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Examples Of Fear In The Crucible

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Fear, something we all have. Behind fear is a basic human instinct; self-preservation, the will to live that makes us pause before hurling ourselves over the edge into the unknown. It is something that has the power to push us past our breaking point yet manages to keep us alive. Fear is a good motivator as evidenced by the characters in Arthur Miller’s Play, “The Crucible”. At times, fear motivates people to behave irrationally. Personal fears cause some characters in Arthur Miller’s play, ”The Crucible” to cry witch. “fear is a great motivator and it captures our negative imagination; we are petrified of losing control”(Fear and the George Zimmerman trial) Fear causes people to defend their personal needs and use their power to harm others. …show more content…

Fear often leads us to make rash, harmful mistakes. For example, it was fear of getting in trouble for the dancing in the woods that caused the girls to start accusing people. It was fear of being whipped or hanged that made Tituba "confess" to being a witch and name other women who had joined her. It was fear of the girls turning on her and accusing her of being a witch that led Mary Warren to withdraw her testimony against them and accuse John Proctor of being a "devil's man." It was fear of the unknown that led Giles Corey to first talk to Hales about his wife reading "strange books," a confession that would lead her down the road to being arrested. It was fear of Abby's fierce nature and threats that led the girls to keep up their chain of accusations and abuse at the hands of supposed witches. It was fear of criticism and being rejected by his own people that prompted Parris to go along with the judges so much, even allowing them in arresting and accusing people. It was fear of the unknown medical reasons that took her babies that led Mrs. Putnam to seek out answers in the underworld, and ultimately accuse Goody Nurse of murder. It was fear of being revealed as a lecher that kept John Proctor from fighting against Abby and the courts for so long. It was fear of ruining her and her husband's reputation that led to Elizabeth Proctor lying about her husband's

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709 Words | 3 Pages

In case she actually goes back to church, that will make him further involved, but also he believes that the girls are lying 29- Because Elizabeth knows about what happen with John and Abby’s affair , also she believes that she want to take her place as John’s wife 30- He wanted to see if anyone on Proctor’s house were doing any suspicious activities on which would involve them with witchcraft 31- They are a lot of things going on with Proctor’s to start he has not been to church like he use too and then also his youngest son has not been baptized

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753 Words | 4 Pages

¶“A man may think God sleeps, but God sees everything, I know it now. I beg you, sir, I beg you—see her what she is . . . She thinks to dance with me on my wife 's grave! And well she might, for I thought of her softly. God help me, I lusted, and there is a promise in such sweat.

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686 Words | 3 Pages

Fear has the power to impact our actions and measures taken to ensure tranquility. The Crucible and Edward’s Sinners, both take place in a Puritan place where religion is the number one priority. The Puritans were a group of english reformed protestants, who moved migrated to America to avoid the restrictions on their religion in England. Religion is a sacred and very important concept of the way the Puritans live their lives. The power struggle between God and the devil is clearly showcased in the Crucible and in Sinners.

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634 Words | 3 Pages

Fear is used a lot in The Crucible, like for example when goody Proctor has to say why she fired Abigail and she said that “Abigail was no use to me” and that she thought that her husband was going to leave her Fear is different for different people, what do the individual characters in the play fear, and how does that drive their action? Well I think that every character in the movie experience fear at least ones in book,

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1176 Words | 5 Pages

She fears that the other girls will reveal their secrets of dancing and charms meant to kill her lover's wife. She is afraid that they all will be greatly punished by hanging. “But if you trafficked with spirits in the forest I must know, for surely my enemies will and they will ruin me with it. ”(Miller 10) This separate statement from the character Parris displays the illogical fear that not only himself, but the community feels.

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801 Words | 4 Pages

The fear in this case is the fear of a parent, thinking that their child had been molested. It started with Judy Johnson, stating that Ray Buckey had molested her child. This fear of molestation had turned into hysteria, where parents feared the very existence of the school. Parents had heard of secret tunnels under the school, where many children were said to be molested, and began digging. However, no such evidence of any secret tunnels were found.

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1085 Words | 5 Pages

The Crucible Fear has effected much of history. Many of these events in history are very similar. One of the biggest examples in history would be The Holocaust. An example would be the Salem witch trails which were depicted in the book The Crucible by Arthur Miller. The Crucible and The Holocaust are related because one person was to blame for the mass hysteria, there was one person in power, fear was used to control the people and many people were wrongly punished.

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704 Words | 3 Pages

A common phobia, arachnophobia, the fear of spiders, can lead to symptoms such as dizziness, nausea, and breathlessness (Cherry). Clearly, fear has a large impact on an individual. However, fear can influence an entire community as well. In The Crucible and Guilty by Suspicion, fear motivates members of a community to target

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1492 Words | 6 Pages

What are the different manifestations of fear that are portrayed in The Crucible and in Lord of the Flies? In Lord of the Flies, a novel by William Golding and in The Crucible, a play by Arthur Miller, both of the authors constantly illustrate “fear.” The authors portray how humans tend to do all kinds of appalling things, how the selfish nature of humans uncovers, and how someone’s fear can

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819 Words | 4 Pages

Therefore, people unintentionally allow fear to cause them to act irrationally. After Tituba fearfully admits to witchcraft and dealing with the devil, she comes up with a whole story about the devil and irrationally accuses people of witchcraft. She

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434 Words | 2 Pages

One principal cause of such paranoia is the general level of control over the circumstances of one’s life. As a result, these people are led to believe there is some external force controlling everything, thus causing their misfortune. This can be seen in the Crucible as well. Mrs. Putnam, for instance, becomes certain that someone murdered her children after Ruth is afflicted; she wants something to blame for her misfortune, and she unconsciously wants it to be witchcraft. This can be seen in Abigail’s resentment for Elizabeth as well: she feels as if Elizabeth is preventing her from being with Proctor.

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One example of this is the hysteria of McCarthyism in the 1950s. Many people are filled with fear of the Communists and accuse many innocent people. The accused must then say who else they know are involved, and this allows the hysteria to spread and leads to chaos. Another example of this in everyday life is terrorism. Many people in today’s society allow the extreme fear of a terrorist attack to control their actions and perceptions.

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628 Words | 3 Pages

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” - Franklin D Roosevelt. Fear plays a major role for the tragic ending of The Crucible by Arthur Miller, because fear is upon the citizens of Salem, Massachusetts, it leads to unanticipated accusations, power, and hatred. This feeling, has occurred in everyone’s life at some point, which is more overpowering than some might think. Once hysteria arose about the girls dancing in the woods, due to all the fear it leads to unanticipated accusations, being a slave, Tituba was accused by Abigail to avoid any punishment.

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634 Words | 3 Pages

Over the course of this essay, I will show three ideas: how fear spreads, fear of others, and fear of the unknown. Do you think fear influences you to make choices that you would not usually make? Fear and hysteria often spread to unreasonable depths. During the Salem Witch Trials, fear spread like a wildfire.

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990 Words | 4 Pages

Individual VS Society Fear is a common human emotion. However, people respond to it in different ways. This response is not always the best and can result in tragedy. During various instances in history has fear led people to do things later are regretted. From the Salem witch trials, to McCarthyism to even modern political witch trials fear has played a big role in.

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