...(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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...Sarah Clay Ms. Hans Amstud English 10H 23 April 2018 The Crucible Essay One connection that is often overlooked is that Arthur Miller wrote the Crucible in the late nineteen forties and early nineteen fifties at a time when America had developed a newfound fear of communism and politicians were investigating people, accusing them of being communists and wrongly prosecuting them. It has been said that Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible because he was fascinated with the Salem Witch Trials and because he wanted to remind people who had forgotten about the fear and shame that resulted from so many innocent people who were found guilty of being witches and hanged. Arthur Miller used his writings in the Crucible to tell the world that a community...
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...Ryan Hunter Jones Mrs. Zinsitz English III 7th 12 October 2010 When Decisions Change Everything In Arthur Miller's "The Crucible", the people of Salem are in a crisis and sometimes people who claim to be good aren't what they seem and may be in fact a hypocrite. Judge Danforth a senior judge during the Salem witch trials exposes his hypocrisy in his conflicts between Giles Corey, Mary Warren and the people of the town for the sake of his own reputation. Judge Danforth is a powerful man who comes to Salem to stop the hysteria and prosecute the witches. Danforth believes he... "does not let anything interfere with an exact loyalty to his position and his cause" (Miller 182). He represents the God given right of the Puritan law to make sure justice is served. However he did struggle with justice and especially Giles Corey. Giles, an elder in the town showed up in Judge Danforth's court to explain a misunderstanding about his wife who was now being convicted of being a witch. Giles explained that he "never had no wife that be so taken with books.. like his 3rd wife" (Miller 182). He was curious about why she enjoyed books so much, unfortunately he said it out loud one day and they..."come and take her out of my house" (Miller 182). He was also there to discuss that Thomas Putnam's daughter was falsely accusing George Jacob so that Mr. Putnam could get Mr. Jacob's land. Giles explained that "if Jacobs hangs for a witch he forfeit up his property--that's law! And there is none...
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...A person’s reputation contains his or her dignity, and The Crucible demonstrates a perfect scenario where people show how far they will go to maintain a good reputation. John Proctor pays the biggest price in order to save his reputation. John Proctor gives off a good image in the town of Salem. However, when john gets accused of witchcraft, he has two choices, the choice to confess a sin he never committed, or hold on to the honorable reputation he already has. After thinking about the agonizing decision, John decides to sign away his reputation onto a document stating he committed witchcraft. Before he finishes, he rips up the document, and dies with his pride. John’s actions show the readers how far he goes to save his reputation. If John...
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...Conformity in The Crucible We often hear about people of Middle Eastern descent being called terrorist at the airport and no one doing anything to stop that behavior, if you do anything people hate you. In our daily lives we face many decisions that are minor but affect our future. For example, do you go with the crowd and bully someone or do you attempt to do the morally correct thing and stand up to the bullying and face social harassment of your own? The Crucible, by Arthur Miller is a play about an affair between John Proctor and Abigail Williams and most importantly the Salem witch trials. Innocent people are being accused of witches for no reason and people blindly follow along, but John Proctor dies to go against the conformity. In...
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...The Crucible Act Four Questions Short Response Answer the following questions based on your knowledge of the drama. Write a response on a separate sheet of paper. 1. Where does Tituba think that the Devil is going to take her? 2. Give one example of how Abigail shows her dishonesty in this act. 3. What effect do the trials have on Salem? Use three details from the drama to support your answer. 4. When first arrives at the Salem jail, Danforth complains, “There is a prodigious stench in this place.” How might this line be read to mean something besides a comment on the smell? 5. How is Giles Corey’s character reflected in his death? Use one detail from the drama to support your response. 6. What qualities does Proctor find within himself that prevent him from at last saving himself and signing the confession? Use details from the text to support your response. 7. Explain how Proctor is right or wrong for refusing to sign the confession. Use details to support your response. 8. A tragic hero’s fate, according to Aristotle, inspires pity and horror. Name the tragic hero in The Crucible, and describe how his or her fate inspires both pity and horror. 9. People accused of being Communists had a difficult time getting jobs; some even moved out of the United States in order to try to resume normal lives. How is Proctor’s situation like that of the people accused of Communist activities? 10. Based on the conversation involving Tituba, Sarah...
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...Does power corrupt the mind of individuals? In the play, The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, power plays a tremendous role in the Salem witch trials causing chaos and terror. Abigail Williams abuses the witch trials to her advantage by accusing people of witchcraft, thus striking fear into people. When Danforth, the deputy governor of Massachusetts, arrives in Salem, he was given judicial power that affects Salem’s courthouse and as well as Salem’s society. In Salem’s society, Judge Danforth has the ability to make the verdict in court without any question by the people of Salem, and he could also give anyone he believes to be a “witch” a death sentence. Abigail and her friends, a group of other young girls in Salem who want to protect...
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...Arthur Miller’s The Crucible details the power that can be gained through manipulation of weak-minded or easily swayed individuals for one’s personal gain. In The Crucible, Abigail Williams manages to manipulate young girls in her town into pretending that other people are engaging in witchcraft. Abigail begins to accuse a significant number of townsfolk that protest her lies, all the while managing to manipulate the judges in charge of the trials into believing her and the other young girls. Abigail’s ability to lie and control those around her has been paralleled a multitude of times throughout history and continues to present itself in other instances today. With this in mind, it is clear that The Crucible strongly illustrates the ability...
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