...In Arthur Millers play, The Crucible, many themes are displayed through his writing. One of the main themes in his piece is the idea of conformity. There are so many situations that people conform in, some of which include; trying to fit in, not knowing what is the right thing to do, and often time people conform due to fear. Fear is something that can cause you to make both good and bad decisions. In The Crucible, fear is one of the main reasons for conformity, there are many reasons for why this happens and all of those are explained in the play. While depending on the situation while conform, or choose not to conform, based on the conditions they are in. In some situations we will often accuse others of actions they did not do in order...
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...would probably enjoyed the play "The Crucible", in which, a man fights against a town, and the court, to save his wife from hanging. However, the reason the author Arthur Miller wrote the play was a little deeper than you might Imagen. In his essay "Why I wrote 'The Crucible", he explains his motivation for "The Crucible". In the essay he referenced "The Crucible" when he suggested he is having marital troubles, like John and Elisabeth Procter. He stated it was an act of desperation ,like John Procter's desperate attempts to free his wife. Finally, he said he found hope in John Procter redeeming himself, as seen in the end of the play. Initially, Miller wrote "The Crucible" because of his own marital problems, as seen in his "Why I Wrote the Crucible" essay. In the essay he states "My own marriage of twelve years was teetering and I knew more than I wished to know about where the blame lay."(Crucible Essay, 3). This connects to when John and Elisabeth Procter where fighting in their marriage; as seen in act 2 "I'll not have your suspicion any more" and "John, if it were not Abigail that you must go to hurt, would you falter now? I...
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...The Crucible The Crucible is a play written in 1952 that had a movie adaption made nearly 45 years later. Usually we see the pattern that the movie doesn't follow the original script. In this case, The Crucible movie adaptation followed the play closely.This is because they were both meant to be seen. Yet, there are still some differences that occurred for dramatic effect. When developing a movie there is more stress to develop scenes so viewers get the chance to “visualize” and have their emotions become touched by the tone the screenplay writer sends. Producers aim for perfection. In order to achieve this they alter scripts and add scenes to make their vision of a perfect movie come become a reality. One major difference...
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...The Crucible and Mass Hysteria Mass hysteria has been displayed many times throughout history. From The Dancing plague of the 1500’s to the more modern LeRoy High School tourette incident of 2012, mass hysteria is rare but perplexing when it is seen. Though it is fairly easy to find differences between mass hysteria and other problems in modern times, it is harder to distinguish older supposed cases of mass hysteria due to their limited evidence and the legends which have become a part of the story. This is displayed greatly in the events of the Salem witch trial. It is very hard to distinguish if the events of the trials were caused by mass hysteria or some other catalyst which caused the destruction of so many lives. Even so it is safe to say that is is very unlikely that this tragedy was caused by mass hysteria, rather some other illness. Before a claim is made there must be a...
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...When one ask themselves what violence is in literature, do they think of abuse, revenge, romantic, or even thematic? Violence can portrayed in several ways more than most people think. One can think of violence as meaningless in some situations but usually in literature violence always has a meaning behind it. This essay is going to compare how the titles The Narrative Life of Frederick Douglass , an American Slave and The Crucible can relate to violence on how it is described in How to Read Literature Like a Professor. In How to Read Literature Like a Professor, by Thomas E. Foster, he explains how violence has a variety of ways to be expressed as well as many meanings to be understood. He states , “ It can be symbolic, thematic, biblical, Shakespearean, Romantic, allegorical, transcendent.” These describe in literature why violence is a key part of the story. Violence in literature always has a meaning never usually you will find it meaningless. Foster states , “Violence in literature, though, while it is literal, is...
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...To Have Pride is To Have Vanity Jane Austen quoted,” Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us.” The Crucible demonstrates this quote greatly. I have always felt that as humans, vanity is one of our most faulty talents and that it is very hard to do one without the other. Vanity is an over abundance of pride on oneself. Pride is a feeling of satisfaction in something a person has achieved or is well at. The two terms can flow very easily together to form an unnecessary end. John Proctor shows an excellent example in act four. As he goes to sign the confession, given by Danforth, he rips it in half after signing it. Danforth goes to ask him why he had just done the unthinkable and Proctor answers with unwavering vanity that it is his name, to sign the confession would be to sign his name off as a hoard of lies. John shows much vanity in this scene by the emotions and pride in his tone. He has too much pride in his name and himself that it costs his...
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...Fear is a state of mind which can affect your actions and emotions. For example, if you’re really scared that’ll affect what you do in the situation and you might have what is called Fight or Flight. This means, you might defend yourself or, you might turn and run Another example and an example from the Crucible is anger, Abigail was angry of being accused of witchcraft so she accused others. However, there are a lot more examples of fear in the play, I will be talking about these main three. In The Crucible, there is a variety of fear. For example, Reverend Parris is afraid of losing his reputation, even if not everyone likes him. Abigail, Rev. Parris’s niece, is scared that her and Mr. Proctor’s affer will be discovered so, she acts out in anger. Also, Mrs. Putnam is scared of her daughter, Ruth, being possessed which, she claims is also happening to Beth and that only the Devil is to blame. In the case of Abigail, when she is afraid, she gets angry and does her best to ruin whoever comes across her path. For example, at the trail when Mary Williams says that Abigail is faking all of it and so is the girls who were dancing in the woods were pretending and it was “for sport” and to make a scene, all the girls ,including Abby, were acting as if Mary had sent...
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...Cornered in the Roundhouse “Irony is wasted on the stupid,” Oscar Wilde once said. This quote certainly applies to Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, because by carelessly reading this play, you might miss some of its genius. The author uses irony in many different ways to create different poignant emotions. Sometimes he makes a humorous little remark that might fly right over an unsuspecting head. Other times he puts his readers through pure agony as character’s fates are sealed before their eyes. True to form as a skilled author, Miller uses dramatic, verbal, and situational irony. In The Crucible, dramatic irony is used to create suspense in various situations. Dramatic irony is when the audience knows something that a character in the play does not know. When used correctly, it will significantly raise the tension of any given moment. This is exemplified by the following dialogue: ”Danforth: Answer my question! Is your husband a lecher! Elizabeth: No, sir.” (Act III). The audience knows that if Elizabeth just tells the truth, it will save her husband. However, without...
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...Crucible essay An admirable person is to have a high opinion of respect and esteem for someone. In the Crucible, by Arthur Miller, a witch trial in 1692 that occurred in salem left people in the town filled with all types of emotions and thoughts. A character named john proctor actions left the character in shock. John proctor is a very admirable character. John proctor, a character in the crucible, was very well known. He was a farmer man in his mid-thirties. He was a married man to a charter that is named elizabeth proctor. It is said he was known for being a very nice man. It was also known that he was a very helpful man. Proctor is his nickname or so many people call him. He is also very well respected throughout the whole community of...
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...Jealousy and Greediness in The Crucible Have you ever been involved in an action that led to a tragic consequence because of someone’s jealousy or greediness? The quote by Victor Hugo stated, “Society is a republic. When an individual tries to lift themselves above others, they are dragged down by masses, either by ridicule or slander.” This means he strongly believes that when someone tries to act better than other people they feel like the need to put others down by making fun of them. Therefore it can led into bad consequences. In the book, The Crucible by Arthur Miller shows this by the character named Abigail who tried bringing down everybody because of her jealousy, Putman who showed greediness with land, and also in my experience this has happened to a close friend of mine whom was very selfish. The Crucible also can relate to the real world. We’ve at least witnessed a person's flaws on human nature that went wrong at the end. A old friend of mine seemed to have jealousy of a girl that happened to be taken by a guy...
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...In the story The Crucible John Proctor had changed during the whole play. His view points from Act 1 had differed from Act 4. John proctor had changed the most from beginning to end of the play, mostly because of the Witchcraft accusations, his affair with Abigail, and Morally. What with all the obstacles he dealt through acts 1 through 4 it causes him to change his views on things. In act 1 John Proctor had still felt some emotion for Abigail when they had met again. He had always said that he wouldn’t speak to her again but always ended up coming back. In the story it states “Looking at abigail now, the faintest suggestion of a knowing smile on his face: What is this mischief?” (Miller, 1245). When he had met her she had called him strong, and he had given her a little smirk that shows he still had feelings for her. Later on towards the play in Act 3 he started to resist his feelings for Abigail, and it grew into hatred since she was a threat towards Elizabeth. “How do you call heaven? Whore! Whore! “ (Miller, 1245) John says during court to prove that she is nothing to him....
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...What defines a man as a failure, and what describes a man as a tragic hero on par with the great greek heroes such as Oedipus? The qualities of a tragic hero, that of which people have studied for decades, have such a strict set of rules that define a tragic hero that there doesn’t seem to be any modern or “common” tragic heroes. Although Aristotle dictates that a tragic hero must be of noble birth, John Proctor demonstrates more qualities of a tragic hero than he does not, therefore John Proctor is best understood as a tragic hero. John Proctor, the protagonist in The Crucible, who was seen as a highly renowned man in his society, saw error in his ways despite his affair with Abigail. He knew what he did was far from forgivable and acknowledged himself as a sinner. Even despite the fact that he cheated on his wife, Elizabeth still saw him as a man of justice and honor and pleaded with him to end the trouble that he inadvertently started with Abigail. Elizabeth says, “Then go and tell her she’s a whore. Whatever promise she may sense--break it, John, break it,” (Miller 62). Elizabeth still knows that John is a...
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...One basis for stating that this film is unreliable is found actions characters portrayed. One case in the film can be found in the opening scene when the accusers along with Tituba dance around a boiling pot while a chicken is decapitated; in reality, there is no evidence nor recollection of this ever occurring. Also, the film states that this particular event was the cause for the entire witch trials but this is erroneous. Actually, the reason for the start of the trials was unknown until Linnda R. Caporael ,a professor of science and technology, proposed in 1976 that the reason of the accuser's hallucinations were caused by rye infected with fungus. An example of missed character portrayal in the film was seen in the character of Abigail...
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...Crucible Essay History repeats itself in many ways sometimes it will be a man making a simple mistake like a man forgetting to pick his dry-cleaning up or it can be something along the lines of people becoming paranoid and fighting and preparing for things that aren’t really there. The Red Scare of 1947 to the late 1950s is a perfect example of our nation repeating a history event from 1692, The Salem Witch Trials an event that our nation still remembers today innocent lives lost that definitely didn’t deserve it. One of the victims to the Red Scare Arthur Miller made a satire of it using “The Crucible” (A play based on the witch hunts) comparing the Red Scare to the Salem Witch Trials, he claims everything he was accused for is just as ridiculous and embarrassing to our country as the Salem Witch Trials were. In this Essay I will be comparing Arthur Miller's Crucible to the Red scare of the 1940's. There’s this Guy who basically claims our government is filled to the brim with communists and we need to weed them out, His name is Joseph McCarthy, he was born in Grand Chute, Wisconsin in 1909 and he died in 1957 on May 2nd due to Alcohol poisoning.(Joseph 1) On 9th February, 1950, at a meeting of the Republican Women's Club in Wheeling, West Virginia, McCarthy claimed that he had a list of 205 people in the State Department that were known to be members of the American Communist Party (late he reduced this figure to 57)(Joseph 1). Joseph McCarthy was a dirty man who in fact...
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...Crucible The Salem Witch Trials are known as a dark time in history. People were prosecuted for what today are thought as absurd accusations of witchcraft. The Crucible by Arthur Miller compares mass hysteria of witchcraft to the Red Scare during the Cold War. The courthouse scene in act three displays how hysteria can take control over peoples’ lives, which appeals to the audience’s emotions such as anger, frustration, and sympathy. Since the play is a comparison to the Red Scare, any emotions or feelings towards the play become mutual between the two. In the beginning of the third act, a man named Giles Corey gives a testimony. Giles testifies that John Proctor is falsely accused because if he hangs then his land must be forfeited. Nobody else but the Putnams can buy up the land, and so Mr. Putnam has his daughter cry witchcraft. Giles stated that he has proof of Putnam’s intentions, which was the word from an honest man. The judge asked for the name of this man, but Giles hesitated to give it up for fear of what would happen to the man. The judge would not take Giles’ word and threw him in jail for withholding information. The audience feels frustrated upon reading this because how can a judge not see that if the name is revealed, then that man can be accused of witchcraft just as Giles’ wife was accused. It shows the distrust between the court of law and the public people because the judge cannot take Giles’, a trusted man, word as evidence. Relating to a modern time, the...
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