What Are The Similarities Between The Scarlet Letter And The Crucible

In literary works, cruelty often functions as a crucial motivational factor. In both The Scarlet letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne and “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller, cruelty is present in multiple situations. Whether that be a town grouping up against one person, or just a single person looking to keep one’s secret. They all have cruelty as the main theme. These situations help shape the way the characters see the world, and how they grow up.
In both The Scarlet letter and “The Crucible” The town's cruelty and respect for characters plays a major role in the way characters from both works make decisions and are motivated. Throughout the stories it is prevalent that reputations are a cause of good and bad choices, but the town also influences

Truly there is, both in the Scripture and the statute-book.”’ (Hawthorne 45). This shows the cruelty prevalent in the town, her reputation is ruined even before the townspeople meet her. In The scarlet letter, the town pushed Hester Prynne to become a more secluded individual, this also made Hester become more motivated to be a person that the townspeople could look up to. In “The Crucible '', John Proctor was willing to die because he didn’t want his reputation to be ruined. The town's cruelty to people with a bad reputation scares Proctor enough that he is willing to make the choice to give up his own life. Both of these instances are extremely similar, two characters who just want to live a peaceful life but are later forced to make tough choices because of the cruelty of the townspeople. “‘How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!’” (Miller, Act 4, Line 912) Proctor and Hester are so scared of the townspeople and what they might do to them if they make the wrong choices. These aren’t the only times when characters are pushed to make tough decisions because of the town, but it does show that cruelty often functions as a motivational

Both Authors portray a character who is so guilt ridden that they start to take it out on themselves. This is largely based on the characters own doings, they feel so bad that they end up making choices that affect them for the rest of their lives. Because of this self-inflicted cruelty, they only have one option in their minds for how this guilt can be fixed. In “The Crucible '', John Proctor's only way to get rid of his guilt about his affair is to confess, and in The Scarlet Letter, the only way for Arthur Dimmesdale is to admit his sin of adultery. Both instances begin to build up in the characters until they can no longer take it and they break. Proctor and Dimmesdale admit their sins because of the self-inflicted cruelty, “With a convulsive motion, he tore away the ministerial band from before his breast. It was revealed!” (Hawthorne 233). Even though it was never stated in the story, it is assumed that Dimmesdale carved an “A” into his chest to help soothe his guilt about his sin, while Proctor doesn’t show his guilt physically, he feels the need to share it with everyone. “‘I have known her, sir. I have known her.”’ (Miller, Act 3, Line 1084) This shows that with self-inflicted cruelty it motivates characters to do things that they wouldn’t have originally done if they never were so hard on themselves. Even though both of these characters received cruelty from other people or