...Nicholas Rowe once said,“Guilt is the source of sorrows, the avenging fiend that follows us behind with whips and stings.” Nicholas Rowe is saying that guilt brings sadness that never goes away, and it hurts forever. In Arthur Miller's “The Crucible” John Hale convicted innocent people and signs their death warrants, then towards the end he feels guilty for killing all the innocent people. When he figures out that the girls are lying he tries to fix his mistakes by saving John Proctor. Since John Hale is motivated by the word of God, his decision to sentence people to death creates guilt by the end of the play. Reverend John Hale is blind to the truth because the word of God tells him to hunt for witches, so that's all he believes, all he notices. Never once in the beginning did he think about what's actually happening. Hale says, “No, no. Now let me instruct you. We cannot look to superstition in this. The devil is...
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...Everyone is motivated by guilt sometime in their lives. There are a few examples of how guilt motivated certain characters to make decisions throughout The Crucible. Everyone in the town was being accused of witchcraft to get back at one another. There are a few characters who were motivated by guilt and show it throughout the play. John Proctor is motivated by the guilt of having an affair. “‘Abby, I may think of you softly from time to time.”’ (Miller 23) John Proctor was having an affair with Abigail Williams. John Proctor called Williams out on the affair and she would not answer it. Although John Proctor had an affair, Elizabeth Proctor still thought of John Proctor a good man. Also, Elizabeth felt sorry for not loving John Proctor enough, she kept a cold house. Because of this guilt he went into the courtroom to confess which would result in saving people's lives. He didn’t want to ruin his name so he tore up the document he signed saying that he was guilty. God knew he confessed and no one else needs to know other than the court. Because of this, he was hanged but knowing that he did the right thing....
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...Vamsi Sutram Mrs. Smith American Literature 29 November 2014 Power of Guilt In modern society, concealing guilt is often given a negative connotation, however, the implications that are associated with guilt and sins are human creations. Guilt, the result of shameful mistakes, is associated with infirmity, cowardice, and self-centeredness due to the fear of exposure. These three mesmerizing works, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Pie” by Gary Soto and, “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller, address the theme of guilt and the consequences of concealing one’s guilt. The Scarlet Letter considered one of the most famous of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, is set in the1850s in Boston, Massachusetts. The plot revolves around a Puritan community and a woman named Hester. “The Pie”, written in Fresno, California in 1991, is an autobiographical narrative that illustrates Soto’s sin when he steals a pie from the grocery store and experiences the feeling of guilt along with a few other consequences. “The Crucible” was written in 1953 and exposes the truths about the Salem Witchcraft trials, in Massachusetts. Ultimately, through their respective protagonists’ acts of aggression and violations of boundaries, authors Hawthorne, Soto, and Miller illustrate that the guilt derived from sin itself, especially if concealed from society, can cause emotional and mental torture, leading to everlasting internal punishment...
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...Mass hysteria can lead to confusion and the altering of morals. During a time of large-scale panic, many aspects of society are affected and changed. In Arthur Miller’s drama, The Crucible, the court becomes flawed and operates under faulty logic by accepting flimsy evidence, performing unfair tests, and taking automatic proof of guilt. During the time period of The Crucible, religion played a major part in society. When religion is not strictly followed, the court automatically assumes guilt. When Proctor was asked if he was Christian, Parris chimed in by saying “ Such a Christian that will not come to church but once in a month” (90). Certainly in a time of mass hysteria and trials the church searched for anyone who did not strictly...
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...Unconditional John Proctor, the protagonist of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, risks everything due to loving two different women. As the play starts readers find out that John is having an affair with the town tart, Abigail Williams. He does not believe in the idea of witchcraft. Proctor is very selfish about the affair with Abigail and states to judge Danforth “A man will not cast away his good name. You surely know that.” Many things motivate John to change throughout The Crucible such as Abigail charging his wife with witchcraft and Elizabeth becoming pregnant. John ends up risking everything to save his family. John Proctor’s change was motivated by the love for his wife and family. At first, John was not going to admit to having an...
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...In Arthur Millers, The Crucible, the Salem witch trails occurred. In Salem, while the Salem witch trials were occurring, the citizens tell many lies. This is one thing that led to the mass hysteria that defined the Salem witch trials. It also led to many conflicts between the characters in this book. This is because in the eyes of the puritans anyone who was involved in “witchcraft” was against the church and thought to be communicating with Satan and deserved death. One of the conflicts that occurred in The Crucible was between John Proctor and himself. Because lying is a sin and in turn causes negative effects, John Proctor is forced to face the reality and the consequences of his deceitfulness. In the play The Crucible, John Proctor, the main character, endures multiple inner conflicts. He believes his affair with Abigail Williams, another citizen of Salem, has permanently damaged him and his worthiness in the eyes of God. After scolding Elizabeth Proctor, his wife, for continuing to be suspicious of his actions with Abigail and not giving him forgiveness, Elizabeth expresses that she does not judge him, but that it is, “The magistrate sitting in [his] heart that judges [him].” Lying is a recurring theme in The Crucible and Proctor’s actions with the affair is an example of this....
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...Throughout Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, the characters are constantly faced with compelling influences. The protagonist in The Crucible, John Proctor, is faced with the conflicting decision of pleading guilty along with countless others in being a witch or dying a guilt-free Christian. For John, the choice that he must make is a direct reflection upon Proctors morals. In the choice of nobility or life, ones morals will come into consideration. The main consideration which affects Proctors view on life is the possibility of pleading guilty of being a witch and staying alive not only for Elizabeth but for their children. By pleading guilty, Proctor will have succumbed to pressure from the rest of the community as well as from Danforth....
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...Dimmesdale vs. John Proctor Heroes are often thought as the superior and perfect people in society. However, The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible illustrates that everyone, including sinners, can be a hero in certain situations. The Scarlet Letter, a book about the consequence and change of identity after committing adultery between the main characters, Hester and Dimmesdale, has many similarities with The Crucible, a story about an unfair witch-hunt in Salem, Massachusetts. In the two books, Dimmesdale and John Proctor are depicted as heroes despite their critical flaws in their lives. Nathaniel Hawthorne and Arthur Miller, the authors of The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible, portray contrasting symbolism such as hypocrisy and justice through similar but different characters: Reverend Dimmesdale and John Proctor. Identified as an adulterer in the story, Dimmesdale’s hypocrisy is clearly shown through the context. The story starts off with the punishment of Hester for her sin, adultery that she had committed with Dimmesdale. As Hester does not blurt the name of the child’s father when questioned about the crime, Dimmesdale as a Reverend, the holy man, speaks up. He states, “though [the man that has sinned] were to step down from a high place, and stand there beside thee, on thy pedestal of shame, yet better were it so, than to hide a guilty heart.” (Hawthorne 58). He continues that the “silence” of Hester is just “[adding] hypocrisy to sin.” (Hawthorne 58). Ironically, his statements...
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...Have you ever told a lie? Has that lie caused even more trouble than if you would have just told the truth? When people lie in a situation, it stirs up the commotion. The story becomes more complicated, and will most likely get someone innocent in trouble. This is what happened in The Crucible when Abagail lied in court about the affair to save herself from trouble. Unlike Abagail’s false statements, John Proctor tells the truth in trial because he would rather say the truth then lie about the situation. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, telling the truth for what is right and what you believe in is always more important than your name and reputation. Abagail Williams is motivated to lie about the affair to save herself. If she told the truth,...
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...The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible are two literary classics that portray excellence in expounding the importance of life. Both written works encompass striking similarities in aspects such as the setting, plot, and major conflicts. However, The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible bare conspicuous differences such as in The Scarlet Letter solid evidence for the crime of adultery is distinctly manifested while in The Crucible the court possesses no tangible evidence for the crime of witchcraft. In addition, The Scarlet Letter is a novel while The Crucible is a play. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Crucible by Arthur Miller have pronounced similitude, such as the common conflicts, and the setting, and also bare an impactful distinction between the resolutions of the two written works and the characters. The major conflict in...
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...The Crucible Thesis: In The Crucible, Miller repeats ideas to emphasize their importance in contributing to Salem; these motifs like names and lies are repeated to show their impact on Salem. In the Salem Witch Trials of 1693, there are many injustices committed against innocent people. The play The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, talks about how people falsely accuse others of witchcraft. It starts when some of the younger girls in Salem, especially the antagonist Abigail, are caught dancing in the woods and lie about the incident. They confess to witchcraft and falsely accuse others so they can be absolved of guilt. In The Crucible, Miller repeats ideas to emphasize their importance in contributing to Salem; these motifs like names and lies are repeated to show their impact on Salem. The motif of names is important to understanding the escalation of the witch trials in Salem. Names help make the situation worse because people falsely name others who are witches, which fills jail cells and makes the number of accused witches go up. People also try to protect their reputation. In Act 1, right after Tituba confesses to witchcraft, Parris and Hale try to convince her to name others who are witches. Tituba then says, “And I look- and there was Goody Good… Aye sir, and Goody Osburn” (Miller 47). Tituba is merely naming people to get herself out of trouble. During this time, it is not enough to just confess, they want you to also name others who are...
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...Research Analysis over Abigail Williams Arthur Miller said in an interview once, “ I took creative license with her character to make the connection between sexuality and politics more dramatic,” (Shmoop). This is one of the reasons Arthur Miller made Abigail Williams in The Crucible so different compared to the real Abigail. Abigail Williams was an 11-year -old girl who lived in Salem and worked for the Proctor family, John and Elizabeth, before the time of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Before the trails even started, Abigail and her cousin, Betty Parris, got into fortune telling their future like who they would marry and what their social status would be. After a while they got the other girls in town to start playing their fortune telling...
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... II. America in the 1600’s A. Puritanism B. Salem Witch Trials III. America in the 1950’s A. Communism B. Joseph McCarthy IV. McCarthyism A. McCarthy Trials (HUAC) B. Blacklisting C. Elia Kazan D. Arthur Miller V. The Crucible A. The Summary B. The theme VI. The Allegory A. Danforth and the HUAC B. Danforth and Joseph McCarthy C. Elia Kazan and Abigail Williams VII. The conclusion The Connection The Crucible written by Arthur Miller has a symbolic meaning. It is an allegory, “a story in which people, things, and events have a symbolic meaning, often instructive.” (Agnes 17). The setting, the Salem witch trials of the 1600’s is similar to the McCarthy trials of the 1950’s. The people, the events, the details relate to one another. Miller purposely wrote his story to instruct the fact that the mentality of the people in the 1950’s was no different than the mentality of people in the 1600’s. In the 1600’s people followed a strict religion known as puritanism. The Puritans believed they were sent by God to purify the world of sin and evil. Because of this they believed they were superior to others. Consequently, when they did sin, they tended to feel guilty and blame others for their faults. This blame and guilt led to one of the most fearful times in America. The Salem witch trials happened during the 1600’s and at a time where everyone was supposed to live a life of pureness. The people from the Salem witch trials whom named names were quickly...
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...Literary Analysis: A Character from The Crucible By looking at The Crucible by Arthur Miller, one can infer that the character, John Proctor, reveals the theme of reputation and integrity. These are important because refusing to lie to protect one’s reputation can stop hysteria from spreading. In The Crucible, John Proctor was more worried about his reputation for his family to live with than he was concerned with his own life. Basically, the idea of John Proctor protecting his reputation motivates him to deny that witchcraft exists in the village. Proctor had stated his worry by saying, “The town is mumbling witchcraft” (1.1.511-512). Proctor says this in reference to Reverend Hale walking through town with a stack of books for researching...
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...John Proctor, one of the main characters in The Crucible, has a crucible moment after having an affair with Abigail. Although John and Elizabeth are married, he cheats on her with Abigail. Proctor’s crucible moment within the play happens when he has to make a decision to either tell his wife about the affair, or keep it a secret, and feel guilty for the rest of his life. Because John can not forgive himself after the affair, he decides to tell Elizabeth about what happened. John Proctor passes the crucible test because he did the right thing even though his relationship with his wife will never be the same. Now that Elizabeth knows the truth, John now feels guilty about what he has done because his wife is upset with him. The wrong thing John...
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