Pressure And Moral Conflict In The Crucible By Arthur Miller
Throughout history the fear of corruption and change has compelled people to go to drastic measures to prevent it. The Crucible, a play by arthur Miller, is set in an environment of religious citizens who fear that the devil and witchcraft will corrupt their society. Much like The Crucible, McCarthyism caused the citizens in America to fear corruption of the government by communism. Arthur Miller used his play the crucible as a direct response to McCarthyism and through this play Miller writes about the Salem witch trials during the McCarthy period to comment on how history repeats itself. The social and political factors in The Crucible resemble those in America during the red scare and McCarthyism.
Henceforth, few regulations enjoined by superior authority were acknowledged in small areas like Salem, Massachusetts. Danforth proclaims “And do you know that near to four hundred are in the jails from Marblehead to Lynn, and upon my signature?... And seventy-two condemned to hang by that signature?” (Page 87). Danforth, apparently, derived pride and a sense of condescension from condemnation and punishment.
“The Crucible'' is a play written by Arthur Miller in 1953 depicting the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. One of the key themes in “The Crucible” is the abuse of power. Abigail Williams and Judge Danforth are just two main characters of the story who use their power and authority in varying yet destructive forms. While Danforth is a stern judge who upholds the law and attempts to maintain order during the Salem witch trials, Abigail is a cunning and deceptive young woman who uses her influence to cause chaos and manipulate others. The results of their actions only create more issues instead of fixing pre-existing ones.
One Choice Can Change Lives Who knew one seemingly innocent lie could cause 19 deaths and pit an entire town against itself? That’s exactly what happens in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. Authors often use similar plot devices, and their favorite one is having their characters face a test. In a small town called Salem in early America, something terrible is happening.
Dorothy Good, the 4 year old daughter of previously accused Sarah Good, was the youngest to be accused of witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials. The people that obtained any sort of power during these trials had no mercy whatsoever on anyone. The accusing girls such as Abigail Williams, Reverend Parris, Thomas Putnam, and many others displayed that as long as their high position in the village was kept to themselves, they did not care who was accused or killed. The concern of having power and authority is the factor that caused the most destruction in The Crucible, by Arthur Miller.
The stage is set, 1953, the second red scare provoked mass hysteria through the country. Friends turned to enemies, neighbors turned to strangers, and people couldn’t even trust those in their own government. Panic ensued and at the center was Joseph McCarthy with the House of Un-American Activities Committee. Arthur Miller was a popular writer who found himself among the accused during this time. Through his own experience he used The Crucible to connect parallels of the injustice created through the trials, the abuse of power that is created by Joseph McCarthy, and Arthur Miller’s own experience.
“The Crucible” is a timeless play whose ideas can be applied to nearly every time period in history. Arthur Miller’s writing contained insights into human nature and displayed the dangers of hearsay and abuses of power. Those dangers were very present in Arthur Miller’s depiction of the Salem Witch Trials and even in more modern times. Through his fictionalized depiction of the events of the 1692 Salem Witch Trials Miller painted a vivid picture that’s allegories can be compared to even modern events. The events of “The Crucible” are comparable to both the Red Scare and the Covid-19 Pandemic.
Pressure and its Entangling Effects in The Crucible Pressure is a challenge that is a daily trial that twists and takes over the agency of numerous people. It is comparable to a weed, it entangles itself around an indecisive person bending the victim to its will. Although, resistance against the pressure is present, the amount of willpower to not be taken into the depths of making the popular choice is an amount that the majority of people do not have. Arthur Miller paints a picture of how people react to pressure in the play, The Crucible. Multiple characters were under an unimaginable amount of pressure; however, the people who were mainly affected were Reverend Parris, Reverend Hale, and John Proctor.
In most cases, protecting oneself has and always will be most people’s reasons for the decisions they make behind their false reasons. People would rather others suffer than themselves. In Arthur Miller’s tragic play, The Crucible, several young girls, led by another named Abigail, try to save themselves: the girl's selfish decisions ultimately affect the whole town in Salem and results in many innocent people killed. Most of the characters in Arthur’s play are only there to help themselves in one way or another. The primary motivation behind the tragic events in The Crucible is Self-Preservation; this is revealed by the characters' lust for power, their need to maintain a good reputation, and their willingness to set blame on others.
Everyone longs for success. They desire the acceptance and approval for following their moral compass, being rewarded, and being acknowledged. However, one cannot maintain success without a purposeful and achievable position of power. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller the power of society is bound upon a pronounced hierarchy. Men naturally are deemed as having higher status than women in society.
The Salem Witch Trials forced townspeople to lie and possibly lead another to death or deny accusations and get hung as a result. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, people with authority in Salem make unfair decisions in order to punish those that have been accused of witchcraft. Judges knew the hangings were wrong, but continued to hang innocent townspeople. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller shows hypocrisy,judgment, and abuse of power throughout the town of Salem by explaining people’s lies and accusations in the play. Authorities in Salem were not truthful, felt little sorrow for their wrongdoings, and used their power to their advantag,in a bad way.
If my Native American tribe was to choose a side between the French and the English, I would pick the French. Firstly, the French have a small population in America. Therefore, they aren 't as demanding for certain supplies since there is less of them. That will leave more supplies for the Native Americans. Also, this means that they won 't take up as much land in America as the English do.
Arthur Miller's play "The Crucible" is a timeless portrayal of the destructive impact of hysteria, the power of reputation, and the truth of justice. Set in the Puritan society of 17th-century Salem, Massachusetts, the play is a dramatization of the infamous witch trials that plagued the town. The play explores how a community can be consumed by irrational fear, leading to the persecution of innocent people. As one character notes, "The devil is precise; the marks of his presence are definite" (Miller 38). This quote highlights the pervasive sense of paranoia and the desire to find scapegoats that characterize the world of the play.
Power is defined as “The ability to do something or act in a particular way, especially as as a faculty or quality.” Throughout history, women have significantly lacked not only power but the ability to be recognized as equal to their male counterparts. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, women are somewhat able to successfully gain power from society due to the fact that they use manipulation, deceit and their sexual desire (especially the character of Abigail) to acquire positions of power in their largely patriarchal society. Women are able to attain this power through using their intellect to express manipulation, and lying in order to receive attention that translates into power.
Imre Lakatos in his work “Falsificationism and the Methodology of Scientific Reseaerch Programmes”, stated that “The clash between Popper and Kuhn is not about a mere technical point in epistemology. It concerns our central intellectual values, and has implications not only for theoretical physics but also for the underdeveloped social sciences and even for moral and political philosophy” (Lakatos, 1970). Thus, this Popper-Kuhn debate is regarded as a milestone for philosophy of science in the 20th century. The focus of this debate is on the following; relativism versus realism, science progression, and rationality. 3.1 Relativism versus Realism Popper protested Kuhn's perspectives in light of the fact that they represented relativism.
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