What Is Arthur Miller Trying To Communicate About The Human Condition In The Crucible

1. What is Arthur Miller trying to communicate about the human condition in The Crucible?

Address each of his themes with respect to the following topics.

● Infidelity & Jealousy This could lead to many being ridiculed and, to an extreme level, get them killed

● Self-respect and Reputation.

People who lose everything, will still want their name, without their name, they have almost nothing to lose. This is prominent with John Proctor when he refuses to have his name ruined when the judge tells him to sign the confession paper.

● Compassion and Forgiveness He’s communicates that when you’re in need of forgiveness,

● Justice & The Individual vs Authority Most people, when confronting authority and justice, would want to keep to their morals and tell the truth rather than tell a lie. John Proctor embraces this idea he decides to not sign the confession paper.

2. What is the internal conflict that John Proctor faces?

John Proctor’s inner conflict surrounds his moral integrity, the guilt he feels, his wanting of forgiveness,

and the difficult challenge of telling a lie that he believes can cause him harm. The lie that proves difficult

for him is that he has “bound himself to the devil’s service”(Pg.139) which will put him against the entire

community. His guilt comes from his failure of protecting his wife, Elizabeth, and in the final moments of

the play he asks her for forgiveness. But when she doesn't, he learns that he can either forgive himself or

continue in guilt

3. Explain the allegory in the play. Use specific examples of both sides of the allegory, and establish the similarities and differences. Upon more research i discovered that the play is an allegory of “McCarthyism”, which in

Similarities that both share start with the higher authority figure. In The Crucible, the highest authority is Judge Danforth, and the highest authority in the real life situation is Senator McCarthy. Both share the act of accusing many people in their communities for a form of treason. However in Danforth’s case its a group of women for

being witches, and with McCarthy, its people for being communists. Another similarity both share is the person or peoples who rebut the accu from them. In the play, its the main character John Proctor, who rebuts Danforth’s accusations that Proctor’s wife is a witch. And in real life it's the author, Arthur Miller, who rebuts McCarthy’s accusations.

4. What role did grudges and personal rivalries play in the witch trial hysteria?

The grudges and rivalries are forced to come out through the likes of John Proctor, I.E him

revealing his affair with Abigail to the court in order to protect Elizabeth from being hanged