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A character study of the crucible
Main theme of the crucible by arthur miller
The Crucible Act 2: CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
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Arthur Miller implemented heroism in the play, The Crucible, using the characters; John Proctor, Elizabeth Proctor, and Giles Corey. The first person to display heroism is John Proctor. John Proctor did not want to have his confession nailed on the church door and explained why, “I blacken all of them, when this is nailed to the church the very day they hang for silence.” (Miller 143). This shows that John is heroic because he chose to not let the church use his confession and let innocent people die because of it.
In The Crucible, Arthur Miller portrays Abigail Williams as one of the main characters who so happens to be the evil villain of the story. The reason as to why she was the villain was because she is driven by power and jealousy throughout the story. “She sends her spirit on me in church; she makes me laugh at prayer!” (1.113-132).
In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Abigail Williams and John Proctor are known to have had an adulterous affair with one another. Even though both John Proctor and Abigail are worthy of blame for their actions, Abigail is the most culpable of the two. In The Crucible, Abigail is the most to blame because of her “tempting” Proctor to carrying out the act more. During Act 1, Abigail is shown to keep egging on Proctor although he does not want to have the affair with her anymore.
The play The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, is a story about, love, lies, and blind judgment. In the story, a young Puritan, by the name of Abigail Williams, was lusting after a man by the name of Joh Proctor. John’s wife was sick in bed so Abigail was hired to take care of the house in place of Elizabeth Proctor. Many months went by and Elizabeth had recovered only to find out, her husband had had an affair with Abigail Williams. Elizabeth throws Abigail out the house, leaving out a girl who has experienced things a child should never have to learn.
Every child is innocent when he is born; he learns from what he is taught or experiences. During 1692, Salem village was a very religious place, where fun and joy were concealed. Abigail grew up as an orphan, the Native Americans killed Abby’s parent when she was at a young age. After her parent’s death, her uncle, Reverend Parris, adopted Abigail. At first Abigail had been working for John Proctor as a servant, however after john Proctor’s wife, Elizabeth, found out Abigail was seducing her husband, she kicked Abigail out and send her back to her uncle.
Fear played a large role in the actions of many of the accusers. The entire story of the crucible is based off of Abigail William’s revenge. She was fired from her maid job by Elizabeth Proctor because she was sleeping with her husband, John Proctor. Abigail Williams was caught in the woods, dancing trying to make a charm to make John Proctor love her.
Abigail defies all judgements against innocence as she is the driven evil force in The Crucible. Arthur Miller shows Abigail Williams to instinctively defend herself, as it is the humane reaction when accused of wrongdoing. It is common to tell a lie but, the intention of sabotage is a different story. Abigail had many tricks up her sleeve to manipulate the court. Her purpose to convince the town of her innocence was one of many.
There are three types of people in this world, those who fake it to make it, those who want it and go get it, and those who manipulate others to achieve it. Arthur Miller's classic, The Crucible, presents Abigail Williams as a despicable character in the play through her manipulative, dishonest, and self-centered behavior. Throughout the play she used manipulation to bring confusion and pain to the people in Salem. Manipulation was her biggest quality. Abigail uses manipulation as a weapon to obtain the love and affection of John Proctor.
As a French Proverb states, “greedy eaters dig their graves with their teeth”. People are consumed with wanting more and more rather than knowing what they need in life. The human race constantly carries on this pattern of greed. A theme of greed is shown in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible.
Although, many people that were condemned weren’t actually apart of the Communist Party, (under McCarthyism around 1950-1954) they got blacklisted or lost their jobs. This social injustice is also portrayed in The Crucible as its characters face the Salem Witch Trials. Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible as his own reaction to the injustice of McCarthyism. Miller’s purpose was to show how people accused each other with false denunciations because of their fear, jealousy and solely hatred of one another under McCarthyism.
In The Crucible written by Arthur Miller, one theme demonstrated was that revenge does not always work in your favor. Revenge is the action of causing hurt or harm on someone for an injury or wrong suffered at their hands. In The Crucible this theme is represented by the character Abby wanting to be with John Proctor, since they had an affair. Due to the affair Mrs. Proctor, Elizabeth, fires Abby making Abby want seek revenge on Elizabeth. In order to gain revenge, Abby accuses Elizabeth of witchcraft and being a witch.
One common question about The Crucible is how Abigail Williams is the most evil force in the play. It is shocking when a girl talks back to authority out of disagreement, but few go as far as Abigail Williams. While she may only be 11 years old, her manipulative and vengeful personality allows her fool her Uncle and later turns a whole town against each other. She is really a master of manipulation and trickery, and she gets herself into affairs without punishment and has threaten all who oppose here. Abigail really is the devil in human form.
A major theme in The Crucible is the deception of falsehood and honesty. A character that is a prime example is Abigail Williams. Through the book Abigail shows several layers of lies and deception to protect herself. Abigail has a rather tough life because both of her parents died when she was young and ever since she has worked as a servant in several households. Abigail has a strong hold on several people throughout the story which is why she has so much power over the town of Salem.
Abigail Williams is not your typical teenage girl. She is a girl that will drink blood to kill someone, accuse people of witchcraft, and have a affair. By looking at The Crucible, one can see that Abigail Williams develops the theme of reputation, which is important because people who fear losing their reputation spread hysteria. Protecting her reputation motivates Abigail Williams to accuse others of being a witch.
In the Crucible by Aurther Miller there were many themes shown in the text. One of the most common themes presented in the book is Betrayal. Betrayal happens a lot through out life. Betrayal is when you go against someone who you were for at first. People often deal with Betrayal through out everyday life.