Fear In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

How Can Fear Be Beneficial?: The Aspect of Insurance, Purging, and Growth

“There might also be a dragon with five legs in my house, but no one has ever seen it”(Miller Act 3 283). This shows Miller describing how fear constantly manipulates numerous factors in one’s life in the Crucible. Many despise their fears and bar them from their life. Although fear is constituted with a negative connotation, it in fact has a very constructive purpose to life, as long as one faces it. Challenging one’s fears can be constructive by protecting him, purifying his intentions, and by enhancing his life.

Fear can become essential to protecting one’s life. As Alvarez demonstrates in Antojos when she states, “She had been too frightened to carry out any strategy,

Miller demonstrates this through the character of John Proctor in the Crucible, when Proctor states, “I cannot mount the gibbet like a saint. It is fraud. I am not that man”(Miller Act 4 194). In making this comment, Proctor is urging the fact that he does not want to be fraudulent. This is significant because the fear of dying full of deceit is causing Proctor to remain truthful for the sake of his dignity. Most of all, Proctor not only will be truthful with himself but others who have confessed to witchcraft as well. Proctor later insists that he, “Speaks [his] own sins: [he] cannot judge another. [He has] no tongue for it”(Miller Act 4 255). In making this comment, Proctor urges how he will not confess for other’s transgressions. All of this goes to show that Proctor is not only pure with himself, but he will not get involved in another’s impurities, since he is afraid of coming to rest with them. Similarly, Goody Proctor makes a case for her own purity later on in the Crucible. When she confesses, “John, I counted myself so plain, so poorly made, no honest love could come to me! Suspicion kissed you when I did”(Miller Act 4 205). Basically, Goody Proctor is coming clean about her unjust behavior towards her husband, John. The most logical conclusion one can draw from this is that Goody Proctor is full of sorrow and guilt for treating John so horribly, in which shows her effort to eradicate any impurities that’s derived

Carolyn Rodriguez believes one can outsmart his or her brain, as she presents that, “If you keep at [facing your fear], you’ll be amazed at what you can do”(Rodriguez 14). Rodriguez’s point is that by facing one’s fears they will be enabled to live life to its fullest. This is substantial, since it conveys how it is imperative to face one’s fears to reap its full benefits. In fact, Rodriguez also elaborates on how facing one’s fears can actually improve his or her life. As Rodriguez suggests that, “The more we face our fear, the stronger the links become between our biggest challenges and safety”(Rodriguez 6). The essence of Rodriguez’s argument is that generally the more people are frequently uncomfortable, the more they will be comfortable with a conflict’s presence. Taken together, the fact that fear engenders discomfort and that facing a fear manufactures the ability to become more comfortable with adversity, clearly demonstrates that fear can enhance life because fear can put one’s difficulties at ease. Moreover, Rodriguez even provides factual evidence to support her claims. When Rodriguez reports, “By facing, even embracing, our fear, we can trick our brain into releasing those opioid chemicals that reduce our fear and give us a feeling of comfort”(Rodriguez 6). Essentially, Rodriguez informs the reader that in fact, facing their fears is undeniably constructive to having an improved life. This