Self-Preservation In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

Self-Preservation Can Lead to Self-Destruction In today’s society, a person’s reputation plays a huge part in how one is viewed and treated. The same was true for the citizens of Salem Village, a Puritan dwelling in Massachusetts. To the Puritans, self-reputation was everything. Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible, based on the Salem Village Witch Trials that took place in the early 1690s. This was a witch hunt that swept across the countryside, and many people were hanged for witchcraft. Most of the characters are based on real people. A few things have been changed to make the play more dramatic, such as the affair between John Proctor and Abigail Williams. However, many details, including names, are left the same. In the play, the people of

He had an affair with his maidservant who was named Abigail Williams. Proctor had been struggling with his feelings for Abigail for a while, and eventually gave into his lust, and committed adultery. His wife found out, and immediately fired Abigail from her position within the Proctor’s home. Elizabeth Proctor, John’s wife states in Act 3, “I came to think he fancied her”(Miller 1208). This all happened before Act 1 of The Crucible. At this point in the play, John Proctor is at the Preconventional stage of Kohlberg’s moral stages. Proctor is only at the Pre-conventional stages of obedience and punishment because at this level “people behave according to socially acceptable norms because they are told to do so by some authority figure”(Barger 1). John realized that he had done something wrong, and immediately hid it from the public’s eye because he knew he would be shamed and punished for it. A proverb that states, “What you don’t know, can’t hurt you”(Unknown), plays a huge part in this stage of moral development. Proctor thought that if the community did not know his sin, then he would not be scorned and his name would not be tarnished. However, Proctor did not realize the effect this affair would have on his soul and

He came into Salem Village to look at Betty, Reverend Parris’ daughter who had taken ill after Betty, Abigail, and other girls were caught dancing in the woods. Dancing was forbidden in this Puritan settlement, and the woods were seen as the Devil’s home. Once Betty fell ill, everyone assumed it was witchcraft. When Proctor tried to leave the Parris residence, he was stopped by Abigail. She wanted Proctor to whisper words of his love to her, but he resisted the temptation. He realized his affair was wrong, and was trying to set things right in his marriage. His response to Abigail’s begging states, “Abby, I may think of you softly from time to time. But I will cut off my hand before I’ll ever reach for you again”(Miller 1140). Proctor shows that he is trying to right his wrong, but he is still trying to protect his good name. He is proving he is moral and has integrity by trying to right his mistake. By this point in the story, Proctor has achieved the conventional stages of Kohlberg's Moral Development. He is trying to follow the law and is righting his wrongs by accepting the internal punishments of his