In the play The Crucible, the author, Arthur Miller creates characters that commit the Seven Deadly Sins. According to medieval theology one can only correct their sins through penitence, or seeking forgiveness through remorse and regret. Abigail Williams, the Putnams, and Parris are sinners that play major roles in the play. Abigail is the reason for this witchcraft hysteria. She leads the rest of the girls to lie and accuse other villagers of witchcraft. Mrs. Putnam is part of a prominent family in Salem. Parris is a man with high standings in Salem he is the father of Betty and the uncle of Abigail. These characters commit the seven deadly sins. Lust is to want pleasure of the body. Envy is to want what someone else has. lastly Pride is to believe one is better than another. In The Crucible Abigail, the Putnams, and Parris are guilty of displaying the sins of Lust, Envy, and Pride. …show more content…
In the play she has an affair with another character. As is said in Act l by Abigail “John- I am waitin’ for you every night” (Miller 176). In this quote Abigail is telling John Proctor how she waits for him every night. This is Lust. Abigail is wanting John for her own pleasure. Later in the story John Proctor speaks of their affair, “God help me, I lusted, and there is a promis in such sweat. But it is a whore’s vengeance, and you must see it; I set myself entirely in your hands”(Miller Another sin that is committed is the sin of Pride. Samuel Parris is guilty of this sin. In Act I Parris states, “I am not some preaching farmer with a book under my arm; I am a graduate of Harvard College” (Miller 180). He sees himself as much better than everyone else. He has pride in his education and wealth rather than his religion and this in itself is a sin. Another example of Parris’ transgression
One of John Proctor’s tragic flaws is committing adultery with Abigail even though John is married. Last winter, Elizabeth had become very ill. During this time John had an affair with Abigail
Parris uses Proctor’s disparity towards his ministry against him. This way, it seems to the court that the failure is not in his teachings, but instead John’s failure to attend. He very much refuses to believe that John Proctor is solely trying to save his wife, instead of taking the court down which, through Abigail, is directly related to him. By insisting that “this is a clear
In the novel, The Crucible, personal pride is a reoccurring motive of a person’s decision. Reverend Parris, who is the minister of the Puritan village of Salem, is shown as a man who values his reputation and is very prideful. In Act One, when his daughter has fallen ill under witchcraft, he is more concerned about what people will think of him instead of the goodwill of his daughter. He states, “… Just now when some good respect is rising for me in the parish, you compromise my very character.”
In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, innocent people are falsely accused of witchcraft and are killed as a result. The importance of one’s reputation is one of the themes presented in the play, as the townspeople are held to very strict moral values and must uphold their good name in society. Some characters in the play that apply to this theme are John Proctor, Elizabeth Proctor, and Abigail Williams. Those three characters pertain to the theme the most out of all the other characters in the play because their reputations are misrepresented in the court in some way or another. Each one of them were, at one point in the play, being accused of witchcraft or lies from another person so that the person accusing them might save themselves.
Abigail’s first major flaw in her character is lust. In act one she quotes “John I am waiting for you every night” When she says this she is explaining to her once lover John Proctor, how she waits for his return every night in hopes that he will return to her for love. As John tries to deny the love he once felt for her and
John Proctor, the court and Judge Danforth, and Reverend Parris all have pride, but they don’t realize how their pride can and will negatively affect others around them, especially if they don’t think about their actions and the effects of them. During the whole play we hear John Proctor say that his wife has never told a lie in her life. We also hear many times about John’s affair with Abigail, which Elizabeth knows about. John is a well liked person by the town of Salem, and he takes great pride in
He also underlines that people have personal motives to accuse other because of their biases. Another example of this is in act III, when Proctor confesses to his act of adultery in order to save his wife from death, “God help me, I lusted and there is a promise in such sweat... My wife is innocent” (102). Proctor is attempting to accuse Abigail of faking all the accusations and affiliations with the devil because he knows that Abigail longs to remove Elizabeth from his life. His admission of adultery conveys his feelings of guilt and extreme love towards his wife Elizabeth.
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.
In the book, Parris is describing as a selfish person. For example, “Abigail, I have fought here three long years to bend these stiff-necked people to me, and now, just now when some good respect is rising for me in the parish, you compromise my very character. I have given you a home, child. I have put clothes upon your back—now give me an upright answer. Your name in the town—it is entirely white, is it not?”
The last trait that describe Parris is greedy. He proves himself to be greedy when he says”I regard that six pound, Mr. Proctor I am paid little enough without I spend six pound on firewood. ”(Miller, 180). He is being greedy in this line because he gets more then other people in salem and yet he is mad because he thinks minister should get paid way more then a farmer.
Parris has a twisted view on people, life, and his community in general. He is a self-centered and absorbed man who cares only about his reputation. Throughout Act 1 he is only worried about Betty or Abigail tainting
The play is about human weakness, hypocrisy, and vindictiveness. In each paragraph these traits will be further explained. The first trait is human weakness. This appears man times throughout The Crucible.
Playwright Arthur Miller uses deliberate characterization and controlled conflict to highlight societal problems in his play The Crucible. His use of relationships between characters, as well as the interactions that these relationships instigate, in his telling of the Salem Witch Trials is helpful in his ability to convey his overarching idea. The ideas of human failings like hate or greed, blind religious faith or the corruption that occurs in giving power to the formerly powerless, are revealed in Miller’s use of characterization and conflict in The Crucible. Abigail William is a clear antagonist of this play. She stirs up the entire town to chaos.
The seven deadly sins have a major contribution to the play The Crucible, by Arthur Miller. Abigail Williams is a girl who started blaming witchcraft on innocent people, and had the court fooled so they would not think she was lying. John Proctor is the man who had an affair with Abby, and he was also the one who tried to stop the witchcraft trials by saying they were fake. Mr. Putnam is a man who likes to get his way, and always wants more land.
Behaviours and actions sometimes have undisclosed meanings that lead one to think they will obtain an advantage over someone else. These kind of ulterior motives may come about from fear or jealousy and often can result in negative consequences. These objectives occur in the 1962 witch hunt in the town of Salem. In The Crucible, Parris feels like he needs to be in control and maintain a moral order. Abigail is a girl longing for a relationship of a married man named Proctor.