The Crucible Literary Analysis The theme in a story is the concealed message that the author is trying to portray. The theme can be compared to a baby crying. Sometimes it is obvious as to why the baby is crying, but often times it is a mere thinking situation. The baby cannot tell you why it is crying or what he/she wants. Instead, you must use common sense and figure it out. That is how theme works. The author conveys how he/she feels about life or human experiences in the story, but as a reader, it is your job to evaluate the text and discover the meaning of it. Arthur Miller in the book, The Crucible, conveys many themes about human experiences. Mass hysteria, intolerance, and good vs. evil are just some of the many themes that …show more content…
One of the many themes in The Crucible is mass hysteria. The witch trials are occurring because everyone in Salem is alarmed by the thought of Satan being among them. Miller uses mass hysteria in the book to show how simple it is to create disruption among a society. The theme is important because it “warns us of the dangers of reacting blindly because we are afraid of something” (enotes.com). When the judge asks Mary Warren to faint and she can’t, she says, “I heard the other girls screaming, and you, Your Honor, you seemed to believe them… but then the whole world cried spirits… I only thought I saw them but I did not.” Mary was alone the second time she went to court and that was why she could not faint. The other girls weren’t there to influence her actions. She simply copied them to save herself. The people of Salem were caught up in the midst of everything going on around them and they followed the person next to …show more content…
Intolerance is important in The Crucible because it demonstrates how fast people’s attitudes and beliefs can change due to an event taking place in their town. Judges Hathorne and Danforth exhibit intolerance towards the people being trialed. If somebody spoke of another person performing witchcraft, the judges would not tolerate it and had that person thrown in jail even if there was no evidence to back up the statement. They were definitely substituting a role of unjustifiable reasoning. Miller uses intolerance to show that the people of Salem, especially the judges, were narrow minded and wanted everything to go their way. Their principle of belief was that “a person is either with this court or he must be counted against it, there be no road
In the Crucible, Arthur Miller uses the Salem witch trials to show how a society can become flawed and corrupt, leading to an inevitably witch hunt and hive mindset. These mindsets have still carried on in modern day society. The community of Salem was run under a strict theocracy, where religious leaders held immense power and threat to the common people. With the large fear of the unknown and wide belief in apparitions and entities this added to and heightened the chaos of these witch trials. During the trials an unjust court is shown immediately in the first hearing, the presumption of innocence was ignored and all of the evidence was based on hearsay and rumors.
The last chapter of Edgar Huntly I read was chapter 26, in this chapter we see Sarsefield’s reaction of the events that to place back in Ireland before Clithero fled to America. Sarsefield tells Edgar that he detests Clithero and speaks of him in the same way he spoke about Wiatte. Sarsefield describes Clithero as being “unnatural; devilish; a thing for which no language has yet provided a name.” I found it interesting how Sarsefield’s conversation with Huntly parallels to the conversation he had with Clithero back in Ireland, but now he was describing Clithero in the same fashion. Sarsefield despised Clithero so much for nearly killing Clarise, whom he had mistaken for Mrs. Lorimer, that he “did not want to occupy…the same world with him.”
The legal system should be trusted to determine guilt or innocence. In my first anticipation guide I found this to be true, but after reading The Crucible I completely changed my mind. I think that the courts should be trusted to an extent. I believe this because the courts are run by humans and humans make mistakes.
Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, presents a theme that demonstrates how characters change throughout the storyline. The dramatic changes of the characters show how people in late 1600’s managed to get through the accusations of witchcraft and moreover how the accusers and or condemners were able to handle the chaotic event. Miller’s play helps one understand what the Salem Witch Trials did to people’s emotions and mentalities. People demanded one to be hung or burned if the person sinned unless they confessed, turned back around to God, and blamed others for their sin. In The Crucible, with Hale’s transformation Miller is emphasizing that humanity will always seek redemption, the truth will triumph the lies, and people will constantly try
In the overture of The Crucible, Arthur Miller characterizes the Puritans as hardworking, yet emphasizes their many negative traits to analyze the type of environment necessary to produce mass hysteria. While no one truly knew what the lives of the Puritans were like, the Puritans were feared greatly because their society was seen as "a barbaric frontier inhabited by a sect of fanatics..." Everyone viewed the Puritans as fanatics because they often minded other people 's business. This, consequently, created suspicion, eventually leading to the Salem Witch Trials. The Salem Witch Trials took place during a period of utter fear and chaos, where many were afraid that individuality was on the rise.
Authors use themes in their books to connect the real world with the context in the book. There are many themes that are described in the events, characters, and messages within the play. Arthur Miller creates relatable themes that show the emotional effects of mankind in his book The Crucible. At the beginning of the play, Reverend Parris is at the bed side of his niece, Betty, worrying about what her dabbling’s in witchcraft would do to his already poor reputation in Salem.
There have been many different "witch hunts" that have happened since 1692, that have shaped our world. One of the most known is The Holocaust that happened during WWII. This is important because a large mass of innocent people were killed due to their race. Some may say it was just a part of war; however, it's much more than that. It’s the fact that one person didn’t like a certain group of people besides their own so; they felt like they had the right to take away their lives.
The times back then were terrible. The Crucible is a play written by Arthur Miller in 1953 about The Salem Witch Trials of 1692.McCarthyism was the “witch hunt” for the communist in 1953.the parallels between The Crucible and McCarthyism are naming names,lack of proof ,and reststance. The first reason they are parallel is because of naming names. Hollywood director Elia Kazan went in front of the HUAC twice. The first time he did not confess and names.
Shawn Jande Ms. Clancy American Literature B3 15 November 2015 The Crucible Analytical Essay Imagine, being accused of a crime you didn’t commit by your neighbors and friends out of jealousy, and desire. This is what many people in the town of Salem had to go through during the time of the Salem Witch Trials. People's motives such as: gaining and maintaining power, and aspirations for what other people had caused them to make irrational, and atrocious decisions. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, desire and power drive characters to create chaos in the community.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a dramatic play that expresses a very important message and that is how far people would go to save themselves from the hands of death. There are many characters in the Crucible who are guilty of taking innocent lives, but there are three major characters who, without a doubt, are the most at blame. The play takes place in the city of Salem, a city filled with people that would do anything to keep their reputation clean. Throughout the play, Miller is introducing multiple characters that experience changes in their decisions and negatively influence more people eventually leading up to the witch trials. The main point that the story revolves around is that people would rather lie and blame someone else instead of confessing and accepting the punishment.
Rhetorical appeals serve as a major role in the characters speaking style. The speaking style reflects his or her main points that the character is trying to convey. It also reveals the characters feelings and emotions. John Proctor uses strong rhetorical appeals throughout the play. John Proctor is loyal, honest, and kind-hearted.
Down the middle isle are the rodent treatments. On the top shelf there is a yellow box with mouse poison. The green box is for rats. Above them there are the snap traps. Below them are the Haveahart traps.
Salem was a small settlement, every settler knew one another (Miller, Arthur). And when there were whispers of witchcraft, the whispers became loud and public
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
As said in the documents I read, the theme is "the fundamental and often universal idea of a literary artwork". One major theme that I have learned throughout this play is Intolerance. The society set in The Crucible is theocratic. That means that the church and the state are one.