Crucible Play Quotes

L STANDS FOR LIES
The Crucible, written in 1953 by Arthur Miller, is a play that highlighted the major political problems in The United States, at the time but didn’t specifically mention the problem of McCarthyism. The play, however, depicts the 17th Century hell of the Puritan society witch-trials and the problems that happened in Salem between February 1692 and May 1693. The 1953 communist campaign and the 17th Century witch-trials directly mirror each other and the 21st Century problems and debates that have shaped the world today
What could be wrong with affirming two people’s love and commitment to each other? Allegedly, everything. Even though 2017 brought in change and equality, the same-sex marriage debate is still relevant as the

The characters, in the play, use this type of behaviour to stimulate fear, for the benefit of themselves. This shows a higher status in the community, for people who want to use this manipulative behaviour against people. This is the major identifying difference between the antagonists and the respectable citizens in the play. The first example of this type of behaviour shown from a character, is from Abigail Williams, the obvious antagonist present in The Crucible. Williams threatens her friends by saying, “…Let either of you breathe a word, or an edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you…” (Act One Page 26). Just this singular quote from Ms. Williams, shows the level of evilness and manipulative behaviour she showcases throughout the entire play. Williams takes advantage of the girl’s anxiety of punishment and death by pushing her power onto her “friends.” She does all this, so she can escape being accused of witchcraft and get petty vengeance on people, in the community, that she doesn’t particular enjoy, like Elizabeth Proctor, her lovers’ wife. Abigail Williams is most definitely not the only character who pushes their manipulative behaviour onto people. Thomas Putnam utilizes the witch-trials to increase his own wealth, as well as gaining ownership over

The Crucible particularly, showcased this hysteria in many ways. One example comes directly from the First Church in Salem. The Salem church, at the time, created mass frenzy because of their strong support of Abigail Williams’s and the girl’s crazy accusations. The community, at first, didn’t believe the claims coming out of the girls’ mouths but once the church claimed to believe the girls, the community were forced to believe what the church was saying. This is when the extreme mass-hysteria and name-calling ramped up and became a problem. Equality and same-sex marriage is similar to that of The Crucible. The thought of a same-sex marriage happening within the holy walls of God, is a sin, in the eyes of the church. Many churches have banned the ceremony of gay/lesbian marriages. The churches that disallow same-sex marriages are Baptists, Methodist, Catholic and Presbyterian churches. This selective behaviour from those particular churches, have caused hysteria from supporters of equality, especially the LGBTQ+ community. In both cases, hysteria spread rapidly. In The Crucible, the hysteria spread because of word-of-mouth but as for the equality debate, the hysteria spread due to the influx of social media