Premium Essay

The Crucible Lies Analysis

Submitted By
Words 855
Pages 4
Josiah Kleveland
English III
Mr. Bertelsen
24 October 2016 The All Powerful Many people say that covering a lie with more lies will achieve you nothing. The events that occurred in The Crucible are an exception to that saying. One of the protagonist in the play, Abigail Williams, uses lies on top of lies, to gain herself power. She uses this power to her advantage as the events that took place in Salem, Massachusetts unravel. Abigail started out innocent. She was in the woods with some of her friends. Things took a turn when Tituba started “conjuring demons”. All the girls went crazy. They danced, screamed, and took their clothes off. Salem’s reverend …show more content…
Abigail was the Proctor’s servant when she had the affair. John’s wife Elizabeth, kicked Abigail out of the house when she found out about the affair. Abigail still lusts for John. So, when she was accused of being involved with witchcraft, she used the opportunity to help herself as she was very selfish when it came to John Proctor. In act one, she states, “I want the light of God. I want the sweet love of Jesus! I danced for the Devil; I saw him; I wrote in his book; I go back to Jesus; I kiss His hand. I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!” She says all this because she is seeking attention and so she can eventually accuse Elizabeth Proctor of witchcraft, after the trials have …show more content…
Arthur Miller, the author of The Crucible, attempts to convey a message behind Abigail’s power and how she ended up. This message is that lying is very powerful and that lies can lead to very bad things, especially when one lies to benefit himself or herself. Another message is that things you do can impact you for the rest of your life. Abigail died a single woman and at a very young age. Many researchers claim that she died because of her depression. Miller tried to convey many lessons through the play, but the power of lies and its effects was the

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

The Crucible Literary Analysis Essay

...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...

Words: 450 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

How Is Abigail Presented In The Crucible

...Character Analysis of Abigail Williams Author Miller’s drama The Crucible takes place in the seventeenth-century in Salem, Massachusetts. Salem suffers from witch-hunts, trials, and false accusations. In effect, the town is full of worry and suspicion; and when young girls falsely accuse self-righteous neighbors in Salem of witchcraft, the town goes against itself, which ultimately causes a conflict between power and aggression. The personality of Abigail Williams, the understood leader of all the young girls, ultimately causes the whole play to go into effect. Abigail displays that she is sinful, envious, and manipulative. Abigail Williams’ characteristic of sinfulness causes her to be the antagonist of the whole play. Abigail commits...

Words: 906 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

The Crusible Setting Analysis

...English 11 AP The Crucible Literary Analysis The Crucible, a novel by Arthur Miller is a historical fiction novel that takes place during the year 1692. The novel is written in the format of a play and takes place in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts. The town consists of a tight knit highly religious society. The situation and circumstances that the community is in encourages the development of several different themes in the story. Religion, integrity, and respect and reputation are all important themes in the novel. Religion is one of the main reasons that the novel its self is able to play out and develop. The main plot of the story revolves around religion and the actions that the characters take out either for or against the things that they are taught and that they are expected to follow. The community is a group of extremely religious Puritans; in their minds and opinions there is only one thing that is important: God. To the community the only thing that should matter to people is being on God’s good side and being the best Christians they can be. The only things that have an important value are upholding religious beliefs and developing the best relations they can with God and the church. If the people of Salem hadn’t been so religiously uptight then the Salem witch trials probably wouldn’t have even occurred. Also, during the witch trails the only thing that people had as proof of innocence or guilt was religion without religion their points would have...

Words: 961 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Literary Analysis

...Literary Analysis: The Crucible Through the characters of Abigail, Paris and Proctor, in the playwright The Crucible, Aurther Miller shows that the evils of jealousy, greed and ambition can be more powerfully destructive than any supernatural evil. Abigail Williams’s jealousy turned an entire town hysteric. Abigail is using her power to get back at people she doesn’t like, and eventually Mrs. Proctor. Abigail gets her power from false testimonies about witchcraft. Witchcraft trials don’t use visible evidence so they have to believe her. The town is going crazy with the convictions and all of them stem back to Abigail. Paris’s greed can be blamed for the stat of the witchcraft in Salem. He has turned everyone against him by being a bad minister and requesting unreasonable things for himself and the church. When Paris asked for a better pay and things like golden candlesticks he loses a lot of respect in the village and people start to realize how selfish of a minister he is. Paris complained that he does not make enough money relative to how educated he is, but previous ministers made much less than him. Paris’s greed could be to blame because if he wouldn’t have been selfish about money and his public appearance he would have reported the girls in the woods and this wouldn’t have happened. Proctor’s ambition can be productive but destructive. His will to stop the Salem madness gets himself caught in it. When Elizabeth gets taken away he is furious and promises her...

Words: 416 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Who Is Abigail Evil In The Crucible

...Analysis Abigail will stop at nothing to get what she wants no matter the cost or consequences. She is a jealous and deceitful woman in the Crucible by Arthur Miller. Miller writes about how she tries to manipulate people in order to get what she she desires. Her actions in the short story “The Last True Witch Hunt” further prove these characteristics about Abigail and how she behaves. In act one Abigail was talking to the other girls who were involved in the incident in the woods. She said to them “Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you”. (p. 1244) Abigail is threatening the girls that if they were to tell anyone about what they were really doing in the woods that night she would harm them. This shows that Abigail is willing to threaten her own friends in order to protect herself. In my short story about Abigail she is willing to get another woman killed in order to be with her husband, exactly like she attempted to do in The...

Words: 620 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

The Illusion of Justice

...The Illusion of Justice One plus one does not always equal two. In the court of mathematics this arithmetic truism may be, yet in reality a courtroom is not pure, but laden with injustice. The courtroom in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, his recreation of the Salem Witch Trials in Salem, Massachusetts, is synonymous. The theocratic court reviews cases regarding witchcraft brought to the gavel by a group of hormonal teenage girls, who have been willing the court to arrest and execute whom they see fit. This literal courtroom is allegorical to the interactions of Senator McCarthy with potential traitors during the 1950’s. As the girls of Salem exploit the fears of their community, McCarthy capitalized on the fear of the entire U.S. nation: Communism. McCarthy’s tactics and actions were highlighted in a CBS broadcasting led by Edward R. Murrow titled, “We Will Not Walk in Fear”. The broadcast was received by the U.S. in 1954 during the Cold War, a decade dubbed ‘The Red Scare’. While the empowered teens of Salem and McCarthy were daunting, their injustices were matched by John Proctor and Edward R. Murrow, respectively. Proctor and Murrow fought against the false accusations and biased plaintiffs to stop the injustice posed. Proctor and Murrow combat their oppressors on the hollow claims made. Proctor is roped in to the Salem courts when his wife is accused. He points out to the judges that “so many of these women have lived so long with such upright reputation” (Miller 84). Proctor’s...

Words: 1560 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Character Analysis Essay the Crucible

...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...

Words: 957 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

The Crucible Crazy Analysis

...In The Crucible, Abigail is crazy. At the beginning she doesn’t seem as insane as she does by the end of the play, she just seems concerned about her and her friends being caught for “just dancing in the woods” and for her cousin, Betty, not waking up. As the play goes on her true personality shines through. She starts warning the girls that if they admit to anything that happened that night in the woods, she will come and hurt them in the middle of the night. She starts “seeing the devil” frequently, but really she’s just trying to get out of the situation that she’s in and accuse anyone of witchcraft, she also accused Goody Proctor of witchcraft just to have John to herself. When she had the conversation with Proctor about their affair,...

Words: 702 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Eng3U the Crucible Critical Analysis

...The Crucible Critical Analysis Shakespeare believes that a tragic hero has potential for greatness, but is ultimately destined to fail. The character falls from greatness because of their ‘tragic flaw’. In Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, the protagonist John Proctor is portrayed as the tragic hero. He fits this description for a number of reasons. His tragic flaw or Achilles heel, like many other tragic heroes is his pride. Compounded with conflicts with circumstances, this tragic flaw leads to Proctor’s loss of life and arguably the loss of his eternal life as well. One of the major requirements to being a Shakespearean tragic hero includes having a tragic flaw. Proctor places a great deal of importance on his pride or what he considers dignity and self-respect. He lets pride overshadow his life and actions. He would rather maintain his pride or die. As the play nears its end in Act Four, it shows that he would rather give up his life, rather than post his fake confession on the church doors for the public to see. He states, “Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life... How may I live without my name? I have given my soul; Leave me my name!” (Miller, 133). John is too prideful and unwilling to stain his reputation. He prefers to die rather than have his name stained because of a fake confession. He wants to leave his name intact for his family. Another example of this is illustrated in Act Two, where Elizabeth urges Proctor to go...

Words: 1106 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Dixon Ticonderoga Victim of Globalization

...[pic] [pic] by Tapiwa Chibota & Clay Clifton Afro American Dixon Ticonderoga – Victim of Globalization Date: Class Name: Instructor Name: Contents Executive Summary 3 Situation Analysis 4 Research 5 Strategic Alternatives 6 Recommended Strategy 8 Implementation 9 Appendix 1 10 Appendix 2 11 Work Cited 12 Executive Summary “ We are moving rapidly away from a world in which national economies were relatively self-contained entities, isolated from each other by barriers to cross-border trade and investment; by distance, time zones, and language; and by national differences in government regulation, culture, and business systems.”(Hill, 4). The company was founded in the 1870 by Joseph Dixon as The Joseph Dixon Crucible Company. He introduced the No. 2 yellow pencil to the United Sates, and came to be the world’s largest dealer, and consumer of graphite world wide What began as a small business in Salem, Massachusetts with the discovery of graphite as a stove polish and an additive in lubricants, foundry facing, brake linings, oilless bearings, and non corrosive paint and manufactured lubricants soon expanded nation wide with annual revenues of a hundred million dollars and more. In 1982 Joseph Dixon Crucible merged with Bryn Mawr Corporation forming the Dixon Ticonderoga Company (www.dixonusa.com). However, in 1990 business was not as easy (refer to Appendix 2). The Company was faced with some foreign competition...

Words: 2286 - Pages: 10

Premium Essay

The Crucible John Proctor Conflict

...In a character analysis, the writer explains how a character and his or her conflict(s) helps readers understand a major theme. Whether it is a major or minor character, either one can illustrate important key themes. In a short story, novel, poem, play, etc., based on a character’s words, thoughts, and actions, one can comprehend their value, and the strengths and weaknesses of their personality. In The Crucible, Miller, Arthur. John Proctor, the play’s tragic hero and a man that lived during the Salem witch trials of 1632 through 1962, is a farmer and tavern keeper living in Massachusetts. John Proctor, known to be an honest, upright, and blunt spoken man is a kind soul that lacks the intention of forgiving his evil sin of adultery with Abigail Williams. Trapped in an unbreakable belief due to his affair, John Proctor believes he damaged the relationship with not only his wife, but with the Man, he praises mostly, God. Battling with his secrets, John must soon reveal to the city and lose...

Words: 690 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Examples Of Mary Warren In The Crucible

...not die for me!” The play “The Crucible” the things place in Salem Massachusetts in 1692, the times of the Salem witch trials. The story starts with a group of girls that goes dancing in the forest with a black slave named Tituba. After this rumors of witchcraft fill the town. Then the wicked Abigail starts claiming she saw townsfolk consorting with the devil. One of the people she denounces Elizabeth Proctor wife of John Proctor who once had sexual relations with Abigail. Throughout the play Mary Warren appears to be the weak one and at first wants to confess to the activities in the woods, but in Act 2 Mary Warren is believed to be helping Abigail...

Words: 768 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Diario Formal #2

...This is best done by putting the glassware into a drying oven, preferably one with circulating air that will quickly remove the water vapor. Hot glassware with parallel sides, such as beakers and bottles, is most conveniently handled with beaker tongs as shown in Fig. 2. It is unwise to dry Pyrex and Kimax equipment by direct heating with a Bunsen burner; it is usually fatal (to the glassware) to treat soft glass equipment this way. Alternatives to the drying oven are wiping with clean toweling (but cloth and paper lint are often a problem), or rinsing with volatile acetone followed by drawing clean air through the container; however, acetone is rather expensive and highly flammable. A common requirement, especially in quantitative analysis, is a very dry sample or product. These materials are usually dried in the drying oven at a specified temperature for a specified length of time, followed by immediate transfer to a...

Words: 6240 - Pages: 25

Free Essay

How Does the Herbal Bed Explore the Conflict Between What Society Expects of Us and Our Inner Devices?

...The Herbal Bed explores the conflict and discrepancy between human desires and the social conventions and expectations, which endeavor to repress them. Peter Whelan utilizes this universal conflict by developing a string of moral dilemmas that prevail within and among the characters to explore the conflict between ones own desires and the expectations of the restricted Jacobean society. Moral dilemmas are utilized to endeavor the individual human desires and passions and what society believes to be morally correct. Weare confronted with a main moral dilemma that splits the audience between societies views and modern perspectives of Susanna. Our consideration of the main thematic concerns of truth, love and duty are vested in Susanna as she is the dominant character in the play and through her knowledge and her actions, she is able to reconcile truth in love, passion and desire. The Jacobean setting and context of The Herbal Bed creates an amplified backdrop of conflict and illness. Illness is ever present to remind us of the fragility of life but also promotes a conscious reflection upon the necessary salvation and vitality of the soul, irrespective of religious beliefs, as you may not have control over death but you do have control of your soul. This sense of internal conflict experienced by the characters only acts to demonstrate the larger dilemmas at play, namely Susanna’s key dilemma which is whether to conform to the social and moral expectations of Jacobean society and...

Words: 1198 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Analysing the Israel-Palestine Conflict in International Relations Perspective

...Analysing the Israel-Palestine Conflict in International Relations Perspective Introduction to International Relations Analysing the Israel-Palestine Conflict in International Relations Perspective Background Since the early 20th Century, Israelis and Palestinians have been fighting over the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. With the assumption that Palestine is a state to facilitate discussion, this report sketches out the most significant elements of the conflict on the three levels defined by Kenneth Waltz, and applies the Realist theory of international relations (IR) to the “Two-State” solution. Levels of analysis 1. First Level The first level focuses on individuals involved in the international relations. On Israel’s side, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has an important role to play because he has the final word in all political decisions. On the side of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas enjoys an even stronger position. Not only is he the chairman of Fatah and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), he is also the President of the Palestinian National Authority (PA), which is the ruling body for the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. He does not to have to face elections as he runs an authoritarian regime. On the regional level, the most influential figure is Mohamed Morsi, President of Egypt, who is vital to negotiating efforts for the conflict. Egypt is the first Arab country to accept Israel as...

Words: 1977 - Pages: 8