Reverend Parris Power In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

In The Crucible, a play by Arthur Miller, Reverend Parris gains legitimate power because he is a minister in a community where religion is important. As the minister of the church, he gains the respect of the people of the church. By the end of the play, Parris loses his power because people become angry and begin to lose faith in the church. Parris would use legitimate power to influence characters' opinions about people and decisions that were made. He uses his power by relying on his reputation as a man of God to instill fear into people. He uses their fear of not getting into heaven and going to hell to manipulate them. Throughout the play, Parris uses legitimate power, and according to French and Ravens Forms of Power “A president, prime minister or

Throughout the play, he uses this power to control and influence people in the community. He believes that since he is the religious leader of the church in Salem, he has the right to order people around. “You people seem not to comprehend that a minister is the lord's man in parish; a minister is not to be so lightly crossed and contradicted” (Miller 30) Parris believes that his status as a preacher means that people must treat him respectfully. Parris also uses legitimate power when John Proctor comes to court in hopes of clearing his wife's name. Parris argues that Proctor is not a true Christian because he often misses church and works on Sundays “Such a Christian that will not go to church but once a month” (Miller 90). As Minister, Parris has the authority to say who is religious. He uses this to his advantage and makes Proctor look bad in front of Danforth. Since Parris is the minister of the church, Danthford believes him without question. At the end of the play Parris ends up losing his legitimate power because as more and more people are falsely accused of being witches, the community stops believing in the trials and the people leading