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A Good Name In Arthur Miller's The Crucible

1033 Words5 Pages

A Good Name The central theme of Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, is having a good name. The author gives a brilliant example of the hysteria surrounding witchcraft with young girls in Boston, Massachusetts. Abigail Williams is one of these young girls who is involved in this event, she is one of the first to beginning accusing other young women of witchcraft. A good name is so powerful in the play, the majority of the characters are vastly affected by the consequences of their reputation, depending on if their name is seen as good or bad. Reverend Parris plays a prime role in this hysteria ; in the beginning of the story he struck his niece, Abigail Williams, because he …show more content…

Rebecca Nurse is an elder in the society, she was seen as an extremely good Christian woman who had a very plentiful life and was an active member in the community. Elizabeth Proctor was also a very highly respected woman, she had many children, 3 young boys, and her husband was a respectable man. Elizabeth had a good moral compass; when she was questioned about her husband’s affair with Abigail Williams, Elizabeth denied any such accusations against her husband, not knowing that he had already confessed. On page 1335, Danforth is questioning Elizabeth Proctor, “Look at me! To your own knowledge, has John Proctor ever committed the crime of lechery? Answer my question! Is your husband a lecher!” She replies, “No, sir.” This partly soiled their good name and reputation because the church assumed them both to be liars. Rebecca Nurse was wrongfully accused, she refused to confess to a lie because she knew that her punishment from God would be a lot less harsh as long as she told the truth. Despite the fact that Rebecca was such a highly respected woman, she was still …show more content…

Whether or not people handled their power correctly was also a judgment passed onto them by their name, it did not matter who was accused of witchcraft only the highest of the highest had the power to deny such accusations. Many did not deny the accusations because they were afraid of being accused themselves, the Crucible sets a good example of just how powerful names can be to people. Some people would do just about anything for the respect that comes when given a certain name, others simply just want to be able to be proud of their name and have the Lord pass the respect and judgement onto

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