Theme Of Testing In The Crucible

In Act 1, John Proctor leads Abigail on while he has a wife. Instead of leading Abigail on he had an opportunity to end the hysteria. At that point, he created drama since Abigail had gone so far to do witchcraft and drink blood in order to have Elizabeth killed in Act 1. In Act IV, Proctor confessed his sin which made the town go insane. Proctor's decisions caused Abigail and Elizabeth to hate each other for the reason they both were in love with the same man.

Reverend Parris is a man in his 40’s that is a minister of the town, and lives with his daughter, Betty, and his niece, Abigail, in Salem, Massachusetts. He finds Abigail and Betty in the woods dancing around a fire with Tituba, and practicing what he thinks is witchcraft. As he finds them dancing around the fire and practicing what he thinks is witchcraft, because of his reputation of being the minister of the town, he hopes that no one will find out about what he has seen and potentially ruin his reputation. Throughout The Crucible by Arthur Miller Parris goes through ups and downs with the town and the townspeople. “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” (Miller 1263).

A wise woman named Eleanor Roosevelt once said, "Do what you feel in your heart to be right for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't”. In the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller, there is a number of characters whose true and honest actions eventually lead them to their unfortunate downfall. This play takes place in the 1600s during the Salem Witch Trials in Salem, Massachusetts. In the beginning of the play they introduce the protagonist John Proctor, a married farmer who in the past committed the heinous act of adultery with his former servant girl Abigail Williams, a moral less and manipulative seventeen year old girl.

The Salem Witch Trials was a time period where tension and controversy arose from personal religious pursuits. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller used the character of Reverend Hale, a minister, and expert on the demonic arts, to display the raw injustice and hypocrisy manifested from his bibliocentric beliefs. Hale’s confident, formulaic view of Christian faith and witchcraft gradually changed. But as He came to Salem with much devotion to the church and with good intentions, he soon realizes the very evil he is committed to brought chaos and the overpower of authority. Despite Reverend Hale’s deep religious convictions, his naivety showed the fallibility of his judgment of others.

A year before the events of the witch trial, there was a love triangle between Abby, John and Elizabeth Proctor. Abby was the Proctor’s employee. Things got a little bit tricky when Abby started flirting with John and they eventually had an affair. The affair lead to Abigail thinking John was going to leave Elizabeth and they were going to run away together, but he was not, he told her he made a mistake and that he loved his wife.

Prior to the play, Abigail has an affair with John Proctor, a well-respected man in Salem, who she used to work for. After Proctor ends the affair, Abigail turns to her family’s slave Tituba in hope of learning witchcraft from her. She intends to harm John Proctor’s wife Elizabeth and eventually take her place. Abigail is then caught dancing in the woods with Tituba and her cousin Betty. Due to Salem being a Puritan society, rumors and suspicions start to spread almost immediately.

Abigail had an affair with John Proctor and that got Abigail fired from her job working for them. John and Elizabeth Proctor talk about the town's continuing witchcraft trials. Despite Elizabeth's pleadings, her husband won't call Abigail a liar. Elizabeth has been charged with witchcraft, according to Mary Warren, their servant and a member of Abigail's inner circle, who has just returned from Salem. Giles Corey and Francis Nurse deliver the breaking news of their wives' arrests to the Proctor household.

Abigail worked for Elizabeth Proctor as a maid in the house. Later fired amidst an affair with John, Elizabeth's husband. The accusations didn't end there; as the orphan desired to end the conflict with Elizabeth. Abigail proceeded to spread rumors saying that Elizabeth was bewitched. Salem, being a very religious village, had very harsh consequences for those accused of witchcraft.

In the small town of Salem, religion was a strict priority, and strange illnesses like these were often thought to be the devil’s work. Miller demonstrated the paradox in The Crucible from the beginning of the play by allowing Abigail Williams and the other girls to unjustly accuse whomever they wanted of witchcraft. The play presented us how too much power is dangerous, for the temptation was always there to abuse it. Under the justification of a theocratic government, the people in authority in Salem abused their almost absolute power, destroying many innocent people in the process. What theocracy illustrates is how the law is not always based on truth, and that if it is not we should stand up to it.

Many counterparts can be drawn between good and evil in The Crucible, and Miller’s juxtaposition of the characters shows the audience how one person acting with integrity can influence a society for good, and vice versa. Reverend Parris is an example of somebody who is extremely concerned with his standing in Salem village. He is afraid that when the people hear

It is discovered earlier in the play that Abigail and John Proctor had an affair while she worked under him. She still remains to be in love with him although he has lost all feelings and decides to stay loyal to his wife. This leads to Abigail wanting to get rid of Elizabeth Proctor and she is willing to do anything to do so. In act two after Hale visits the Proctor home to question their relationship with God, Cheever walks in with a warrant for Elizabeth’s arrest. After John asks who charged his wife with witchcraft, Cheever responds with “Why, Abigail Williams charge her”(Miller).

Instead, The result was worse than he intended. John realizes that the love he has for Elizabeth are fundamental and can’t get rid of them because Elizabeth is perfect, and that is why he married her in the first place. John feels lost and torn because he knows at heart that he loves Elizabeth but lusts for Abigail. In spite of Proctors feelings, when his wife is accused of being a witch by Abigail, he defends her at every chance he

(I.465-472). Seeing Abigail cry, it suggests that Abigail’s affair with John Proctor has influenced her behavior in jealousy and lust as she strives for nothing more than her love for John Proctor. By only being heartbroken, Abigail is not to be fully blamed for the hysteria within the town as her actions are only based on desperate attempts to win John Proctor over, and no intentional harm whatsoever. However, on the other hand, Abigail cannot be excused with outside forces making her the way she is due to the fact that she has clearly had a choice in most of her decisions and actions throughout the witchcraft crisis. When Mary Warren, another girl involved in the forest incident, enters the court, she explains to Danforth, the judge, that the girls are lying and are only pretending to see spirits.

Everybody makes mistakes in their lives, but how they react to them exposes who they really are. In the play "The Crucible" by Arthur Miller, the Puritan citizens of Salem are caught in a perilous storm of terror and accusations of witchcraft. The sins and choices of other characters in the play fuel the fire of injustice and cost the lives of many. There are two tested characters who played large roles in the outbreak of witchcraft accusations; they either passed or failed this test. John Proctor passed the trial of his sins, and Abigail Williams failed her test.

Macey Ravndalen Hour 6 In the play The Crucible, the severe test is whether the city overcomes this tragedy and ends the commotion about witches and to see who realizes what's wrong. Also if Salem stays with the believes of Puritanism. Many characters are tested throughout the play. John Procter is an example because he confesses falsely to witchcraft to avoid the loss of his children and wife.