Fear In The Crucible

Words: 526
Pages: 3

More Americans fear public speaking than anything else, yet other types of fears have a much more profound impact. Ralph Waldo Emerson strongly believed that fear kept people from achieving success. In The Crucible, a play by Arthur Miller, fear of the unknown leads to many tragic events and a failure of society. People often respond to the fear of the unknown by placing the blame on others or refusing to be accountable for their actions; this can be seen in real life, and also with Abigail and Mary in The Crucible. Often, the themes of literature are relevant to real life, and fear is no exception.
An example about how when my brother was worried his wife wanted to leave him, he reacted by trying to fix his children’s behavior because he didn’t want to admit he was the problem. RELATES TO PROMPT BECAUSE: If he was too afraid to admit his own faults, he would not be able to fix his relationship. Avoidance and placing the blame on other people (his kids) wasn’t going to fix anything. An example
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In Act 1, Abigail and Betty blame Tituba for the witchcraft, when it was obviously Abigail’s own choice. In a real essay, this would include “direct quotes that were appropriately included” and cited using parentheticals (Miller 194). Relation to prompt: Abigail is quick to place blame when she may be facing real consequences. Her fear of punishment leads her to make bad decisions that unfairly impact others, and throw Salem into a town-wide panic. Later, in Act 3, when it looks like Mary is going to face jail time for perjury (plus Abby’s wrath), she turns on John Proctor and blames him for her wishy washy behavior. Relation to prompt: This is both a failure and a tragedy because the Proctors are the only characters in the play who have been completely honest and faced their fears head on, yet they are victims of the others, who refuse to take responsibility due to