The Crucible, a play written to criticize the Red Scare, involves a theme which focuses on how the characters change as an effect of the intensity and hysteria of the town’s witch trials. Elizabeth Proctor and Reverend Hale, two major characters in the play, experience internal changes as the play progresses due to the individual pressures of the witch trials. Elizabeth Proctor faces the test of having been accused as a witch, having her husband be accused and condemned as a witch, and trying to move past her husband’s affair with a local girl. Reverend Hale was challenged by the corruption of the ministry in Salem and encountered much adversity while doing his job, seeking out witchcraft. Both of these characters come to realize the witch trials only result in death and lies, which causes these characters to evolve.…
The Crucible is a play of the Salem witchcraft trials that took place in Salem Massachusetts. The villagers suspect witchcraft after finding out about a girl who is not responding to anything, she seems to be ill. Abigail Williams had an affair with John Proctor. Abigail soon wishes Elizabeth Proctor were dead. Abigail turns on the rest of the village to cover up her lies. To better understand the similarities and differences of Abigail Williams and Elizabeth Proctor in the play, The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller. One must think of the elements of love, personalities of persons, and the maturity of females as displayed by the characters.…
Of the over 40,000 words brilliantly crafted into a story, only two are able of capturing the meaning of Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible. Set in Salem, Massachusetts during the witch trials, Miller depicts the town and the strong puritan values vested in its people. When accusations of witchcraft run ravage through the streets, such puritan purity is in question. The Crucible is a fitting title for Arthur Miller’s play.The English noun crucible symbolizes Salem, the trials and the resulting changes that occur.…
Sequential to the 1692 Salem witch trials, Author Arthur Miller transcribed the mishaps and vindictive behavior in his play The Crucible, which portrays the hysteria and consternation of the town. An exemplar woman named Elizabeth Proctor exhibits the arbitrary and discriminatory circumstances. In distinguishing, unlikeness Mary Warren impersonates a girl whose hesitancy and uncertainty guides her to condemn many lives. The play depicts the inequitable mobocracy and unjustified perpetrations provoked by self-indulgence and greed.…
The Crucible is a 1952 play by the American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatization of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Province of Massachusetts Bay during 1692 and 1693. Miller wrote the play as a narrative to McCarthyism, when the US government blacklisted accused communists. The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings before county court trials to prosecute people accused of witchcraft in the counties of Essex, Suffolk, and Middlesex in colonial Massachusetts, between February 1692 and May 1693. Even though The Crucible is based on the Salem witch trials, they have differences such as, the relationship between John Proctor and Abigail Williams, and the towns’ relationship with the Putnam’s.…
The definition of crucible is a severe test or trial. Arthur Miller skillfully uses this word to describe the 16th century, Salem inspired, witch trial based play, The Crucible. Handling the chaos of the courts in Salem became an accomplishment in its self. The characters also endured a test of strength by deciphering between what is best for themselves or their friends. Three characters that undergo many tests of emotional strength and stability in this play are John Proctor, the protagonist, Elizabeth whom is John’s upright and composed wife, and Reverend Hale the supernatural expert with a vendetta against witches.…
In The Crucible Miller demonstrates the evils within the human nature through the experience of the Salem Witch Trials. Many characters in this play endure their own personal crucibles. First, Elizabeth Proctor has the ignominy of keeping a terrible secret. Also, Giles Corey goes through a deadly trial trying to protect his neighbor. Finally, Mary Warren, a shy and timid girl, has the impossible task of going against Abigail and the court. Each of these characters’ crucibles are very excruciating, but only some pass while others fail.…
The Crucible was about the Salem witch trials in the 1600’s. Witchcraft is the practice of black magic, which uses spells and the invocation of evil spirits. A crucible is a metal container used to melt down metals and separate the valuable from the less valuable. It also means a difficult situation where people are severely tested.The title of Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible is symbolic of both of these words. In act one Abigail Williams was the most responsible for the chaotic situation that occurred in Salem in the 1600’s.…
She was then taken in by Reverend Parris, her uncle, and was able to find employment in the Proctor household, which led to the development of the conflict in The Crucible. Abigail was sent away from the Proctor household after Elizabeth found out about the lecherous acts between Abigail and John Proctor. The build up of experiences, from the murder of her parents up until the first act probably led her to the current disposition she is in during the play. She easily prioritizes her own desires at the expense of others, even going to the extent of cursing Elizabeth Proctor during prior to the first act and, later on, blaming Elizabeth Proctor for practicing witchcraft. Abigail Williams does not seem to be bound by moral standards, as seen in her continuing active participation in the witch hunt and conviction of a number of Salem's citizens. Her knack for mischief develops further towards the third act, when Mary Warren came forward with the claim that she had lied about being afflicted by supernatural forces. This statement could have displaced the previous accusations that Abigail and her friends had given in the past. Abigail, recognizing the possibility of being imprisoned for deceiving the court, started acting as if Mary Warren had cast her spirit on Abigail and her friends. Mischief turned into vengeance at this point, when the girls were too deep into their lie that self-preservation and hatred towards those endangering that self-preservation fueled their…
The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is a partially fictitious rendering of the colonial witch trials that took place in Salem, Massachusetts. The Puritanical society creates characters of strong moral compasses, but who also take the Devil as seriously as they take God. All sins are severely punished and supernatural reports and behavior are not taken lightly. The play begins with Reverend Parris speaking about his discovery of his niece, daughter, and other village girls dancing in the woods over a fire. His daughter, Betty, has mysteriously fallen ill since the dancing was discovered. This occurrence sparks rumors of witchcraft around the village. Parris’ niece, Abigail, obsessed with her…
Abigail is wicked and confident, and she’s not afraid to take control of situations. This is shown when she is with Parris, Abigail is respectful on the surface but she hides her resentment and disrespect. She talks back to defend her name in Act I, she suggests to Parris, “Uncle, the rumor of witchcraft is all about; I think you’d best go down and deny it yourself.”(Pg.45) In addition, Abigail lead the group of accusing girls started accusing others to get themselves out of trouble. Many of innocent people were accused but they refused to confess, they were hung. Abigail did not stop her accusation eve when innocent lives were executed. She is also aggressive and forceful, the other girls are afraid of her. When Mary Warren suggests that they…
Abigail Williams is a seventeen year old orphan, who cares more about herself than others and she values John Proctor. All throughout this book Abigail was doing multiple selfish things, trying to avoid herself getting into trouble. She lied about her and a group of girls practicing witchcraft in the forest. She also never told that she drunk blood in order to kill Elizabeth Proctor. John Proctor's wife, Elizabeth Proctor, said “I think she see another meaning in that blush.” Elizabeth knows that Abigail has something more like a special feeling about John…
Arthur Miller's masterpiece, The Crucible, is a work of art inspired by actual events as a response to political and moral issues. Although the play provides an accurate account of the Salem witch-hunts and trials of 1692, its real achievement lies in the many important issues of Miller's time that it deals with. The Crucible is a searing parable of conformity and the imbalance of power of the 1950s.…
The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a play that takes place in 1692 in the small Massachusetts village of Salem. Salem is a Puritan community; they are a very restrictive society with strong beliefs. They believe in hard work and prayer, therefore they consider material and sexual desires unnatural and evil. Abigail Williams, the main character is the reason for the witch trials that begin in Salem. She is dishonest, manipulative and her seductive ways is what makes her the antagonist of this play.…
A crucible is a severe test as of patience or belief, a trial. Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible is a journey through the trials of many townspeople caused by suspicions of witchcraft. As the story progresses, people’s words and actions cause Reverend John Hale to change his views on whether the people prosecuted were guilty or innocent of witchcraft. As numerous events and their consequences unfold, they cause Hale to rethink his initial views on witchcraft and to be persuaded of the innocence of those convicted in Salem.…