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The Crucible Theme

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The Crucible is a movie that tells the tale of the salem witch trials, and is based off of the play by the same name by Arthur Miller. Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible during the time of the ‘Red Scare’ as a warning of what could happen when suspicion clouds the judgement and rationality of the people. The setting of the film is Salem Massachusetts in 1692. In this time period the government was the church, and the laws were set by the bible. The film takes place during the Salem Witch Trials. Knowing about the time period around the Salem Witch Trials, and how towns and villages were run, allows for watchers to understand how the witch trials, no matter how absurd it may seem, happened. The movie starts out with the Salem girls sneaking …show more content…

The town and the judges do not care who has been accused, once a person is they a thrown in jail to either confess, or hang. Judge Danforth, Reverend Parris, and a couple others, are so worried about tarnishing their reputation that they continue on with the hangings, after they begin to doubt the girls. Reverend Hale tries to save his reputation by removing himself from the trials, and John Proctor dies to protect his name. The girls, especially Abigail Williams, feel empowered by the witch trials, and that allows them to continue on with their farce. Another one of the themes is the never ending battle between good vs. evil. The characters in the film who believe that they are doing good, are the ones ending lives, and …show more content…

The dominant ideology that the film follows is that the bible is right, and anyone who denounces it has signed the devil’s book. The majority of Salam follows this, and when the girls start talking about people being witches, the town listens to them, and praises them. Meanwhile at the same time, the town is hanging people who they used to see as saints. At the same time the character of John Proctor allows for the critiquing of this same ideology. Proctor sees the problems with how the problem is dealing with the accusations of

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The Crucible and the internment of Japanese citizens during WWII both hurt innocent people. They both suffered for things they did not even do. Japanese-Americans were forced to live in prison camps, and some characters from The Crucible were accused of witchcraft that were not actually guilty. The U.S relocated Japanese to internment camps after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.

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593 Words | 3 Pages

This book the Crucible, it takes place in Salem in which a series of problems have come up. In addition, a girl named Abigail persuaded and intimidated people to get what she wanted, which is John Proctor. However, Danforth accused Proctor for working with the devil and gets hanged for it with Sarah Good. These events caused people to take revenge on others and killed, out of greed. To begin with, the Salem witch trials had a negative impact to the people, Judges, and the people of the Church.

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661 Words | 3 Pages

The Crucible is a 1953 play written by Arthur Miller. The story retells the truth of the Salem witch trials that took place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. It all started when the group of girls was caught out dancing in the woods during the witching hour. The two youngest girls seemed to be showing signs of bewitchment. As a consequence Salem started charging the youngest of being a witch and coming in contact with Satan.

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784 Words | 4 Pages

John Proctor, a farmer from the Seventeenth Century town of Salem, Massachusetts, disbelieves the idea that the Devil can have any influence on the minds of the girls dancing in the woods. His belief that the children’s sickness had nothing to do with witchcraft does nothing to stop the court system from prosecuting and executing those accused of performing witchcraft. Although John Proctor provides clean-cut evidence to the court that witchcraft did not impact Abigail and her followers, the members of the court did nothing to stop the witch trials. One evening at the Proctor household, Reverend John Hale visits John and his wife, Elizabeth. He asks them a plethora of questions in an attempt to see if the Proctors could possibly have the Devil’s influence present in the house.

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751 Words | 4 Pages

Arthur Miller was an award-winning author, who wrote many plays over the course of his life. In 1953, he wrote a play called The Crucible. His intention in writing this play was to give readers insight into the, “strangest and most awful chapters in human history” (Miller back cover), or in other words, the Salem witch hunts and trials of the seventeenth century. The Crucible is based on real events and historical people and reflects the anti-communist hysteria based around the supposed witchcraft that was happening in Salem at that time. In 1996, a film based off of Arthur Miller’s play, also called The Crucible, was released.

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512 Words | 3 Pages

In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the setting is Salem, Massachusetts during the late 1600s where the town’s pious Puritan beliefs directly influence their government. A 17-year-old girl named Abigail Williams had an affair with John Proctor, a wealthy, married man. Abigail is told by John to move on but instead, Abigail starts accusing the townspeople of witchcraft, including John Proctor’s wife Elizabeth. As this hysteria begins to rise, other people such as Thomas Putnam, a rich landowner, start to also allege Salem villagers. In this play, the author illustrates the central idea that people should not allow jealousy to control their actions.

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533 Words | 3 Pages

Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible, takes place in Salem, Massachusetts during the Salem Witch Trials in 1692. During this time, many people are hung for being accused of performing witchcraft, but who is there to blame? During this time, many people feared for their lives, and others used this as a time to get rid of people. In The Crucible, Abigail Williams, John Proctor, and Deputy-Governor Danforth are responsible for the witch trials in Salem. The play begins with many girls dancing in the woods and people being accused of witchcraft.

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614 Words | 3 Pages

Certain crimes such as: Adultery, Murder and Theft, during the Puritan era were always diagnosed as inhumane and ruined a person's reputation, despite any attempt of redemption. Proctor’s crime of adultery is a key element in the starting of the salem witch trials and the devastating end. Proctors situation alternates throughout the novel consistently by other villagers and even Proctor himself. His crime at first is tried to be subdued by himself then it is later used as evidence in a trial and finally it is used as a confession however it ultimately is not believed. To begin Proctor first tries to hide is crime from the other villagers however Abigail seems to want to expose their relationship.

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1198 Words | 5 Pages

In The Crucible, John Proctor the protagonist, becomes a victim of the witch trials when his wife Elizabeth, is accused of witchcraft. In order to free his wife, Proctor must convince Judge Danforth of his wife’s innocence. Judge Danforth does not sign condemnations lightly and takes meticulous inspection of his cases to determine the guilty party. He is also a highly religious man who takes matters between God and men seriously. It is because of Danforth’s dedication to the law and God that Proctor utilizes ethos, logos, and pathos to persuade him.

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990 Words | 4 Pages

Due to their knowledge of the true causes of the witchcraft trials, they had the opportunity to act differently from the rest of the characters. Reverend Hale changes from a revered witch hunter, determined to solve the supernatural occurrences in Salem into a remorseful man who does everything in his power to help the accused. Although condemned by the end of the play, John Proctor dies honorably after sacrificing his dignity in an attempt to save his wife. Mary Warren ultimately becomes a liar by disregarding the truth to save herself and be accepted in Abigail’s pack. Although not all the characters in The Crucible transformed for the best, change and the motivation to change was essential in order to determine the characters’ process of

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581 Words | 3 Pages

The Puritans have an extremely strict and religious way of life. They do not accept any forms nor signs of witchery. Although Puritans, John Proctor, and Abigail commit a sin in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible; Thus, leading to the Salem witch trials. Abigail is responsible for the deaths of innocent puritans in Salem during the witch trials, in which 20 people were accused and executed for being a witch. She is the first to cry out witchcraft, which give her complete control over the situation, Yet, John Proctor only plays a small role in this nonsense.

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1199 Words | 5 Pages

Instead of accusing all of the innocent people of witchcraft, Proctor simply gives the explanation that the girls are lying to save their lives. After this, Proctor goes to court to testify his beliefs. In court, Proctor continues to argue with Hale and provides evidence that Abigail is guilty. “Is the accuser always holy now?… This warrant’s vengeance!”

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551 Words | 3 Pages

Danforth stated “Hang them high over town…” Hale tells Danforth that the other girls are lying about the witchcraft but Danforth didn’t listen to Hale that the accused is wrong Danforth began the hanging ( Also signed the warrant of 72 people). “The accuser is always holy” ( Act Two) Proctor states that the accuser is right because they are holy, but the 72 innocent people are killed because all of them were misjudged for being or dealing with witchcraft. “I, Sir, am innocent to a witch.

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867 Words | 4 Pages

The Crucible by Arthur Miller is based on the true events of the Salem witch trials. Set in the 17th century The Crucible told the story of a town that ensued a hunt for witches, caused by the accusations of Salem 's young girls and their ring leader Abigail Williams. Arthur Miller wrote this play to symbolize 1950’s McCarthyism. Most readers are unfamiliar with McCarthyism. So for a brief explanation, McCarthyism was carried out under senator Joseph McCarthy during 1950-1954 against alleged communist in the US government and in other institutions.

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914 Words | 4 Pages

Published in 1952, during a period of cold war tensions, which culminated in the ideological witch trials of the mcarthy era in America; The crucible by Arthure miller is set in 1692 during the witch trials in salem massachusetts. The author has used allegory to position the reader to draw parrelels betweeen the to time periods and critisize the persecution that occured in both eras. One of the main themes that Miller has used to portray this viewpoint is the representation of personal integrity. Integrity is the quality of having strong moral pronciples. This is acheived through strongly contrasted characterisation of characters such as Abigail williams and and Rebecca Nurse, aswell as the inclusion of textual features such as irony, symbolism

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