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Character Analysis Of Giles Corey In The Crucible

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In 1692, the theocratic town of Salem fell apart. Neighbors began accusing one another of Devil-worship and the illegal act of witchcraft. Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, reenacts the horror that took place in this Puritan society. One dark night, a group of girls went out into the forest to perform a ceremony. The leading antagonist, Abigail Williams, drank blood as a charm to kill the wife of John Proctor, the protagonist with whom she was infatuated. Reverend Parris discovers the girls who blame the night’s events on one of the women in their party, knowing that witchcraft is punishable by death. After this first accusation, more and more began to occur. Arthur Miller conveys the struggle of justice through integrity with accusations of Giles Corey, John Proctor, and the evil Abigail Williams. Giles …show more content…

When Giles’ wife is accused of witchery, when Giles mistakenly says that she reads many books, he is devastated. He gathers evidence as to why people who dislike him would lie and have his wife accused of witchery. When Giles presents this evidence to the court, Danforth and Hathorne command Giles to tell them the name of the man from whom he obtained this evidence. Giles firmly says, “I will not give you no name. I mentioned my wife's name once and I’ll burn in hell long enough for that. I stand mute,” (Miller 90). Giles is deliberately defying the court and therefore is arrested for his actions. This is an intense scene in the storyline because his defiance protects the life of an innocent man. Giles represents goodness through his silence, which the reader hopes can lead to a

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Giles Corey tries to present evidence to Judge Danforth to save his wife who was accused of witchcraft, but Danforth responds to him in anger. ¨

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Miller, through Judge Danforth was able to illustrate this individual corruption by his rigidity of purpose, one which we find difficult to sympathise with as he miss uses his power to punish the innocent, in order please the town’s majority. This Is clearly noted at the back end of Act III where he asks a series of short, sharp questions “you are a lecher”, “-do you deny it Mr Parris”, -you deny every scrap and title of this”, in hope the truth will come out. This is significant because he’s combining this illicit fear of the supernatural and political manipulation in order to get a well-regarded individual in John Proctor to confess to witchcraft. With him dealing with political absolutes “witchcraft is an invisible crime … who may possibly be witness to it?” leads to countless flawed and irrational judgements.

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Judge Danforth’s unwavering egotism culminates in the unfortunate deaths of Salem townsfolk. Arthur Miller’s classic play The Crucible demonstrates how the actions of one person can affect many others. Judge Danforth cares more about his own reputation than what is right. Often times people try to think of what is right instead of saving their own face, Judge Danforth is an exception to this stereotype. The Salem Witch Trials were a horrible time where many people lost their lives due to an unjust court system.

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In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the setting is Salem, Massachusetts during the late 1600s where the town’s pious Puritan beliefs directly influence their government. A 17-year-old girl named Abigail Williams had an affair with John Proctor, a wealthy, married man. Abigail is told by John to move on but instead, Abigail starts accusing the townspeople of witchcraft, including John Proctor’s wife Elizabeth. As this hysteria begins to rise, other people such as Thomas Putnam, a rich landowner, start to also allege Salem villagers. In this play, the author illustrates the central idea that people should not allow jealousy to control their actions.

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In The Crucible, John Proctor the protagonist, becomes a victim of the witch trials when his wife Elizabeth, is accused of witchcraft. In order to free his wife, Proctor must convince Judge Danforth of his wife’s innocence. Judge Danforth does not sign condemnations lightly and takes meticulous inspection of his cases to determine the guilty party. He is also a highly religious man who takes matters between God and men seriously. It is because of Danforth’s dedication to the law and God that Proctor utilizes ethos, logos, and pathos to persuade him.

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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.

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In his book, “A Modest Inquiry into the Nature of Witchcraft (1702),” clergyman John Hale comes forth to confront the recent events going on at the time. Initially, Hale alludes to the questionable actions and activities of the townspeople being accused of witchcrafts, and being imprisoned as punishment. In addition, he discloses how everyone suspicious will be accused, not even young children are safe from the hands of this fate. Hale’s purpose of publishing this book was to describe the incident of the Witch Trials, and to reveal his experience of the trials, since his own wife was accused. By employing a didactic tone, Hale relays the actions of the past that targeted the Puritans and those wrongly accused of witchcrafts, so this occurrence

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This clouds his judgement to analyze evidence presented by the suspects of witchcraft. Danforth says,"We burn a hot fire here, it melts down all concealment", this quote shows that the the court only hears the truth and supposedly ignores the lies" (83). This is an inaccurate and an ironic statement. Even though, Danforth says that the court ignores all the lies to get to the truth, it is evident that this happens through the accusation of innocent girls. Danforth's power blinds him to the truth, and prevents him from seeing the effect that his actions have on the lives of innocent people

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The Crucible “The Crucible” is a play, by Arthur Miller, about the Salem Witch Trials. After reading “The Crucible”, you will be asking yourself, is it necessary for a person to suffer? The answer to the question is shown through the characters, Giles Corey, John and Elizabeth Proctor, and Abigail Williams. John Proctor is a respected puritan man in the community. John had made the mistake of sleeping with, a teenage girl, Abigail Williams.

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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

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Parris’ fickle persona throughout Miller’s play, which reflects his interest in self-security, contrasts his desire for safety with his requirement to be reasonable through his reversal of his word. Originally, Miller crafts Parris’ character in opposition of the Witch Trials because Parris does not want to be associated with such a sin. However, when the Witch Hunt becomes a mark of fame, Parris

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One part where Judge Danforth decides the people punishment, Judge Danforth says “Hang them high over the town!”(144). This quotes says that Judge Danforth had these prisoner hanged, but before these he decided to have Giles Corey “Press”(135), “They press him, John”(135). “Press” in the play refers to having someone crushed to death, and with this Judge Danforth has the most power in the play The Crucible, because he was able to decide the punishment of the one found guilty, this shows how powerful he is, because he decided this punishment specifically for Giles Corey and once he decided the punishment and gave the other,his orders were final, no one argued or tried

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Evidence proves this when Giles says "say nothin' more, John.(pointing at Danforth) He's only playin' you. He means to hang us all!" (Miller 513). Giles is trying to point out that the court is not listening and not believing the evidence that is given.

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He believes strongly in his ability to judge the character of the informants. This comes into play when others question his judgement of Abigail and the girls from the woods. Danforth has a great deal of authority over the verdict of the accused, he has the power to judge them as not guilty. Danforth being the primary judge means he could have admitted to his foolishness and told the community that the accused people were not witches, and it would have made the townspeople believe that there was no witch problem in Salem at all. Danforth is too concerned with his reputation to admit that his judgement, at first, was clouded.

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Abigail and a group of girls went to court and blame 200 people. Abigail went to court, and told them that Elizabeth Proctor was practicing witchcraft, and got her arrested. When John Proctor went to court, the girls pretended that he was the devil. Giles tries to explain to the court how Abigail is pure evil, and trying to get revenge: “Aye, how she is solemn and goes to hang people!” (3.1.875).

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