The Importance Of Reverend Pabris In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

When given power, authority figures will often use it to remedy their own personal issues or to boost their social status. Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible to provide a warning against those authority figures, portraying them through multiple characters but namely Reverend Parris. Though in the beginning of the book, Parris appears like a caring father who wants his sick child to heal, he quickly turns to his own concerns for power. Reverend Parris is an ineffectual leader who only brought down the people of Salem to satiate his self hatred and endless greed through lying and toxic manipulation. Reverend Parris uses lies to cover his weaknesses and protect his own reputation, regardless of the importance of the truth. Within the first few

Later he explains the secrecy is only because “There is a faction that is sworn to drive me from my pulpit” (Miller 10), as if his position is more important than informing his followers that their lives could be in danger of possession. While holding back some truths to protect from hysteria is necessary, Parris reveals that his essential reason for holding back the reality of Betty’s state is because he doesn’t want to threaten his own position. The reason is shallow and perfectly illuminates the root of his selfish motivations. Parris lies in a similar manner when he claims that “I can only say sir that I never found any of them naked” (Miller 105) as he is testifying in a court he so claimed to be of the truth and utmost importance in protecting Salem. In the first act of the play, Parris clearly reveals to Abigail that he “saw someone naked running through the trees” (Miller 11), affirming to her that he very intimately knew what the girls did in the woods. His affirmation perfectly sets up dramatic irony that throws Parris

He begins his barrage by asking “Where is my wood? My contract provides that I be supplied with all my firewood. I am waiting since November for a stick” (Miller 29) while his daughter is in the bed next to him, unconscious. Any dutiful fathers would be more concerned for their daughter’s health and realize that it is an inappropriate time to be concerned with contracts. However, Parris is greedy and refuses to see beyond his own personal needs. Even after being promised wood, a nice home, and the support of his community, Parris constantly reminds his constituents that “The salary is sixty pound . . . I am not some preaching farmer with a book under my arm; I am a graduate of Harvard College” (Miller 29) and then calls his situation poverty. It is revealed earlier in the exposition that Parris was once a businessman, so it is likely that the way he lives now, in a modest home with little extra income, is not as glamorous as his life once was. However, Parris chose to give his life to God and bring the people of Salem closer to religion. Salem funds his lifestyle in gratitude for choosing to be their reverend but he still complains to them how it is not enough. He once even firmly requested that “. . . he have golden candlesticks upon the altar . . . and for twenty week he preached nothin’ but golden candlesticks”, as mentioned by John Proctor. Golden