In Arthur Miller’s play, “The Crucible”, power is a central issue, and characters' increasing or decreasing possession of it moves the story considerably. The play explores how people in power can experience megalomania, and consequently fail to resolve the issues at hand. The root of the problem is the unchecked power of the Puritan leaders, who are able to use their authority to manipulate and control the beliefs and behaviors of the people. When the young girls of Salem begin to act strangely and accuse others of witchcraft, the community is thrown into chaos, and the court officials are given a platform to assert their power. The girls are able to wield their accusations as a weapon, and the officials use the opportunity to further their …show more content…
Abigail is the young girl who leads the charge against the supposed witches of Salem. She uses her position as one of the accusers to manipulate and control the people around her. She is able to convince the court officials that the accused are guilty, and is able to turn the community against those who oppose her. Abigail's power over the other girls is demonstrated when she threatens them with physical harm saying “Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you. And you know I can do it; I saw Indians smash my dear parents’ heads on the pillow next to mine, and l have seen some reddish work done at night, and l can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down” (575). If they don't support her lies. She even goes so far as to accuse Elizabeth Proctor, the wife of her former lover, of witchcraft, in an attempt to remove her from the …show more content…
When power goes unchecked and unchallenged, it becomes a breeding ground for exploitation and oppression. In a Business.com article, Petrina Coventry states that “Victims of abuse are often stressed and confused about their situation. This confusion can block the person’s confidence to report the issue, or they ignore it, thinking it will go away in time” (Coventry). Victims of abuse are often intimidated and overwhelmed, making it difficult for them to speak out against their abusers. If the abuse of power is not recognized and addressed, it can continue to perpetuate and cause harm to vulnerable individuals. Recognizing abuse of power is essential to protect the most vulnerable members of society and to prevent the abuse from going unchecked. By creating awareness about the signs of abuse of power and providing support to victims, we can encourage them to come forward and seek help. It is only through collective action that we can create a society that is safe, just, and equitable for
“The Crucible'' is a play written by Arthur Miller in 1953 depicting the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. One of the key themes in “The Crucible” is the abuse of power. Abigail Williams and Judge Danforth are just two main characters of the story who use their power and authority in varying yet destructive forms. While Danforth is a stern judge who upholds the law and attempts to maintain order during the Salem witch trials, Abigail is a cunning and deceptive young woman who uses her influence to cause chaos and manipulate others. The results of their actions only create more issues instead of fixing pre-existing ones.
The movie, “The Crucible”, published in 1996 is a drama film that sets in Salem, Massachusetts in the year 1692 and tells the story of the Salem Witch Trials. The film documents a group of teenage girls, who are caught dancing in the woods conjuring love spells and are forced to lie that Satan had “conquered” them, shortly after, they begin to accuse several innocent individuals in the community of witchcraft. As the allegations spread, the community became increasingly paranoid as well as divided, additionally, many innocent people were prosecuted and put on trial. Remarkably, throughout the play Arthur Miller portrays the influence of groupthink, to demonstrate how a character can easily be influenced by society and changes one’s perspective on life.
Abigail, who becomes the main witness about her and many other girls dancing naked in the forest, is a very strategic accuser. For example, since she [Tituba], is a slave, that doesn’t have rights, and leads them in a dance in the forest, Abigail realizes that Tituba can possibly an easy target to scapegoat. Abigail is one of many people who causes Salem’s unity to disintegrate because trust is hard to gain and seek forth. Earlier in the play, Putman, a greedy, self-centered man, with great importance in Salem, holds the girls in the forest accountable of misleading the court into believing their pointing finger and illness. He claims that they are acting and it is all just to get revenge on the people who have irked them or even the devil.
Argumentative Essay: Power in The Crucible There are many concepts in human society that can only exist if there is a belief in them. One of the strongest of those concepts is the concept of power which can be so strong that it gets out of hand. As John Dalberg-Acton once said, “Power tends to be corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely” The feeling of being powerful causes one to go off the rails and believe they are truly invinvible. Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, is a fictionalization of the Salem Witch Trials of the 1690s that also acts as an allusion to the Red Scare that happened in America during the early 1900s.
Fear, anger, and distrust are feelings that all humans face on a daily basis. In Arthur Miller’s book The Crucible, Abigail Williams’s actions opened Pandora's box in her small town. The story takes place in Salem, a puritan village, and it’s a tale of how a single person can bring havoc to the ones around them. The Crucible acts as a morality play by illustrating how manipulation and panic can cause false accusations that lead to death. Miller shows this through symbolism and characterization of good and evil.
To begin with, the theme of power is often abused is frequently used
Power Fabricricating Fear 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 immense “witchcraft” occurring in Salem, is crafted by Miller as the most influential “character” based off the fear
Power in Salem flourished in 1962 at the beginning of the Salem Witch Trials. Power is the ability or right to control people, things, or outcomes. The way to have power is to capture it. In the Arthur Miller play, The Crucible, one person abused their power; while the other person was elevated in their social structure in order to save or end innocent people’s lives with her power within her knowledge. In The Crucible, Abigail Williams and Tituba express their power through the means of threats and actions, good or bad.
Power in our society nowadays is very misgiven and abused. When people have power they tend to use it for their own benefit and to manipulate people into believing them. In the play, The Crucible, Arthur Miller dramatizes the Salem witch trials of 1692 in order to show his audience how easy it was to be accused and hung for witchcraft. In the Crucible a group of young girls were caught dancing in the woods and in order to not receive a punishment they lied saying they got witched. The girls blamed many people of the town of being witches and caused conflict all over the village.
Power can be seen in several different forms within the Puritan community. Power, viewed to be possessed by the one of the highest status, due to their wealth (or land), gender, or age, is commonly being mistaken, to who holds the optimum power, in religious Salem, Massachusetts. The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is a play based in the extreme Puritan society of the 1600s, in which the majority of their life decisions and actions are dictated to their religious affiliation. The Puritan people present terror toward the presence of the Devil, sparking the major conflict of the Salem Witch Trials. In spite of the common belief that the most powerful beings are characters such as the wealthy landowners, the overarching most forceful figure, who persuades and influences all the
Back in the 1600’s the only people that had a large say in how things would be directed were the ministers and officials. Men generally had the greater influence, especially in Puritan towns like Salem. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, there is an odd shift of power that normally wouldn’t even be possible. Superstition and accusations start going around Salem and people are trying to differ between religious value and common sense. Absolute power and corruption are often a result of fear and this is most evident in The Crucible as young girls gain some influence over the town.
This held and continues to hold back many victims, mirroring the effects of the prejudice in Salem and how it held back Proctor until the very last moment, costing him his life. The power was (and more often than not continues to be) in the hands of the abusers due to a societal culture that disadvantaged the victims. The influence of social media and big names in Hollywood was the catalyst of the #metoo movement, created over a decade ago by activist Tarana Burke. A fresh perspective
She accuses all of the wives in the village basically, she also shouts names of random people and says that they are capable of witchcraft. Need I remind you that these are innocent women that she is putting all of the blame on, but for what? To save herself, if she as innocent as she claims to be then there should be no need for cover ups. She also lied about Mary Warren being a bird that was apparently attacking her and the girls. She was a very manipulative girl throughout the whole trial, she accused many and lied about a lot.
Imagine a world where a group of of girls manipulate a town with their words and actions. In the play, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, several Puritans are falsely accused of dancing with the devil. Many who were accused, sacrificed others in order to save themselves and many innocent lives were taken. In The Crucible, several aspects of the Puritan worldview such as the fear of the unknown and the abuse of power contributed to the mass hysteria.