the crucible Essay

Submitted By rocky1126

Words: 461

Pages: 2

Open Document

A man may think God sleeps, but God sees everything, I know it now. I beg you, sir, I beg you—see her what she is. . . . She thinks to dance with me on my wife’s grave! And well she might, for I thought of her softly. God help me, I lusted, and there is a promise in such sweat. But it is a whore’s vengeance. . . .
This quotation is taken from Act III, when Proctor finally breaks down and confesses his affair with Abigail, after trying, in vain, to expose her as a fraud without revealing their liaison. Proctor knows from the beginning that the witch trials constitute nothing more than a “whore’s vengeance”—Abigail’s revenge on him for ending their affair—but he shies away from making that knowledge public because it would lead to his disgrace. This scene, in the Salem courtroom, marks the climax of the play, in which Proctor’s concern for justice outstrips his concern for his reputation. This re-prioritization of values enables him to do what is necessary. But he finds, to his horror, that his actions come too late: instead of Abigail and the witch trials being exposed as a sham, Proctor is called a liar and then accused of witchcraft by the court. His attempt at honesty backfires and destroys him.Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!
Proctor utters these lines at the end of the play, in Act IV, when he is wrestling with his conscience over whether to confess to witchcraft and thereby save himself from the gallows. The judges and Hale have almost convinced him to do so, but

Crucible: The Crucible and Proctor Essay

The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a classical tragedy, with John Proctor as the play’s protagonist. Honest, upright, and blunt-spoken, Proctor is a good man, but one with a secret, fatal flaw. His lust for Abigail Williams led to their affair. This created Abigail’s jealousy of his wife, Elizabeth, which sets the entire witch frenzy in motion. Once the trials begin, Proctor realizes that he can stop Abigail’s rampage through Salem but only if he confesses to his adultery. Such an admission would ruin…

Words 787 - Pages 4

Conformity In The Crucible

Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible in 1953. He wrote this book because he had a story to tell. The issue of individual freedom versus conformity is present in society as well as in The Crucible. This is important because people who did not conform to society, were severely punished by authority in the 1950s when communist speculations arose. There were non-conformist attitudes when dealing with external pressures put on individuals. People were too afraid to be an outcast because then they would be…

Words 226 - Pages 1

Jealousy In The Crucible

Jealously, the weakest link. In the crucible I believe a theme or a thematic ideal in the crucible is jealousy, we can see in this play that jealousy play a big role to the crucible and the who chaos was all filtered from one character and was displaced as death in many other characters in the crucible, jealousy can also be a very broad and essential topic in the crucible because jealousy was used as a foundation for the play. In the beginning of the play we see the children dancing in…

Words 677 - Pages 3

Reflections On The Crucible

The Crucible In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, there have been a lot of lies, trust issues, jealousy, and many more. This can relate to my own personal experiences in life. I have felt jealousy, been lied to, and also had trust issues plenty of times. The Crucible has also had loud eruptions in the courtroom. I have had that experience by just listening to my parents argue. The quote “When an individual tries to lift themselves above others, they are dragged down by the masses, either by ridicule…

Words 709 - Pages 3

Paranoia In The Crucible

witchcraft. In fact, The Crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller depicting the Salem Witch Trials, has a strong correlation with a modern witch hunt in the Holocaust. The Holocaust, regarded as one of humanity’s darkest times, was a genocide orchestrated by Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany in which about six million Jews were killed. The lack of importance of truth, paranoia, and valuing one’s reputation over what’s considered right are characteristics…

Words 1457 - Pages 6

Crucible Essay

The Relationship Between Fear and Faith The Crucible In the play, The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the Puritans are very religious people who believe the sole purpose of government was to enforce God’s law. Their immense “faith” blinded them throughout the course of the Salem Witch Trials. This faith soon turned into fear as many of the highstanding people of the village were accused and sentenced to death by hanging. In The Crucible , faith and fear relate very closely with the dec…

Words 544 - Pages 3

Puritanism In The Crucible

people who wanted to purify the church or make it a lot holier than it already was. The characters in The Crucible are affected by Puritanism in a big way. Everything they do has to do with their beliefs of Puritanism, for example, the way they dress, their punishments, what they believe in, etc. The characters in The Scarlet Letter are affected by Puritanism, but not as greatly as in The Crucible. The Scarlet Letter has to do with Puritanism, for example, in the way that they look at their ministers…

Words 622 - Pages 3

The Crucible Essay

The Crucible Essay The word "crucible" is defined as a difficult test or challenge; a place or situation that forces people to change or make difficult decisions. Throughout the novel The Crucible by Arthur Miller (intro element), characters emphasize that the novel title, in fact (interruptor), the title does fit very well, in particular the character of John Proctor. By changing himself according to what is happening to him in the novel, John Proctor clearly suggests that The Crucible is an…

Words 347 - Pages 2

The Crucible Essay

The Crucible The Crucible. What is the first thing that comes to you mind when you hear that? For me it was Judgment. The three reasons that support why Arthur Miller named his story, “The Crucible” are that crucible means to melt at high temperatures (Heat that the characters are going through), how the town begins to form after everything has been heated up (Trials, executions), and how everything cools down after its been formed. The first reason is that crucible means, “To melt at high temperatures”…

Words 430 - Pages 2

The Crucible Theme

doing something that you have never done? There are many people that have been accused of something they never done. The Crucible by Arthur Miller, is a story about people being accused of doing witchcraft, and people telling lied about other. There are three main theme in The Crucible, the three main theme are Deception, Irony, and Guilt. The first main theme of The Crucible is Deception. “Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you…

Words 562 - Pages 3