One of the main elements that eventually build up to the main plot in the play is power. Many of the characters in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible have a strong desire for power. The Salem witch trials empowered several characters in the play who were previously marginalized in Salem society. It gave them the chance to misuse it leading to horrible suffering and even deaths of some innocent people in the town. Some of these characters are Abigail Williams, Deputy Governor Danforth and Reverend Parris. Abigail certainly abused her power once she realized, at the end of Act One, how powerful an accuser can be, she seized that role. Abigail also gained her power as women in Salem were the lowest class with few or no options in life. They usually worked as servants until they are old enough to marry. Abigail was also under the spell of John Proctor who took away her innocence when he committed adultery with her. As Puritans feared the opposition of god, Abigail’s accusations of witchcraft and the worshipping of the devil immediately grabbed the attention of the court. As Abigail affiliated herself with god’s will, she gained power over society. Her low status and perceived innocence under normal circumstances allowed her to claim even greater power in her …show more content…
Reverend Parris was in a position of power as the town 's spiritual leader, but he was insecure about his authority. He was willing to say and do whatever it takes to retain control. He was obsessed with maintaining his power because he wasn’t brave enough. We knew that Parris was consistently preaching hellfire before the incident of the girls practicing witchcraft in the forest. He demanded more money and acted as if he deserved more. All of these things were a play to gain more power and control over the people he was supposed to guide. He was afraid that people will blame him and remove him from the position he was in once the witchcraft talk began. Everything he did was a part of an attempt to keep his
Second, Abigail not only accused people herself, but she was able to convince other girls to accuse as well. For example, in Act 1, at the end of the scene, girls began to shout out names of people that they supposedly witness commit witchcraft. Translated, Abigail was so power
Demonstrated throughout Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, is the effect mass hysteria had on Salem. The trials held in Salem Massachusetts, in 1692 led to the execution of many innocent beings because of the accusation of taking part in witchcraft. The perturbation of some of the characters in play led to the atrocity that the trials became. In The Crucible, fear became the root reason for the destruction of the misinformed society by being the element that contributes to the mass hysteria. This is depicted through some of the characters including Abigail Williams, Mary Warren and the girls that blindly followed Abigail.
The Crucible Miller illustrated a significant story about the Puritans in Salem Massachusetts in 1692. One of the worst events that happened in Salem Massachusetts were the Salem Witch Trials. The Salem Witch Trials took place when people were being convicted as being a witch or other hands being the devil. The people that were prosecuted were the poor, the aids, and the old people of the little town of Salem. As Miller interpreted the moral behind the historical event, he made a similar connection with the play.
Abigail was manipulating people from the very start to be specific. She tried to control Mercy, Mary Warren, and Betty about what they did in forest. Similarly she accused Tituba for the whole debacle in the forest and that her and the other girls had nothing to do with the forest. In this case she turned the blame off
She manipulated the other convicted girls so she wouldn't be the only one to convince the court. The girls had no choice but to follow abigail because they knew the things she can come up with and were scared of that. In the court Abigail pretended to be possessed and collapsed to the floor and the other girls did the same. She deceived the whole court with this act, a clever tactic on her
It takes a special type of evil to let innocent people suffer for one's own needs and wants and have no remorse for anything that may happen. In the play The Crucible, Arthur Miller describes the events that are happening in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts. People throughout the town are getting called out for suspicion of witchcraft and are being sent to jail to await trial. Many of the people accused were respected citizens in the community while the accusers were a group of teenage girls led by Abigail Williams. In Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible, Miller showed that Abigail Williams’ flaws of cowardness, by running away from Salem when people started to revolt, jealousy of John Proctor’s wife, and the manipulation of her friends
In the play The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, Miller writes about a small town in Massachusetts called Salem. In the town people start accusing people of witchcraft to take the blame from themselves, and they try to use people’s differences as evidence that they are witches. Miller was the author who best used his writing to support the meaning of his play because he did a great job using conflict development, characterization, and setting. One element Miller used in The Crucible is conflict development.
Power, the ability to maintain control, command, or authority over others can often be determined by one’s reputation and their ability to persuade others. This principle is displayed within The Crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller, which follows the town of Salem, Massachusetts navigating through a “Witchcraft” outbreak supposedly lead by the Devil. Within such a theocratic society such as Salem, the Devil is often associated with death, fear, and uncertainty, with his name alone often believed to influence others into following through with certain actions. The Devil, as a key figure behind the “witchcraft” occurring in Salem, is crafted by Miller as the most influential “character” based off the fear derived from his infamous reputation and his ability to control characters’ actions.
In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the setting is Salem, Massachusetts during the late 1600s where the town’s pious Puritan beliefs directly influence their government. A 17-year-old girl named Abigail Williams had an affair with John Proctor, a wealthy, married man. Abigail is told by John to move on but instead, Abigail starts accusing the townspeople of witchcraft, including John Proctor’s wife Elizabeth. As this hysteria begins to rise, other people such as Thomas Putnam, a rich landowner, start to also allege Salem villagers. In this play, the author illustrates the central idea that people should not allow jealousy to control their actions.
Parris is a very self-centered man and is very embedded in his place in the community. He is a preacher for the church of Salem and his niece and daughter have been “bewitched” or so he thinks. Parris believes what he does is just and that no one should oppose him. This is also why he refuses to let news about his niece and daughter get out, he doesn’t want people to overthrow his position. Parris is a static character due to his nature of unchanging personality wise throughout the crucible, he is always self-centered.
He was a stern Puritan who denounced the worldly ways and economic prosperity of Salem Town as the influence of the Devil. His rhetoric further separated the two factions within Salem Village. It is likely that the jealousies and hostilities between these two factions played a major role in the witch trials. The "accusers," many of which were the "afflicted girls" to whom the book refers to throughout the work, did not even know the persons they were accusing. In fact, the afflicted girls could not even pick out the accused without whispers from other people telling them who was who.
During The Crucible, a play by Arthur Miller, suspicious girls go dance in the woods and stir up talk of witchcraft in the town of Salem, Massachusetts. This leads to false accusations of witchcraft and innocent people getting sentenced to death, under Governor Danforth and Reverend Hale. Reverend Hale is the most dynamic character. He is motivated to do good and to get people to confess to their sinful ways and to come back to God, but gets caught up in false accusations and lies, and his guilt forces him to try to undo his actions; unfortunately, it is too late and many innocent people die. Reverend Hale is an expert in witchcraft from the neighboring town of Beverly, he comes to Salem in hopes to rid the town of witches.
Parris had always been paranoid, wanted things under his control, and felt like he was being persecuted everywhere he went. The spiteful reverend had discovered his daughter, Betty Parris, and his niece, Abigail Williams, dancing in the woods and saw some explicit scenes which he knew could cause his position in town. He had made a mistake when he called over Reverend Hale, a specialist in supernatural, and that was when the whole town started to become hysteric. Thus, if he hadn’t called Reverend Hale. In addition, Parris was described as someone who was evil and didn’t like children.
In our lives, we will all often go through phases of being a leader and being a follower. Sometimes we can be a little bit of both. In Abigail’s situation she was a leader and she acquired her power because of her followers. Without her followers, she wouldn’t have been as influential. We all know leaders and followers in our lives, and this story really differentiates how you can either be a leader or a follower in your life, and it’s all up to you.
The Crucible is a story by Arthur Miller this story was released during the Mccarthyism era and is written to relate what is going on during Mccarthyism time and compared to what had happened during the time of the Salem witch trials. The setting or the crucible will impact the characters, the plot and the tone of the story. The setting of The Crucible affected the characters because during this period of time Salem Massachusetts was a Puritan colony. The Puritans were very strict people, for example on page 1154 of Arthur Miller's The Crucible Paris the town's Minister threatens to beat his slave Tituba “ You will confess yourself or I will take you out and whip you to death Tituba” that statement says that the fact that Parris is going to whip Tituba to death if she doesn't do what he says and confess that he is willing to kill anyone who does not follow the rules. Another