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Peer Pressure And Community In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

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The Crucible by Arthur Miller is based off of the real historic events of the Salem Witchcraft Trials. A major theme in this is that of peer pressure and community, which is shown throughout the story as more people are accused of witchcraft and people stand by as innocents are condemned to die. Many people are condemned in the story, for crimes they never did. A large amount of the trials consisted of a set of steps- Someone was accused of being a witch / warlock. They then either would confess, or hang. If they confess, they then admit to the crime, live, and generally have to accuse someone else that they saw with the devil. If they refuse to confess, they hang and thus had to have been guilty anyways. This had a snowball effect, as there is a plot within the town’s youth. This system of trial allows them to accuse and endless amount of people. Yet, not one of them breaks the plot. While Mary Warren helps Mr. Proctor for awhile, she returns to the youth’s side, which could be taken as a plot to get Mr. Proctor accused. If even one girl had stood up and confessed the truth, that the accusations are a lie, many innocents would be saved. What makes matters worse are …show more content…

The story seeks to teach a lesson based off of historic context that as a nation we had failed to learn- To speak up when innocents are being accused, not stand idly by, and not give in to mass hysteria. Maintain community, be friend with your neighbor. These lessons are embedded deeply within the story, as an attempt to get people to open their eyes at the height of The Red Scare, an event that follows the same line of accused/accusing as the Salem Witchcraft Trials did. Each lesson applies to that time period that Arthur Miller was speaking to. Every lesson was meant to break the chains of hysteria that gripped the nation, and to promote a better sense of community in the

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Hysteria makes people go as mad as a boss who just lost his business. Many people suffer Hysteria even today. The crucible is about the Salem Witch trials which was when innocent people were wrongly accused of being witches. The author of this, Arthur Miller, was in the same situation, he was wrongly accused of being a communist on the blacklist. During the Salem Witch Trials over 200 people were accused, 20 of them who were killed.

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Cameron Oldfield Mrs. Brincks English III 15 November, 2015 The Crucible and Red Scare Imagine being thrown in jail, blamed for something that you didn't do .The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is a story about how certain propaganda and false accusations can ruin lives, just like in the case of the Red Scare. Although 1692 the Salem witch trials and the Red Scare were over 200 years apart, The similarities are striking. both trials used intimidation, fear, hatred, and false accusations to ruin innocent lives. Both trials resulted in terrible outcomes, with both ending with innocent people being put to death and shunned from society.

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The Tragic Flaw of John Proctor The Crucible by Arthur Miller based on the Salem Witch Trials. Story based on how the Trials of Salem occurred, and who was to take part in these trials. The story represents a tragic hero who is known as John Proctor, a farmer in Salem; His tragic flaw is his adultery with Abigail Williams, former house servant of John Proctor. The tragic flaw of adultery leads him to the ruining of his marriage, exposing of his affair with Abigail Williams, and to his tragic death.

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¶“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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In this play, Arthur Miller uses a lot of different universal themes, and the one I am going to use today is, false accusations lead to many innocent deaths in the small town of Salem. Many deaths happened due to false accusations and because of this; the town of Salem went insane. Everyone was being accused of Witchcraft and the town slowly started to disintegrate. One of the most controversial deaths in this play was John Proctor, mainly because he was well known and had an extremely well reputation.

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The Crucible is a 1953 play written by Arthur Miller. It is amplified and somewhat novelized story of the Salem witch trials. Miller wrote the play as a parable to the McCarthyism persecution of communist sympathisers. In this play, a group of Puritan girls are found dancing and conjuring with the devil in the forest. Soon the whole village of Salem knows about the dancing and starts accusing people of witchcraft.

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When people are placed under an intense feeling of fear, they begin to commit actions they never thought they were capable over. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, a young group of girls commit witchcraft which eventually leads to the arrest of over 100 women. This is similar to a time in the 1950s when Joseph McCarthy accuses government officials of communism and that ultimately leads to hundreds of citizens losing their jobs. The Crucible reveals the similarities between The Salem Witch Trials of the 1690s and McCarthyism of the 1950s because it demonstrates how a society can be tremendously impacted by the feeling the fear.

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The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a dramatic play that expresses a very important message and that is how far people would go to save themselves from the hands of death. There are many characters in the Crucible who are guilty of taking innocent lives, but there are three major characters who, without a doubt, are the most at blame. The play takes place in the city of Salem, a city filled with people that would do anything to keep their reputation clean. Throughout the play, Miller is introducing multiple characters that experience changes in their decisions and negatively influence more people eventually leading up to the witch trials. The main point that the story revolves around is that people would rather lie and blame someone else instead of confessing and accepting the punishment.

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As Bob Marley once said, “The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.” Integrity is the quality of being honest and upholding one’s morals and principles. Living in a fast-paced and ever-changing society, human beings have come into contact with adversity and hardship all throughout history. Those who act with integrity during tough times have a major influence on those around them, and taking a stand and upholding ones’ beliefs and morals at great self sacrifice can inspire and encourage others to do the same. Arthur Miller’s 1953 play, The Crucible is a prime example of upholding integrity, and the characters within the play face difficult choices between doing

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Pressure is found in every aspect of our lives. Whether found at home, school, or work, stress is something that most will have in their lives. When looking back in history, we can see the influence of pressure. The play The Crucible by Arthur Miller follows the effect of peer pressure on humanities decisions. The actions of Parris, Hale, and Proctor in The Crucible are influenced as pressure is put on them, causing their true personalities to be revealed.

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The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is about real life events that has been changed a bit by the author. The play is set back in 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts, were the Salem Witchcraft Trials were going on. The Witchcraft Trials were trials that mostly girls, but some men got accused of seeing the devil and doing work for him. If you were accused of being a witch you were to admit to seeing the devil, accuse other people, or you would get hung. Some people wouldn 't admit to being a witch just to save their life because of their faith in Jesus.

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What lesson is this trying to teach? Arthur Miller is trying to teach us that there is going to be immense negative pressure from our peers/society and that we should persevere through that pressure like Proctor did. In The Crucible and in the Salem witch trials many people gave in to the pressure and conformed; few brave people stood their ground and did the right thing. In his time he had the same experiences. People had great pressures put upon them to find the commies and or confess you were a communist.

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Arthur Miller’s portrayal of a town in the midst of a downfall “The Crucible”, tells the story of how mob mentality and hysteria can significantly influence not only individuals but the whole town. This mob mentality leads to unthoughtful acts and false accusations. Two characters who demonstrate how mob mentality can lead to the demise of Salem are Abigail and Mary Warren. As Abigail begins to be accused she is pressured to deter from the truth. While Mary Warren gets pressured by Proctor to reveal the truth about Abigail, but the overwhelming pressure from the mob makes her turn from the truth.

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