Morality And Integrity In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

Power can turn people into liars and make them greedy for more power which might take away some people’s freedom The Crucible took place in Salem, Massachusetts 1692 innocent people were being falsely accused of doing Witchcraft. McCarthyism took place in the 50s Wheeling,West Virginia in the era influential celebrities in the entertainment industry were particularly targeted for being communist.

Every person in Salem was a normal person, non of them were really witches even if they confessed, but not all people were innocent. In “The Crucible” one character makes a very bad reputation for herself by starting what was known as the Salem witch trials. Abigail Williams was a young girl

Abigail Williams' remorseless behavior cruelly ended the lives of 19 in Salem. An example of this is when the girls are discovered in the woods,” Parris caught them dancing, with Tituba singing and one of the girls being naked ”(Miller,10-11). Once Abigail was caught, she desperately tried to conceal her actions of that night because Her option to kill his wife would reveal her affair with John Proctor and Have her accused of witchcraft. To deflect the blame from herself she accuses many of witchcraft. Abigail’s remorseless behavior caused deaths because the accused were arrested and many were hanged or died in the jail.

The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and The Crucible, by Arthur Miller , both share the theme of reputation and integrity. This book and play both take place in the life of Puritans. Hawthorne expresses him theme with symbols like the scarlet letter. Arthur expresses the theme within life situations that some puritans may have went through. The main character in The Scarlet Letter is Hester Prynne, she committed adultery and was part of her punishment was wearing the scarlet letter.

How would society members feel today if they were killed or put in jail for things that they weren’t involved in? In America during the 1950s, there were a lot of people punished. The Red Scare happened during this time. This was a time when people were jailed, accused, and put on trial. The Red Scare inspired Arthur Miller to write the play, The Crucible and was the author of “Are You Now or Were You Ever”.

In the Crucible, Arthur Miller develops a variety of characters who are extremely attentive about their status among their town, Salem. Like Abigail, John, and Giles, they exemplify how far they are willing to go in order to clear their name. Arthur’s play demonstrates how these set of characters attempt to seek justice, respectability, and worriness. One lie is all it takes to make the biggest error and once there is too much to pile up, people will figure it out and someone’s respect for a single person could be gone. Reputation and status will never be ignored and it’s true because judgement will always be present.

Shannon L. Alder once stated, “Sometimes painfully lost people can teach us lessons that we didn't think we needed to know, or be reminded of---the more history changes; the more it stays the same.” Arthur Miller, the author of The Crucible, realized the truth in Alder’s words when Senator Joseph McCarthy created frenzy much like the Salem witch trials did. In Miller’s play we see a serious of strenuous struggles develop a very interesting plot line. We find out that Abigail William and John Procter had an affair but John realized his wrongs and denied his love for Abigail. Abigail, feeling rejected, looked to avenge herself and got the perfect opportunity to when she accused John’s wife of witchcraft.

“This is a sharp time, now, a precise time - we live no longer in the dusky afternoon when evil mixed itself with good and befuddled the world.” The Crucible is set in the extremely religious and strict Puritan settlement known as Salem. In this settlement, many were said to be witches, and those who were had to deal with the repercussions. Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible to parallel the hysteria and governmental actions of the Salem Witch trials with the Red Scare that was occurring in America at the time.

Thomas Danforth gave each person a trial but they were unfair and when he finally understood what was happening he continued sentencing people to

At this instance, he is indirectly fueling Abigail and the girls to accuse whomever they want to. Judge Danforth’s irrationality bubbles out in this situation, as according to his judiciary system any person accused of witchcraft have no chance of being a defendant due to the absence of a witness. This shows incompetence and irrationality of legal judgments on the part of an experienced Judge such as Danforth. Lastly, Danforth’s poor judgment is also revealed in the instance of the play wherein John proctor sacrifices his name and tell the truth that he and Abigail had committed the crime of Lechery. In order to confirm this Judge Danforth calls Elizabeth Proctor to testify in court, in which she lies, as a result Danforth says “She spoke nothing of lechery, and this man has lied” (Miller 114).

Goodness and nobility is determined by an individual’s morality and their willingness to follow a virtuous path in their life. It is also determined by the ability of an individual to acknowledge their shortcomings and become more self-aware. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, John Proctor is a good man as he showcases righteous morals and principles. This is shown, as he ends his affair with Abigail, protects his wife and his friends’ wives, and dies to preserve his integrity and honour. First, John Proctor shows his goodness, by refusing the physical advances of Abigail, who wishes to continue their love affair.

In The Crucible, John Proctor the protagonist, becomes a victim of the witch trials when his wife Elizabeth, is accused of witchcraft. In order to free his wife, Proctor must convince Judge Danforth of his wife’s innocence. Judge Danforth does not sign condemnations lightly and takes meticulous inspection of his cases to determine the guilty party. He is also a highly religious man who takes matters between God and men seriously. It is because of Danforth’s dedication to the law and God that Proctor utilizes ethos, logos, and pathos to persuade him.

He describes Mary screaming, “ as though infected,” while the girls cower, “as though” they had been cursed. (118) These similes paint a detailed picture of the scene, intensifying the craziness and depicting the mass hysteria in the courtroom. Mary, due to Miller’s directing, embodies the sense of fear driving the panic of the scene. She sustains the wildness of all previous allegations through her exclamation that John Proctor is, “the Devil’s man.

Published in 1952, during a period of cold war tensions, which culminated in the ideological witch trials of the mcarthy era in America; The crucible by Arthure miller is set in 1692 during the witch trials in salem massachusetts. The author has used allegory to position the reader to draw parrelels betweeen the to time periods and critisize the persecution that occured in both eras. One of the main themes that Miller has used to portray this viewpoint is the representation of personal integrity. Integrity is the quality of having strong moral pronciples. This is acheived through strongly contrasted characterisation of characters such as Abigail williams and and Rebecca Nurse, aswell as the inclusion of textual features such as irony, symbolism

Arthur Miller constructs his play upon the famous Salem witch trails. Miller's Crucible was written in the early 1950s. Miller wrote his drama during the brief reign of the American senator Joseph McCarthy whose bitter criticized anti- communism sparkled the need for the United States to be a dramatic anti- communist society during the early tense years of the cold war. By orders from McCarthy himself, committees of the Congress commenced highly controversial investigations against communists in the U.S similar to the alleged Salem witches situation. Convict communists were ordered to confess their crime and name others to avoid the retribution.