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Betty's Reputation In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

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In The Crucible, author Arthur Miller synthesizes a compelling novel that explicates the inconsistencies of the Salem witch trials along with behavior, hidden agendas, and desire. Inspired by the McCarthy hearings in the 1950s, the account shows what lengths were gone to in order to keep the standing of a group of girls. Various themes are clear in this narrative, however reputation is one of, if not the most prominent themes consistent throughout. Reverend Parris shows pretty early on in The Crucible that his reputation is important when he disregards Betty’s unusual behavior as something unrelated to witchcraft in order to keep a good face towards the townspeople. When Reverend Parris sees the girls’ odd ritual taking place in the woods he questions Abigail aggressively …show more content…

When Abigail begins to promulgate her lie, Reverend Parris is quick to stay on the side of the gun behind the barrel. In order to save himself, Reverend Parris goes with Abigail’s first victim to blame, Tituba. He, along with Abigail draw out Reverend Hale and the Putnams screaming to Tituba “You will confess yourself or I will take you out and whip you to your death!” (42). Even more so clearly, Abigail is the main character displaying her acts of injustice through accusations and dishonesty to keep her standing in Salem. When questioned by Reverend Parris about her redundancy to the Proctor household she surges in outrage exclaiming, “My name is good in the village! I will not have it said my name is soiled! Goodie Proctor is a gossiping liar!” (12). Abigail understand the importance of a good reputation in the town and opts to keep her slate clean while falsely accusing others. In combination of both characters and the overall picture being created in The Crucible, the power of everyone is solely by

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Cameron Oldfield Mrs. Brincks English III 15 November, 2015 The Crucible and Red Scare Imagine being thrown in jail, blamed for something that you didn't do .The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is a story about how certain propaganda and false accusations can ruin lives, just like in the case of the Red Scare. Although 1692 the Salem witch trials and the Red Scare were over 200 years apart, The similarities are striking. both trials used intimidation, fear, hatred, and false accusations to ruin innocent lives. Both trials resulted in terrible outcomes, with both ending with innocent people being put to death and shunned from society.

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Proctor fell in love with Abigail’s persistent attitude and would come join her at night. Elizabeth knew something was wrong as she felt him distance and casted Abigail out onto the streets since she was their maid at the time. Abigail lied and told people it was because she did not want to be a servant for the Proctors. She became furious with Elizabeth Proctor so much that she went against her own religion and danced in the woods while drinking chicken blood in hopes Elizabeth would die. Proctor told Abigail “Abby, you’ll put it out of mind.

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Title Sometimes, it’s hard to see what someone’s intentions are. It may be especially hard to tell if a person in power is truly using their power to do good, or if they’re putting up a front in order to gain personal benefits. In The Crucible, Reverend Parris used his title and influence for personal gain. Things like this don’t just happen in literature. There are people in our world today using their status and influence to gain money or more power.

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Throughout the course of American history there has been many two persecutions that have been very similar to one other, but they were separated by almost 3 centuries. One of these events was the “witch hunts”, Salem Witch Trials, and the other was McCarthyism. Because of these controversial topics, Arthur Miller wrote his play called The Crucible, in which he uses the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 to exhibit the dangerous McCarthyism, the bystander effect, and mass hysteria. Another intention of writing was the hope that society would learn and grow from the past, instead of ignoring and repeating it again.

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In the Crucible, Arthur Miller develops a variety of characters who are extremely attentive about their status among their town, Salem. Like Abigail, John, and Giles, they exemplify how far they are willing to go in order to clear their name. Arthur’s play demonstrates how these set of characters attempt to seek justice, respectability, and worriness. One lie is all it takes to make the biggest error and once there is too much to pile up, people will figure it out and someone’s respect for a single person could be gone. Reputation and status will never be ignored and it’s true because judgement will always be present.

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“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it-- always.” This quote by Mahatma Gandhi reveals the theme of this amazing story, love prevails. Throughout this book, The Crucible, relationships are put into question, characters are questioned on their honesty, and the community as a whole is shown everyone's real morals.

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Reputation Reputation is a "widespread belief that someone or something has a particular habit or characteristic." The Crucible was written in 1692 by Arthur Miller. People have their own complications to clarify what they need or what they want in life. Yes, everyone is divergent in their own way but they do have similarities and differences. Each character plays an important role in the Salem witch trials.

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The main antagonist of the play, Abigail Williams, displayed the consequences due to lying. Reverend Parris, Abigail’s uncle, questioned her about what happened in the woods that led to his daughter, Betty’s, unconsciousness. Along with Parris, Reverend John Hale also questioned Abigail, who immediately

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At the beginning of the play, Abigail triggers the mass hysteria in Salem as she spreads rumors about the witchcraft directed to Betty, Reverend Parris’ daughter. She continues to have effects on the other characters that soon become involved with the situation at hand. Abigail consistently denies her own accusations and passes the false allegations on to other girls in an attempt to save her reputation. The rumors Abigail spreads eventually lead to a questioning for witchcraft. Tituba, her family’s servant, falls to be the victim of the issue and is interrogated by the town.

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Reputation is something that can be left to linger around, haunting people 's lives for years. In the Crucible, Reverend Parris feels the effects of reputation first hand. Parris is a godly man who wants nothing more than to preserve his image. Parris’s motives are portrayed throughout the story when he catches his niece and daughter dancing the woods, a sign of witchcraft. Yet, after this he is more concerned with how he is being viewed instead of their well being.

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In the Crucible, Arthur Miller uses destructive forces like jealousy and fear to ruin lives and relationships of all people. Jealousy is used as an destructive force because it brings the evil out in so many people which leads them to take such huge matters of destructive revenge. For example, Abigail is madly in love with John Proctor that she will do anything to try and get him which the first step being to get rid of Elizabeth, by death. Abigail took it as far to stab herself with a needle and blame it all on Elizabeth gathering some evidence to show. Elizabeth says to Proctor, “She wants me dead.

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When Abigail is accused of witchcraft, she confesses and in order to take blame off of herself, she accuses many others as well. This sparks hysteria and conflict in the society that ends up costing people their lives. Many characters play a part in the outcomes in the story, however, some do so with more impact. Women in The Crucible are able to take power in their society as they find ways to influence and manipulate those in authority.

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Published in 1952, during a period of cold war tensions, which culminated in the ideological witch trials of the mcarthy era in America; The crucible by Arthure miller is set in 1692 during the witch trials in salem massachusetts. The author has used allegory to position the reader to draw parrelels betweeen the to time periods and critisize the persecution that occured in both eras. One of the main themes that Miller has used to portray this viewpoint is the representation of personal integrity. Integrity is the quality of having strong moral pronciples. This is acheived through strongly contrasted characterisation of characters such as Abigail williams and and Rebecca Nurse, aswell as the inclusion of textual features such as irony, symbolism

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431 Words | 2 Pages

(Act I. line 158-167). In the begging of the book Parris stand before his daughter’s bed and talk to Abigail what happened in the wood. At first we will think he is a good father who worried about his daughter, but then throughout his sentences we know he is just care about his position as a minister. “You people seem not to comprehend that a minister is the Lord’s man in the Parish; a minister is not to be so lightly crossed and contradicted—”(Act I. line 823-827). Parris's repeated demonstrations of exceedingly selfish behavior don't help him.

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Reverend Parris is a self centered man who care only about himself and his reputation. When he talks to Abigail he show how worried he is about his reputation by saying “I must know it now, for surely my enemies will, and they will ruin me with it. ”(Miller, 170). This shows how self centered he is because he is only worried about his enemies ruining

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