The Hard Truth In The Crucible

Words: 549

Pages: 3

Open Document

The Hard Truth Behind Proctor Arthur Miller’s play entitled The Crucible, portrays the 1690’s Salem Witch Trials. He wrote this material during his life when McCarthyism was beginning to gain it’s numerous followers to illustrate the similarities between the two. As far as historical resemblance goes, The Crucible, is relatively accurate containing only small amounts of fictional material for entertainment purposes only. John Proctor’s decision to destroy his false confession to save his life is unbelievable due to the fact that John Proctor worked all too hard to be reunited with his wife, his name had already been slandered, and he did not seem to care what others thought of him and his lifestyle throughout the entirety of the play. The Salem Witch Trials have been used many time in analogies to illustrate negative times in American and World History. These trials were marked as one of the most shameful moments in not only American History, but also World History (PBS, “McCarthyism”). Miller wrote his play based on these trials, as he said himself, “All this I understood. I had not approached witchcraft out of [just anywhere]” (Miller, “Why I Wrote the Crucible”). Miller, in this quote, is referring to McCarthyism. McCarthy rose to power when the national fear was based solely on communism. As originally stated by …show more content…
When the HUAC, or The House of Un-American Activities Committee, was formed, the political tensions in America drastically rose (PBS, “McCarthyism”). As in The Crucible, McCarthy could be directly linked to the behavior of Abigail Williams, a key antagonist in The Crucible. “A common lie told by McCarthy was that he knew 205 “card carrying” communist spies” (ushistory.org, “McCarthyism”). This can be taken as and can directly correlate to the common cry of “witch” in the town of Salem in the

Mary Warren's Role In The Crucible

Characters had to make very hard decisions that will be important to the plot. In the Crucible, weakness, courage, and truth, play a significant role in the outcome of this play. One character that demonstrates weakness in the Crucible is Mary Warren. She lied on John when they were both in the courtroom because she thought everyone was going to turn on her. Mercy Lewis should have stood up for what she knows was actually right but instead she lies on John. The impact of Mercy Lewis decision on…

Words 289 - Pages 2

The Crucible by Arthur Miller Essay

The Crucible By: Arthur Miller The Crucible by Arthur miller is based on a married couple that are blamed for possessing teenage girls. They received an appointment to show up to a trial In court. John Proctor and Rebecca Nurse are put under many hard situations. In life, certain people are up against tough situations. They are forced to go against there beliefs and only the ones that are strong enough can stick up to what they want. Proctor and Rebecca Nurse in Arthur Miller's The Crucible are…

Words 806 - Pages 4

Comparing The Crucible 'And Cool Hand Luke'

In the 1950s and 1960s, Arthur Miller wrote a play, The Crucible and Stuart Rosenberg directed a movie, Cool Hand Luke with both of them being similar. In The Crucible, a character, John Proctor stands up for what he believes in. The Salem Witch Trial had started with Betty, a sick child, from “supernatural” behavior and spreads with the false accusations made by Betty, her sister Abigail Williams, and a group of girls. John Proctor sees through this “game” by the girls and goes against authority…

Words 964 - Pages 4

Importance Of John Proctor's Reputation In The Crucible '

The Crucible In the Crucible preserving one's reputation is crucial it don’t matter who you turn your back on. The people in this play would rather be seen as the model citizen, then tell the truth. It don’t matter if they have to lie to save their reputation, they will do it. They would even go to the extent of letting people die to make sure their good name stays intact. The main people who are concerned about their reputation their own family is Thomas Proctor , Reverend Parris, and Judge Danforth…

Words 321 - Pages 2

Crucible Essay

The Crucible Essay The Crucible was a very emotional book in terms of plot. The plot was about a girl named Abigail who accuses many people of witchcraft. She also accuses Elizabeth Proctor, wife of John Proctor. Abigail uses her power of the court to get to her obsession, John Proctor, by trying to eliminate Elizabeth. She is unsuccessful in getting this done and ends up executing over twelve people including John Proctor. It is great to see all the different kinds of characterization and…

Words 930 - Pages 4

What Does John Proctor Symbolize In The Crucible

Arthur Miller In The Crucible, Arthur Miller makes a plot on how John Proctor barely goes to church. In the setting proctor is scared to reveal Abigail as a fraud, she will soon confess their affair. Elizabeth is more likely to go with him because she doesn't trust him at all ; Proctor after all lied to his wife when he saw Abigail with a group of people; Elizabeth starts to mistrust John;she was aware of the affair, but she was waiting for the truth. Their marriage is very unhealthy, Elizabeth…

Words 346 - Pages 2

The Crucible Giles Corey Character Analysis

“More weight” were the last words of Giles Corey from The Crucible. Giles was arrested for contempt of court when trying to save his wife, Martha Corey, from being hung due to being accused of witchcraft. He would not give up the name of who told him that Thomas Putnam was having his daughter accuse people in order to acquire land and died to keep it unknown. Giles Corey and I have some similar traits such as being stubborn like a bull, sarcastic with people and determined to succeed. Giles Corey…

Words 468 - Pages 2

How Did Arthur Miller Present Elizabeth's Trial In The Crucible

The Crucible by Arthur Miller, is about the Salem Witch Trials of the 1690’s. It tells the story of Abigail Williams, a young girl living in Salem at the time, and it tells about how she accused almost every woman in the town of dealing with witchcraft. She and her friends cried witchcraft toward everyone and one of the most known trials in the town was that of John and Elizabeth Proctor. Elizabeth’s trial was especially tough because her husband, John, had had an affair with Abigail while she was…

Words 293 - Pages 2

The Crucible Essay

Lowe 3 Tiarra Lowe Mr. Jahnke English 1B 12 November 2012 The Crucible The Perfect Imperfect “There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest”, Elie Wiesel. The tragedy of The Crucible was led by witchcraft. In comparison of witchcraft to McCarthyism, the accused has no fair justice to prove himself innocent. Joe McCarthy accused politicians of being communist. Those people were treated guilty with harsh consequences that…

Words 997 - Pages 4

The Crucible Theme Analysis

The theme of The Crucible that was chosen is very informative about what the play was about. The theme was written off of the knowledge gained from The Crucible, and what was thought to be the main point of the play. In the play, there is a lot of confessing and lying for people to save themselves from getting accused of witchcraft. People were accusing others, not because they were witches, but because they wanted to not be punished from their actions that resembled those of witchery. The theme…

Words 455 - Pages 2