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Salem Witch Trials In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

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Arthur Miller writes a jaw-dropping play about the Salem witch trials, titled, The Crucible. In this drama, Miller describes the hysteria that overcame Salem during the 1690’s. Using a historical background, but writing the play as fiction, allows for Miller to incorporate key details of the Salem witch trials, while also keeping the audience on the edge of their seats by creating even more dramatic events compared to the real life witch trials. Miller uses John Proctor, a Salem farmer, and Reverend Hale, a Beverly minister, as characters to describe the truths of the witch trials, while also adding in more drama to the play. Through the crucible that they undergo, both Rev. Hale and John Proctor come to an understanding about the truths of …show more content…

Hale discovered the truths of their time period, while repenting for their sins, by eventually dismissing the witch hunt as mistakes. John Proctor discusses with Elizabeth, that he wishes she would forgive him and stop judging him. “Spare me! You forget nothin’ and forgive nothin’… I cannot speak but I am doubted, every moment judged for lies, as though I come into a court when I come into this house!” (Miller 54-55). John Proctor admits the truth about the affair to Elizabeth again, but Miller now uses this confession to prove to the audience the truth. “I confessed. Confessed! Some dream I had must have mistaken you for God that day,” (Miller 55). Rev. Hale appears at the home of Elizabeth and John Proctor, demanding that John recite the Ten Commandments, because he has not attended church frequently. John recites all the commandments, but one and Miller ironically makes him forget none other than, Thou shall not commit adultery. Elizabeth aids John, by supplying the last one, “Adultery, John.” (Miller 67) Johns immediately turns towards Rev. Hale, as though a secret arrow had pained his heart “Aye.” Trying to grin it away – to Hale: “You see, sir, between the two of us we do know them all.”

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Elizabeth Proctor, John’s wife told John to do what he thinks is best, disagreeing with the ideas proposed by Reverend Hale, to confess to the court. Reverend Hale’s

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John, who before the play started had committed adultery with one of the accusers, comes to the acknowledgment that in order to save his wife, he must willing to give up his name and reputation by confessing his transgression before the court. When Proctor, alongside Giles Corey and Francis Nurse, goes to the court to draw back the curtains on the accusers and reveal how the children truly are, he admits “I have known her, sir”(Act III, pg. 230). By admitting to the infidelity, John is trying to demonstrate how the accuser, Abigail, is not as pure and innocence as she has made herself out to be. In doing as so, he willing relinquished his good reputation by putting the lives of his wife and friends before his own. It was a daring demonstration to challenge the court at first, but it took a tremendous amount of courage to put those in jeopardy ahead of himself, knowing the full consequences of his actions

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Towards the end, Hale changes from a person who carries his heavy written laws to a person who hates the court. During Act III, after Danforth arrested Proctor, Hale is so angry with the court that he yells, "I denounce these proceedings, I quit this court!” (Act 3, 120). The quote might seem really simple, but it is significant because Hale finally figures out that the court system is a failure to the society, and also figures out what he should be go after. As a result in Act 4 when Hale tries to convince Elizabeth to tell Proctor to confess, Hale says, “‘Beware, Goody Proctor –cleave to no faith when faith brings blood.

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Hale acknowledges human’s mortality more so than Danforth who believes his word is the final say. Furthermore, Judge Danforth appears to only be concerned with having those who were jailed, confess to being witches whether they were or not. All those who do not confess to conspiring with the devil in his eyes are evil and those “who weep for [them, therefore] weep for corruption” (134). In contrast, Hale is desperate to save the innocent from their inevitable doom because he believes “life is God’s most precious gift” and “no principle [] may justify taking it” (122). He even encourages Elizabeth Proctor to “prevail upon [her] husband to confess” because “God damns a liar less than he that throws his life away for pride” (122).

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Hale shows up at the Proctor's house of his own accord. Without the court's knowledge, Hale tries to get an idea of who the Proctors are for himself This independent action shows the beginnings of his doubt towards the validity of the courts conclusions. After Hale talks to the proctors, Reverend Hale develops his own opinion about them (that they are good people) he starts to worry for their safety and tells john and elizabeth proctor “God keep you both; let the third child be quickly baptized, and go you without fail each Sunday in to Sabbath prayer; and keep a solemn, quiet way among you.” (II.277-292) Reverend Hale urging Elizabeth and John Proctor to adhere to the external rituals of religion for their own safety shows that he hopes to prevent an inevitable outcome: an accusation of witchcraft because he starts to trust in the good of the people.

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As life goes on, we learn that there are many struggles that we go through that change us for better or for worse. In The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, a series of witch trials occur in the town of Salem and innocent people get accused and executed, but throughout the trials, many characters develop into something unexpected. A crucible is a container that can withstand heat and it shows the impurities of a metal. This is significant because the true characters of many people in Salem are revealed. Throughout The Crucible John Proctor, Elizabeth Proctor, and Giles Corey are all pushed to their boiling point as they go through the trials.

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The Salem witch trials proved to be one of the most cruel and fear driven events to ever occur in history. Many innocent people were accused of witchcraft, and while some got out of the situation alive not everyone was as lucky. Arthur Miller the author of The Crucible conveys this horrific event in his book and demonstrates what fear can lead people to do. But the reason as to why Arthur Miller felt the need to write The Crucible in the first place was because the unfortunate reality that history seemed to have repeated itself again. In the article “Are You Now or Were You Ever”, Arthur Miller claims that the McCarthy era and the Salem witch trials were similar and he does this through his choice of diction, figurative language, and rhetorical questions.

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Reverend Hale, from the play The Crucible, is a dynamic character who was involved in determining the guilt of convicted witches in the Salem Witch Trials. The Crucible, a play by Arthur Miller is based on the true events that occurred in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1953. Reverend Hale enters Salem with the assumption that there is witchcraft in the colony due to many unexplained events. Hale's character change can be traced in events that occurred throughout the story. He seeks to convict and condemn the witches in the beginning of the play, but by the end, he realizes the corruption of Salem in the convectors, judges, and witnesses and seeks to change the fate of the accused.

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When Hale is told by Parris, Reverend of the town’s church, that the Proctors are not coming to worship on Sunday, then there must be some secret as to why. Hale’s first thought is that they are allegiance with the Devil and his witchcraft, so when he goes to their house he starts to question them about their faith. In the middle of the questioning Ezekiel Cheever comes in to take Elizabeth Proctor to jail for apparently performing witchcraft on Abigail Williams. When John Proctor tries to explain to Hale that Abigail is faking, Hale says, “Charity, Proctor, Charity. What I have heard in her favor, I will not fear to testify in court.

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The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is a play about a girl named abigail williams who wants a man named John Proctor and will stop at nothing to get what she wants even if she accuses every women in town of witchcraft and get them hung. Elizabeth Proctor is accused of witchcraft and gets sent to jail for having a poppet with a needle in it. All of the town is convinced that abigail is telling the truth about the devil and witches and they all panic. John admits to have fallen for her to show that she is a dishonest person but, when they call in Elizabeth to confirm she lies and tells them that john would not do that to protect his name. The author's purpose for this play is to inform us about the salem witch trials.

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Hale works so tirelessly because for every innocent executed, Hale “count[s] himself his murderer” (4.141). Hale fears how the town, history, and God will judge him, so he is motivated to prevent the executions. John Proctor transitions from being controlled by fear to a final act of defiant power. During the Second Act, Proctor’s wife, Elizabeth, was arrested for witchcraft accusations. Proctor’s final cry to her was: “I will fall like an ocean on that court!”

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After visiting the Proctors, Hale determines that there is a high possibility that Elizabeth was innocent. Within the conversation, Hale starts to question John Proctor. Proctor makes Hale feel uneasy with his responses, as he’s beginning to get defensive when Hale questions Proctor's church attendance and the baptism of his children. But when Hale asks Proctor to name all of the Ten Commandments, Proctor gets all but one, adultery. Elizabeth points out his mistake and Proctor responds with "You see, sir, between the two of us we do know them all.

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Also, in attempt to tell the truth about Abigail, John Proctor admits to cheating on his wife with Abigail, but Elizabeth lets her fear assist her in lying. John Proctor tells everyone in the court, previous to Elizabeth arriving, “she [has] never lied” (III.891.). With everyone now knowing that she does not lie, it makes her trustworthy and believable. Deputy Danforth then brings Elizabeth in to confirm what

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Reverend Hale begins the play completely certain and sure of the righteousness in his calling. But as time passes, it is seen how much this character has been corrupted. As he speaks to Elizabeth, nearing the end of the play, he exhorts her to tell her husband to lie to be saved. But he is not asking John Proctor to lie so that he may be saved and live on, but he is asking him to lie so he doesn’t feel guilty if he does die.

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