Similarities Between The Crucible And Atonement
“Literature often reflects man’s destruction with little room left for his redemption”. Compare and contrast Atonement and The Crucible in the light of this comment
Despite the two hundred and fifty year difference between the settings, destruction in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and Ian McEwan’s Atonement is similar in its manmade causes, with antagonists Abigail Williams and Briony Tallis devastating the lives of the people in their respective societies. The carnage described in McEwan’s novel and Miller’s play has other sources, such as war and hysteria. Considering the title of McEwan’s novel, it is unsurprising that a central character, Briony, attempts to atone for her detrimental actions, but it is perhaps remarkable that an individual …show more content…
Abigail sets out with malicious intent to ruin the respectability of those who she feels are obstructing her. Once she realises that she has the power to send people to jail if not the gallows, Abigail sets out to claim John Proctor by accusing his wife Elizabeth of witchcraft. Her affair with Proctor has set in Abigail’s mind a belief that he is in love with her, despite the fact that he had ‘hardly stepped off [his] farm this seven-month.’ Abigail’s confidence that Proctor would take her back leads her to accuse Elizabeth of witchcraft, despite her impeccable reputation. Rebecca Nurse, a likewise well respected woman whose ‘great charities’ are well-known across the colony, is also accused, disregarding the widely held opinion expressed by Proctor’s doubt that ‘so pious a woman be secretly a Devil’s bitch after seventy year of such good prayer.’ Abigail’s ability to manipulate and influence enable her to adopt a position of power within Salem. Critic Wade Bradford observes Abigail’s ability to manipulate other characters’ perception of her as an orphaned teenage girl, commenting that ‘although [Judge Danforth] interrogates the others, he often seems too embarrassed to accuse the beautiful Miss Williams of any lascivious activity’2. Though Abigail and the girls, as unmarried and youthful females, would generally be considered as being at the lowest rung of this society, they have become elevated to positions of power, from which they can accuse even the most respected of citizens and have their accusation taken seriously. The inversion of Salem’s social structure is just one example of a society that has imploded; the residents who have yet to be arrested or executed regard one another which heavy suspicion, ready to accuse to settle old grudges and to profit from a neighbour’s imprisonment, destroying the community
Despite the two hundred and fifty year difference between the settings, destruction in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and Ian McEwan’s Atonement is similar in its manmade causes, with antagonists Abigail Williams and Briony Tallis devastating the lives of the people in their respective societies. The carnage described in McEwan’s novel and Miller’s play has other sources, such as war and hysteria. Considering the title of McEwan’s novel, it is unsurprising that a central character, Briony, attempts to atone for her detrimental actions, but it is perhaps remarkable that an individual …show more content…
Abigail sets out with malicious intent to ruin the respectability of those who she feels are obstructing her. Once she realises that she has the power to send people to jail if not the gallows, Abigail sets out to claim John Proctor by accusing his wife Elizabeth of witchcraft. Her affair with Proctor has set in Abigail’s mind a belief that he is in love with her, despite the fact that he had ‘hardly stepped off [his] farm this seven-month.’ Abigail’s confidence that Proctor would take her back leads her to accuse Elizabeth of witchcraft, despite her impeccable reputation. Rebecca Nurse, a likewise well respected woman whose ‘great charities’ are well-known across the colony, is also accused, disregarding the widely held opinion expressed by Proctor’s doubt that ‘so pious a woman be secretly a Devil’s bitch after seventy year of such good prayer.’ Abigail’s ability to manipulate and influence enable her to adopt a position of power within Salem. Critic Wade Bradford observes Abigail’s ability to manipulate other characters’ perception of her as an orphaned teenage girl, commenting that ‘although [Judge Danforth] interrogates the others, he often seems too embarrassed to accuse the beautiful Miss Williams of any lascivious activity’2. Though Abigail and the girls, as unmarried and youthful females, would generally be considered as being at the lowest rung of this society, they have become elevated to positions of power, from which they can accuse even the most respected of citizens and have their accusation taken seriously. The inversion of Salem’s social structure is just one example of a society that has imploded; the residents who have yet to be arrested or executed regard one another which heavy suspicion, ready to accuse to settle old grudges and to profit from a neighbour’s imprisonment, destroying the community