...If someone makes sacrifices, how can they be selfish? In the story “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller, Abigail Williams makes many sacrifices that are not all for the best. She sacrifices the lives of many people in her town for herself. She also makes her lover, John Proctor, sacrifice his time with his sick wife. Abigail sacrifices the freedom of her fellow townspeople. All those actions made by Abigail Williams can only point to one thing, a selfish person. Abigail Williams convinces a town that many people are bewitched. She proceeds to lie on her uncle’s slave Tituba. “She sends her spirits on me in church; she makes me laugh at prayer!” (Miller 41). Abigail tells her uncle that Tituba has possessed her with the devil to save herself. That leads to Abigail telling the story that she seen many townspeople walking with the devil. The people she named were took to court and hung. Abigail’s lover, John Proctor, has a wife that was sickly. When the affair between John and Abigail took place, she...
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...the persecution of those considered blasphemous as witches. Through The Crucible, Arthur Miller describes the irrational behaviour of people in “all classes”(Miller 7) from Salem, Massachusetts during this time of misdemeanor. Many characters throughout the play incriminate others due to bitterness and jealousy. For instance, Abigail indicted her former lover, John Proctor’s, wife. Ultimately the corrupted men and women of Salem reached their goal of hanging the pure, which leads to hysteria amongst the townsfolk. Although John Proctor begins the play as an ambivalent and uncertain man, who is paralyzed...
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...suffering. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Salem was in a period of time where witch hunts were frequent which created chaos throughout the town. These witch hunts often targeted innocent, hard working people who were accused of witchery with no actual evidence. As a result when this conflict introduced itself to John Proctor, he exhibited tragic hero traits such as pride, catharsis, and nobleness. Pride plays an interesting role in the life of John Proctor in The Crucible. During the trials, Proctor daily wages an internal, war between his conscience and pride. His prideful mindset is what primarily caused his downfall; a person who rises and falls because of their own ignorant flaw, which is the true meaning of a tragic hero. Therefore there are several traits that exemplify a tragic hero in John...
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...believe that John Proctor is the tragic hero of the Crucible and that his decision to choose principle over self preservation was an honorable act with the goal of affirming his goodness before God. In the second act of the Crucible, the audience first meets the character of John Proctor while he is in his home with his wife Elizabeth. The reader’s initial reaction of Proctor is that he is a benevolent husband as he states “I mean to please you Elizabeth” (50) and is otherwise kind and respectful towards his wife. However, as the act progresses, the reader comes to find out...
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...ENG3U1-05 November.11.2015. The Crucible: Is John Proctor truly a tragic hero? A tragic hero is a person with admirable qualities yet they have a tragic flaw that leads them to their downfall. In Miller’s play “The Crucible,” the protagonist, John Proctor, is a tragic hero known for his good reputation yet commits adultery with Abigail thus making it a tragic flaw that leads to his death. John Proctor is a tragic hero because he is a well-mannered person that has a good reputation. John strongly believes in Elizabeth’s good morals by proving his honesty and bond towards Elizabeth and speaks up for her as he tries to get her and his friends’ wives out of jail. He tells Danforth...
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...John Proctor the Hero A person who is admired for their good deeds or actions would be considered a hero. One can receive huge amounts of respect from others because they are a hero. In the story The Crucible by Arthur Miller, John Proctor could be considered a hero due to his loyalty in his faith and for ending the executions of innocent people that are accused of being a witch. Heroes aren’t usually perfect; they usually had done something bad that no one really knows about. They don’t always survive through their acts of heroism or live to tell the story. A hero always has some enemies that try to get rid of him or her and sometimes even are successful. In the beginning of The Crucible, Arthur Miller portraits John Proctor as a common...
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...Valerie Delgado 1/14/11 Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible in 1953 during the McCarthy Era, when Americans were accusing each other of Pro-Communist beliefs. Many of Miller’s friends were being attacked as communists and Miller himself was brought up guilty of beliefs in communism. Miller was getting sick of this so he put his writing techniques in action and wrote a play called The Crucible to show the injustices. This playwright uses the Salem Witch trials as an allegory to the US injustices toward suspected Communists. The Crucible is set against the backdrop of the mad witch hunts of the Salem witch trials, where innocent people were being accused and hung because of witchcraft. Miller portrays a character that is known as a tragic hero, strong but flawed, to fight against the injustice of the town and to show that a tragic hero can still do what he believes is best even when the majority of society is influenced by lies. The character that Miller chooses to be his Greek tragic hero is John Proctor, who is a good, well known, and respected man in Salem. It is evident that John Proctor fulfills the requirements of the Greek Tragic hero because of his many positive traits, such as his noble characteristics, his honorable and righteous qualities, and always believing in himself fighting for what is true. However, he had a fatal flaw that showed the darker side to his perfect characteristics. His flaw is committing adultery towards his wife. Before the play...
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...Lauren Barash Mrs. Dachille ELA: Hour 4 25 November 2014 John Proctor Tragic Hero A tragic hero is one who holds a high status in a community. The protagonist habitually faces a supernatural force of misfortune in which they conquer and gain admiration from the audience. In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, John Proctor was not the ordinary resident living in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts. Salem during this time period embodies pure unintelligence. The community faced ruthless weather, deceased crops, and sickness. They didn’t know how these dreadful happenings arose. The only knowledge they had came from books, which did not contain the solutions for their troubles. The idea of witchcraft was proposed, and with this being the only possible...
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...Arthur Miller displays his perception of communism through John Proctor’s perception of witchcraft in the play The Crucible. The play The Crucible takes place in Salem, Massachusetts where John Proctor is accused of witchcraft, which was a massive dispute during that time. The Crucible is in part based on McCarthyism in the 1950’s which was similar to the Salem Witch trials. In The Crucible written by Arthur Miller, reverend Hale experiences changes proven by the things he says, the things he does, and others opinion of him. McCarthyism is a campaign or practice that endorses the use of unfair allegations and investigations. Marilyn Monroe was Arthur Miller’s wife. If you ask me I don’t think that Miller being married to Marilyn was the reason for the court's questioning I think that the play he wrote was why him and everyone involved were questioned.Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible...
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...The Crucible - Act 4 Scene 1 Question 2 We see a worried, distraught Reverend Parris. In the previous act he was a firm supporter of the trials and willing to charge anyone who didn't support them as being against the trials, him, and even God. However, as Act 4 begins, Parris has changed (also like the town). He comes to the court shaking and upset and tells Danforth that his niece Abigail Williams and Mercy Lewis have run away. Parris isn't worried about the girl's well being. Things are made worse as they have broken into his safe and taken his money, "thirty one pound is gone. I am penniless." From Act I we have seen Parris' concern over his career, his ministry, and his status in town. He went against his initial beliefs that the girls were afflicted with witchcraft when he saw it could actually benefit him if there was such afflictions. Now, his biggest fear has come true. He has lost everything. Reverend Parris also realises that if Abigail and Mercy Lewis have run away because "they fear to keep in Salem any more" it will only be a short amount of time before others in the town also turn against the courts. Question 3 Reverend Hale enters the court demanding pardons for the condemned prisoners. Danforth says 12 others have already been hung for the same charge; pardons for the rest of the accused would be unjust and would crack the voice of God's law with "whimpering." Hale says a week's postponement would seem like mercy to the public, not weakness...
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...Discuss how an idea developed in a text you have studied. In the play ‘The Crucible’ written my Arthur Miller an important idea the developed throughout the text is reputation and injustice. It shows us that in an environment where people are shelter, oblivious, and ignorant, peple may behave in ways that are unjust in order to protect their reputation. Arthur Miller was able to develope these ideas through the setting and characters. He was able to incorporate his own experience into his play as he was a victim himself of McCarthyism. The Crucible is set in a small town, Salem in Massachusetts, America in 1692 where people were oblivious of anything other than God, believing that they were self righteous. In such time, reputation determined how people looked at you and was considered something of great importance. “A man will not cast away his good name“ shows us the importance of people’s reputation at that time. When something is regarded as such a high level of importance to someone, people will do anything in order to protect it even if the means are considered unjust and ‘unrighteous‘. Abigail accuses Elizabeth Proctor of ‘blackening my name in the village‘ after commiting adultery with John Proctor, Elizabeth’s husband. This cause her to fear for her reputation, and how people will view her. Afraid of her reputation, Abigail Williams acts in fear to and pointed the finger at Tituba claiming that she was practising witchcraft ‘she sends her spirit on me in Church; she...
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...tragic hero will have to sacrifice themselves due to their weakness. In the play The Crucible, John Proctor fits this description very well. Although Aristotle’s qualifications for a tragic hero include being of noble birth, John proctor is best described as a tragic hero because he ends up dying to save his name due to his flaw. In The Crucible, John Proctor is a common man and known throughout his community. Towards the beginning of the novel, he has an affair with a girl named Abigail. This will be the weakness of John. Throughout the rest of the novel, there is just about always conflict between John and his wife Elizabeth. However, when they start to resolve their issues, they have to go to court and John gets convicted of being a liar...
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...Saint Elizabeth Proctor; Faithful Executioner Elizabeth Proctor’s faithfulness to the people she loves, despite betrayal and pain, allows her to sacrifice her unfaltering candor, the thing that she believes will bring her to salvation and that is an ingrained part of her identity, in order to try and save her husband; but it will be their doom. Elizabeth Proctor may be one of the most, if not the most morally pure people within The Crucible. She is honest to a fault, faithful, and kind, simply because she believes it is right. Unfortunately, the things that make her so moral are the things that will destroy her. As the play climaxes, John is desperately trying to save his wife from hanging and stop Salem’s hysterical madness. He has admitted...
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...life, but still lack the power to express it in memorable language.” (Prudhoe). In the Crucible, several people notice the obvious corruption that lies in the Salem witch trials, but are unable to fight it due to lack of power. In Act three of The Crucible (1953), Arthur Miller expresses his frustration at the perpetual power grab under the façade of justice. Miller uses juxtaposition, dramatic irony, and selective dialogue in order to show how when struggling to clear one’s name, cold-hard facts are often overlooked in exchange for the promise of influence. The purpose of the act is to demonstrate that in every play for power, there must be pawns to manipulate and facts...
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...John Proctor as a Tragic Hero In The Crucible, John Proctor is an example of someone who would rather live and end his life with pride rather than live with the humiliation. John is portrayed as a man with good intentions and morals, from the beginning to the end of the play he managed to stick with how he felt, make sacrifices for his wife to prove he loved her, and stay true to himself. Although, in the beginning of the play he cheated on his wife and struggles to win back her forgiveness he did everything he could, so he could gain redemption from her again. In the beginning of The Crucible John Proctor had an affair, the girl he had an affair with, Abigail, struggles to tell John that she still loves him and that they love each other,...
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