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Integrity In The Scarlet Letter And The Crucible By Arthur Miller

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The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and The Crucible, by Arthur Miller , both share the theme of reputation and integrity. This book and play both take place in the life of Puritans. Hawthorne expresses him theme with symbols like the scarlet letter. Arthur expresses the theme within life situations that some puritans may have went through. The main character in The Scarlet Letter is Hester Prynne, she committed adultery and was part of her punishment was wearing the scarlet letter. One of the main characters in The Crucible was John Proctor. John was also accused of witchcraft, however it was not true. In The Crucible, when John Proctor was accused of witchcraft, he had the choice to claim that he was a witch or die. John decided that he would rather die than ruin his reputation. His reputation was more important that his wife and unborn child. In Act 4 John Proctor states “I have given you my soul, leave me my name (Act 4). John expresses that he cares about his reputation and he wants his name to be respected after he is dead. Knowing that he is still a good person, despite committing adultery, he sacrificed his life. …show more content…

When she wears this, everyone knows that she committed adultery. While her husband was in the army, she had sex with another man and got pregnant. The scarlet letter symbolizes how the world looks at her. It is the symbol of her reputation. “ Thus the young and pure would be taught to look at her, with the scarlet letter flaming on her breast…- at her. Who had once been innocent, - as the figure, the body, the reality of sin” (Hawthorne 73). The author is explaining to the reader that her scarlet letter will ruin her reputation with people she do not

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The Scarlet Letter, shows how badly people were treated for committed a sin in that time period. The main character, Hester Prynne committed lechery and in puritan society, which was very closely related to religion breaking the commandment that forbid adultery earned a very big punishment. It was even worse for Hester because she ended up conceiving a child. One way Hester was shunned by people was by having to wear the scarlet letter that would bring her public shame. Hester knew that because of the letter “young and pure would be taught to look at her, with the scarlet letter flaming on her breast,—at her, the child of honorable parents,—at her, the mother of a babe, that would hereafter be a woman, —at her, who had once been innocent, —as the figure, the body, the reality of sin”

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In The crucible, by Arthur Miller characters can be categorised into the following groups; lacking integrity at all times (not even attempting to do the right thing), struggling with integrity (have good intentions but struggle to keep doing the right thing when under pressure) and showing integrity at all times (even when threatened with death). Three characters that fall under these respective categories are Abigail Williams, John Proctor and Rebecca Nurse. It is evident that Abigail has relinquised integrity for personal interests because throughout the play she lies and tries to take advantage of the situation. She enjoys the power that she has as the main "Accuser". She is the one that started t and took advantage he hysteria; even though she knew that the witchcraft allegations were false (technically, she was actually the one that commited witchcraft under Puritan law because she, along with several other girls drank blood in an attempt to conjure Ruth,s

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Throughout time, the play, The Crucible by Arthur Miller, and the book, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, have been regarded as two of the most reputable works of literature in their eloquent uses of similar themes that describe the human tendencies that can be found in historical events and characteristics of Puritan society. The Crucible, a play by Arthur Miller, makes a connection to the times “Red Scare” to the parallel of the Salem witch hunts of the 1680s. In the book, the Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne tell the tragic story of sin of Heater Prime and the Puritan society in which she lived view of her crime. Similar themes, such as sin, repentance, and forgiveness, and different things that these themes affect or are affected

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If you’ve ever read The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, or The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, you may have made a connection between the two. These two texts relate in many different ways and of course, they also have numerous differences. While comparing and contrasting the two texts, The Crucible and The Scarlet Letter, I concluded on three similarities including: a conflicted male, reputation, and setting; three differences include: reactions from Hester and Abigail, attitude of Roger Chillingworth and Elizabeth Proctor, and the communities’ opinions on the Reverends. John Proctor from the Crucible and Arthur Dimmesdale from the Scarlet Letter both share a conflict in theses texts. Both characters obviously, have made the decision

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Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, and Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, were both works that illustrated strong, prominent themes. Even though they told two very different stories, they both had similar themes that contributed to the overall outcome of their stories. The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible had unmistakably similar themes of love, revenge, and penitence. The theme of love is the most obvious theme throughout the works.

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He also goes on and tries to explain to an unforgiving crowd that the witch hunts are a fake, and that it is all led by a lovesick girl. In The Crucible, John Proctor, the protagonist of the play, is put under intense guilt

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She wears her punishments and she is being forced to wear the scarlet letter as a mark of shame on her chest.¨On the breast of her gown, in fine red cloth surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold thread, appeared the letter 'A.' It was so artistically done, and with so much fertility and gorgeous luxuriance of fancy, that it had all the effect of a last and fitting decoration to the apparel which she wore; and which was of a splendor in accordance with the taste of the age, but greatly beyond what was allowed by the sumptuary regulations of the colony¨ (Hawthorne).She wears the letter “A” while looking good for the sin she's committed because she is going against her society and they know she did the sin. At the sametime she is basically letting them know that she committed the sin but i wanna look my best for myself that's how

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In the novel The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, a group of teenage girls from the town of Salem, Massachusetts accused many innocent people of witchcraft for their own agenda. Each person had their own secrets and obstacles that they were each trying to overcome. One person in example, had a moral obstacle; to become a good man and fix his wrong doings throughout the play. In the beginning of the play John spent most of his time trying to regain Elizabeth’s trust back due to an exposed affair with Abigail.

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The Salem witch trials were a time period when any individual could be accused of witchcraft for numerous reasons. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller focuses on the deviation of the trials and how the town’s most religious and honest members of the community are tried with witchcraft. John Proctor, the town’s most honest man, is accused of being a witch and must decide if he should confess or not. Proctor’s confession will stop the town from rebelling and uphold the reputations of Deputy Governor Danforth and Reverend Parris. Hale also wishes for Proctor’s confession so he does not have to feel responsible if Proctor were to be hanged for his witchcraft accusations.

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Both The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible take place in the early days of the Massachusetts colony in North America. Both of these stories take place around the mid 1700’s to the early 1800’s. During that time period, a lot of people were highly religious, and believed that things that couldn’t be explained by normal means was the result of witchcraft. In The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible the other similar them they have is the effects of sin on man and the sin of Adultery both stories also deal with male leading roles and the conflict they both go through.

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The Crucible: Self Preservation is Motivation By definition self preservation is the “..set of behaviors by means of which individuals attempt to preserve their own existence and the psychical processes that establish these behaviors..”. For The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, self preservation has been shown to have affected multiple characters, including John Proctor, Samuel Parris, and Abigail. In The Crucible, self preservation is also the greatest motivation . John Proctor is one of the characters being affected by this trend of self preservation being motivation for the characters of The Crucible.

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She reveals her feelings about herself in the Puritan society. She believes no amount of human forgiveness can take the scarlet letter away. Only God can forgive her and take away the letter. She is still holding herself accountable for her sin rather than the rest of the Puritan

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It Proctor values his reputation, albeit in a positive way (unlike characters such as Abigail) when he says"Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name?

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John Proctor’s Life or Death Situation What does a name mean? To some it defines their personality and who they are; to others it's just a title. In the play, The Crucible by Arthur Miller, witchcraft is a big complication. Those who become accused of practicing witchcraft, regardless of the truth, are sent to be hanged right away with the town watching. John Proctor, one of the main characters, has held a lead position in the town with a clean slate and preserved that clean slate behind his name his whole life.

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