinor with the sins she has committed prior to her marriage with Mompellion is forced into years...
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...The Crucible and The Scarlet Letter are two books that are similar, but also different. Both books are set in early America and the main religion is Puritan. They also have characters who are “rebels” and do something against society’s standards. There are also differences in the books such as, the characters who rebel against society changing their ways and becoming better people vs. characters who don’t change their ways. There is also a difference in how the towns treat the people who sin. The two books have similarities and differences, which I will discuss in this paper. The Crucible and The Scarlet Letter are both set in a Puritan community in early America. “...the people of Salem developed a theocracy, a combine of state and religious power whose function was to keep the community together…” (Miller). “...at a later period in the history of New england, the grim rigidity that petrified the bearded physiognomies of these good people...” (Hawthorne). The Puritan standards are very rigid. They believe that if you commit any sin you should be put in jail or killed. Both books contain characters who are accused of a sin that wouldn’t be as big of a deal now - and punishments that would be considered cruel and unusual punishment now - such as public shame and hanging. Abigail in The Crucible and Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter both commit similar sins. Abigail is intimate with a married man and Hester is intimate with someone who isn’t her husband. “I look for John Proctor...
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...revenge. People want to inflict the same pain that they went through on others. Arthur Miller demonstrates this through his book The Crucible. The Crucible demonstrates a theme that when revenge determines justice, havoc ensues; this theme is displayed through the allegations that Abigail Williams makes against John and Elizabeth Proctor, and their servant Mary Warren, as well as through the Putnams’ willingness to implicate their neighbors. Abigail Williams is a narcissistic and manipulative character that is driven by her obsession with John Proctor. Henceforth, she tries to get...
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...John Proctor from “The Crucible” written by Arthur Miller and Arthur Dimmesdale from “The Scarlet Letter” written by Nathaniel Hawthorne are two very similar characters that lived in the same time period. John and Arthur were highly respected men in their villages, but served different roles in their communities. Despite their highly regarded place in society and their morals they both commit the sin of adultery, choosing different paths of dealing with their sin. In the conclusion of the two pieces both characters face death; however John is executed and Dimmesdale dies freely. Although Proctor and Dimmesdale prove to be very similar, they appear to possess many differences. Arthur Dimmesdale is a respected local minister with no family...
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...Fear can lead good people to do horrific acts, especially when religion is involved. For example, in the play The Crucible the girls who was following Abigail knew dancing was considered in Salem as an act of the devil. When they got caught dancing in the forest, they began to think about their punishments in this case, were whippens, jail, or even worse death. They decided to keep following Abigail's lead and began to claim that the devil and these images of the people from Salem tried to make them do horrible things. Soon Abigail started to take advantage of this power and used it for evil. Millers play The Crucible shows us how vengeance and land can determine weather some one lives or dies. It also shows how many accusations can lead...
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...Alexis Wauford Mrs. Hollewell The Crucible 11 May 2017 Importance of Reputations in The Crucible The desire to maintain an upstanding reputation greatly affects characters in The Crucible. During this time period, people were very concerned with their positions in society. They were in a very judgemental community where everyone knew each other, and because of this, people were very worried about how others perceived them. A poor reputation could cost someone their social life and many characters made decisions based upon this. The decisions that the characters made affect not only themselves, but the characters around them. A few examples of characters who worry about their reputation are John Proctor, Abigail Williams, and Reverend...
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...their deaths could be traced back to Salem’s strict social order. The structure of 1600’s Salem was very religion-based as it was woven into everyday life. The government was a theocracy, the priests were highly respected, and anyone who went against the government was considered evil. Arthur Miller’s The Crucible unveils the realistic effect of social order on one’s personal freedom. Because religion was so vital in 1600’s Salem’s social order, the inhabitants suffered from a lack of personal freedom. The structure of the Puritan society in colonial Massachusetts served an important role in the setting of The Crucible. The...
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...Fear can influence decisions and corrupt ones morality. The fear of death, judgment and isolation all have the capability to make good people do bad things. Arthur Miller portrays this phenomenon in his book The Crucible. In The Crucible there are distinct examples of fear debilitating ones ability to make the right decision. Mary Warrens fear of death resulted in many deaths. John Proctor’s fear of judgment kept him from revealing the truth. Lastly, the fear of the unknown, in the mind of the townspeople, set off a series of devastating events that transpired throughout the book. Furthermore, fear darkened their conscience, and as a result, self preservation became prioritized above all else. Mary Warren, naturally a honest women, wanted to confess to the dancing and conjuring spirits in the woods. However, Abigail disagreed and threatened to kill her and, consequently, fear overtook Mary until she was Abigail’s slave, or rather, a slave to fear (Miller, pg.19). Mary knew the truth, the truth that could have saved lives, but withheld it. She lied and became dishonest, for the reason that she was afraid of being hung as a witch herself. Therefore, she accused John Proctor, an upstanding man, and in doing so, she put him to death (Miller, pg.118). She was terrified of death, and Abigail made that horror something real that she couldn't overcome. So in turn, she took the pressure off herself and took a mans life to preserve her own. Abigail was a dishonest and deceitful...
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...Kenya Finch Mr. Osborn Per. 7 March 17, 2012 Character Analysis Essay The world is made of all different types of people with different qualities. Some qualities we all share and some we don’t. We value some more than others and look down at some. Often the qualities that are look down on is what society seems to create the most around and pay the most attention to. Throughout the reading of The Crucible there are many characters that have been introduced with different qualities. One of the characters that have been introduced that has qualities that stands out more from others which are manipulative, devious, and inconsiderate. The character I’m talking about is Abigail Williams. All throughout the story Abigail displays all these qualities and many other but those three are the ones that are displayed the most. Out of all qualities Abigail displays devious is the one greatly revealed. Throughout the story there are many events that happen that Abigail had something to do with, with each event Abigail always has a different story from what actually happens and convinces people that her story is the truth. One event that happens that displays this would be when Abigail was in the woods with the girls dancing and took it to the next level by drinking blood and taking off her clothing. Before the questioning of what happen in the woods Abigail states “Shut up! All of you. We danced. That is all, and mark this, if anyone breathe a word or the edge of a word about the other...
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...The Crucible is about the Salem Witch Trials where innocent people were hanged by the accusation of witchcraft. The trials takes place in the late 17th century in Massachusetts, near Boston. During this time, the colonies are still in development of its infrastructure and vulnerable to Indian raids. Salem is a small community of puritans who left england in hope to ‘purify’ the church. The court is the supreme power in all of the provinces in the american continent and under a theocracy. A theocracy is when a religion and the government has a connection which often lead to strict policies, and witchcraft is the worst decision one would make. Out of all the characters in the book, Abigail would be the one most to blame. Each character have different...
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...travelled to the Americas to escape religious persecution. Their religion was heavily focused on the fear of Hell and sinning. This fear lead to the Salem Witchcraft Trials. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller many women portray different roles. In the play, Abigail Williams, Mary Warren, and Elizabeth Proctor all portray the difference in the treatment of women during that time. Abigail Williams is treated with more respect than the other two woman, because she was the first girl to to lie and give up the names of other people she claimed she saw with the Devil. Abigail was the niece of Reverend Parris who was the priest in Salem during the time of the witchcraft trials and was highly respected. Reverend Parris had been raising Abigail ever since her parents died when she was young. Abigail is confronted by Reverend Parris as to why she was dismissed from her nanning job with the Proctor’s. Abigail in this moment becomes very defensive and blames her release on the fact that the mother of the kids that she nannied for demanded that Abigail...
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