Guilt Theme In The Crucible

In the play, The Crucible, Arthur Miller portrayed many themes. Miller uses many real life events from the Salem Witch Trials, a long with the added “Hollywood” drama. Miller uses this to show certain themes throughout the play such as guilt, hypocrisy, and injustice some of the characters induced. These themes all contribute to the outcome of the play, and all add together. Guilt can pressure a good person to do the right thing. For example John Proctor wanted to confess to the charge of witchcraft, in order to save his life a long with his wife’s. Even though he wanted to live he refused to confess and ruin the names of the accused. He did this because he knew he wouldn’t be able to live with the guilt of condemning someone’s life. Another example would be Reverend Hale’s guilt of condeming Innocent lives to death. He then tried to get Proctor to sign the papers because Proctor could then survive. The Puritans in The Crucible are complete hypocrites. They believe that love and

Rather then acknowledging that they didn’t understand events. They said it was the devils work acting through someone in town. For example Abigail’s accusions were all just games to her but it forced people to have to choose death or not going to heaven for lieing. Many people wouldn’t confess, in fear of abandoning their friends, like when John Proctor was forced to sign a confession. After everything was said and done, Abigail left town and never had to face up to what she did to many innocent people. All these themes play out and contribute to the outcome of the play. Miller wrote this in a way that is based off of true events, but is also relevant to life today. These themes all show a common factor, known as fear. Fear drives us to do stupid things, such as confessing something you didn’t do, or accusing someone else in order to get out of