Christopher Speckert English 9-10 A Mrs. Slagel 5 November 2015 Whose Fault Were the Salem Witch Trials? In Arthur Miller's famous book; “The Crucible” many people are fighting to prove their innocence to save their lives. If they admit to being a witch and practice witchcraft then they can live, but have to be known as a witch for the rest of their lives (Miller 1234). But if they refuse to confess being a witch then they will be killed (Miller 1272). Every person in Salem was a normal person, non of them were really witches even if they confessed, but not all people were innocent. In “The Crucible” one character makes a very bad reputation for herself by starting what was known as the Salem witch trials. Abigail Williams was a young girl
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.
Chloe Pendleton Mrs. Liz Hall Honors English III 13 February 2017 The Witch Hunters’ False Accusations The Crucible by Arthur Miller tells the story of the vindictive town of Salem and its unproportional amount of accusations of witchcraft. Vengeful “witch hunters” left no time to spare when making accusations on their neighborhood enemies. However, many were guilty of caving into their own weaknesses and only feared to be caught in their acts of hypocrisy. Weakness, hypocrisy, vindictiveness: only few of the many words that describe the guilty desires and revenge that lingered among the town of Salem.
During both the Holocaust people that were jews were shown and during the Salem Witch Trials people were shown. Both groups ended up killed for what they were whether it was true or not. During the salem witch trials even if you said you weren’t a witch but you were accused of one you would still be hanged if they considered you apart of witchcraft. The Holocaust were alike and different in many ways.
The worst quality in humanity is the instinct to find scapegoats—to cast blame on others for the occurrence of misfortunes. In 17th century Salem, residents lived in the constant fear of smallpox and war with the Native Americans. To subdue the fear, witch hunts were initiated, and more than a hundred people were accused of practicing witchery. After the Salem Witch Trials, people regarded the witch hunts as inane hysterias; however, 200 years later, Americans did not learn from the unjustified accusations cast in the witch trials. The Red Scare in the 1900s was the mirror image of the Salem Witch Trials in 1692, and we made the same mistake and reacted unreasonably in response to fear.
Arthur Miller's "The Crucible" is written about the salem Witchcraft trial of 1692, these trials conssisted of women being accused of being witches, being sentenced to death, tortured, and their reputation would be forever tarnished. The similar "McCarthy" hearings were trials in which Senator JoeMcarthy accused government employees of being comunists. Both the events in 1692 and 1950 share very similar details on how they took effect on people. There was really no proof for them to go off of, but they got the consequences anyway. Which created fear in people and the will to fight back.
When A. Millar wrote the play “the crucible” he was coming from a position of victim. Arthur Miller had been accused of being a member of the communist party in the Mcarthy era better known as The Red Scare. Just like John had to go through an accusation of being part of the witchcraft therefore had to make him confess to his affair. Aurthur Miller uses the Salem witch trials as a symbolic story of what happened to him, like when all the girls got caught dancing in the woods making the lies up about the witchcraft to make it seem as if they never had anything to do with it but being forced into it.
During the late 17th century a total of 200 people were accused of participating in witchcraft, while 19 people lost their lives to the mass hysteria. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, a group of girls start a huge uproar in Salem, Massachusetts when they start screeching about Salemites being associated with the Devil. Throughout the play write, it shows the consequences of mass hysteria and how it puts people's lives in danger. Abigail Williams causes a wave of mass hysteria and because of her trickery, innocent people have died by her and the other girl’s actions, for this Abigail is the most unforgivable character in The Crucible.
In the play, the Crucible, by Arthur Miller, Salem, Massachusetts was a place of constant hysteria in the 1600s because of what would come to be commonly known as the Salem Witch Trials. This was a full-blown witch hunt for people found to display signs of witchcraft. Abigail Williams was the main person to blame for this pursuit of witches in Salem because, first off, she was the one who caused hysteria about witchcraft just to cover up the fact that
What a Horrible World In today 's day and age we have more technological, medicinal, societal, and worldly advancements than we did in either 1692 or 1947, but we are still just as easily corrupted by jealousy, power, and paranoia. The years 1692 and 1947 are perfect examples of prospering societies that became undermined through very similar processes. In 1629 the Salem Witch Trials and in 1947 the McCarthy Communist Trials- were both held unjustly, involving condemnation based on unfair trial practices. People desperately admitted to being a witch (1692) or to being a communist (1947) only because they didn’t want to die. Even if you were found innocent your life was virtually over because your career and livelihood had been destroyed
Through the Salem witch trials, twenty-four innocent people lost their lives due to betrayal. They were hung because they were accused and found to be guilty of witchcraft. In reality, everyone that was accused and had died were innocent, but used as targets by others to save their own lives. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, out of fear, Abigail Williams, Mary Warren, Mercy Lewis, and Reverend Hale betrayed their morals to save themselves. As a result of betrayal, lives were taken, relationships were ruined, and trusts were broken.
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.
Unicorns don’t exist, BUT apparently WITCHCRAFT does!!!! The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, is a well known play that tells the tale of a small town, Salem, Massachusetts, where witchcraft is frowned upon. John Proctor, an infamous man of the town, had decided to destroy his confession about witchcraft at the end of the story. The Crucible has a few main characters such as Abigail Williams, John Proctor, Reverend Hale, Reverend Parris, and Mary Warren.
Abigail Williams is not your typical teenage girl. She is a girl that will drink blood to kill someone, accuse people of witchcraft, and have a affair. By looking at The Crucible, one can see that Abigail Williams develops the theme of reputation, which is important because people who fear losing their reputation spread hysteria. Protecting her reputation motivates Abigail Williams to accuse others of being a witch.
Jacob Fortune Mr. Schultz Language Arts 11 16 March, 2023 The Class Allagorys of The Crucible In the Crucible by Arthur Miller, the events portrayed in Salem have a dark underlying theme of classism and the dynamics that come with it. Although these themes aren’t the most prominent in this story, key moments that fully and sickeningly display the very real classism that came with the Salem witch trials are present throughout. These themes were likely purposefully included by Arthur Miller to mirror the real modern day, as the rest of the story eludes to the McCarthy era that the play was written during.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a play about what happened during the Salem Witch Trials. It gives insight about what people had to deal with in this situation and how they handled it. The trials were basically a big test which helped figuring out whether or not people were guilty of witchcraft. This is an example of what a crucible is. In our world today we still have crucibles and even though they are different than back then, they all relate to each other because of what influence they have on people.