Similarities Between The Scarlet Letter And The Crucible

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, and Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, were both works that illustrated strong, prominent themes. Even though they told two very different stories, they both had similar themes that contributed to the overall outcome of their stories. The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible had unmistakably similar themes of love, revenge, and penitence. The theme of love is the most obvious theme throughout the works. In both stories, it appears that love is the reason for the conflicts that the characters run into. In The Scarlet Letter, Arthur Dimmesdale and Hester Prynne committed the sin of adultery due to love. Because of this, they faced many complications. In The Crucible, Abigail Williams believed that she was in love in John Proctor, causing her to accuse his wife of witchcraft. In a similar fashion, this also caused many problems. If both situations were handled properly, there would have been minimal conflicts. This leads the reader to believe that love was not the problem in these cases; it was the

The stories illustrate the dangers of wanting revenge and the consequences that come along with it. Abigail Williams, and the other girls involved with the accusations in The Crucible, took their revenge to extremes. The result of this was the loss of many lives; something these girls had to deal with for the rest of their lives. In The Scarlet Letter, Roger Chillingworth dedicated most of his life to torturing Dimmesdale. Although, in the end, he got what he wanted by tearing at Dimmesdale’s heart and ultimately ending his life, it cost him his own life. He became so obsessed with the idea of revenge that he all but lost who he was in the beginning, leaving behind a cold, heartless man with no prosperity. Overall, both works illustrate the idea that revenge hurts both parties and is no way worth the consequences that each character had to