The Crucible, a play written to criticize the Red Scare, involves a theme which focuses on how the characters change as an effect of the intensity and hysteria of the town’s witch trials. Elizabeth Proctor and Reverend Hale, two major characters in the play, experience internal changes as the play progresses due to the individual pressures of the witch trials. Elizabeth Proctor faces the test of having been accused as a witch, having her husband be accused and condemned as a witch, and trying to move past her husband’s affair with a local girl. Reverend Hale was challenged by the corruption of the ministry in Salem and encountered much adversity while doing his job, seeking out witchcraft. Both of these characters come to realize the witch trials only result in death and lies, which causes these characters to evolve.…
Mary Warren in “The Crucible” is largely driven by fear throughout the story, more specifically her fear of not being accepted. Throughout the book, we can see that she wants to be accepted by whoever has the most power over her life at the time. First Abigail, then later she desires acceptance and forgiveness from Elizabeth Proctor, and then finally Abigail again.…
Mary Warren, a character in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, is a submissive character that yields to the greater authority in the play. The true higher authority, the ones in charge, changes in the play, and therefore it seems as if Mary changes in the play as well, but in the end she remains a static character that sides with those in power, even if she doesn’t truly want to. Her subservience ot the highest power makes her actions seem reprehensible, however initially she is also a well intentioned individual who tries to do right, but ultimately does wrong due to her weakness of character. To be brief, Mary Warren is a submissive individual that yields to authority due to her weak character, and ultimately causes harm on others, despite being…
The word Crucible can mean couple of things, however the definition that stands out the most is ' A place or occasion of severe test or trial '. Just reading it, it could mean numerous things, however after reading the play, The Crucible, it makes a little more sense. In this play, test and trial is exactly what goes on. Women were being accused of performing witchcraft and being witches, which meant they would go to trial where they would either accept or deny this accusation and based on what they said, they could be put to death. This changed many of the characters. The 3 main characters i will discuss which underwent change are Mr. Proctor, who changed quite a bit, Abigail, who did not change at all, and Mary Warren, who changed because of John Proctor.…
Through the crucible Mary Warren has no intentions to cause harm to others by her actions. Miller portrays her as a powerless woman who is easily manipulated by others. She is a kind girl who tries to do the right thing, however, she is manipulated by Abigail Williams. In an argument between Mary Warren and John Proctor, mary says, “I cannot charge murder on Abigail!”, john angrily replies “You will tell the court how that poppet come here and who stuck the needle in”, once again mary with fear replies, “she’ll kill me for saying that! Abby’ll charge lechery on you proctor” (80).…
Fear is the death of us humans. When we have fear it causes us uncertainty, and also clouds our judgment. It motivates us to do acts that we would not normally put ourselves through. The Crucible written in 1952 by Arthur Miller took place in a town called Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. In the play characters show fear, but one main character is Mary Warren. She is a seventeen year old girl that works for John and Elizabeth Proctor. During the play it is easy to see how fear not only changes her loyalties but also develops her into a submissive character.…
The Crucible is a study in how mass hysteria can quickly get out of control and become very harmful if not deadly. Mary Warren is a catalytic character in The Crucible as she is both a mirror and a foil for many characters, and her ever changing bravery, or lack thereof, is what ushers the story along. Mary is a very malleable character. At first, she is very obedient towards her employer, John Proctor, then very submissive towards the brutal character of Abigail. She enjoys the respect she receives from being an official of the court, and defying Proctor. After Goody Proctor is accused, she agrees to reveal Abigail to the court but once she is swept up in the hysteria Mary yet again shifts her allegiance back to Abigail leading to John Proctor’s…
Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible, and the movie with the same name have many differences, all of which contribute to the individual effectiveness of each in conveying their central message. Some of these were obvious, others were almost impartial. A few of these differences is that some scenes were deleted and some were added.…
“Let them that never lied die now to keep their souls” (1353). This quote, spoken by John Proctor, in the Crucible represents what the Salem Witch Trials were about. The Crucible, written by Aurthur Miller, was a playwright based in the 1600’s of the Salem Witch Trials in Province, Massachusetts. The Salem Witch Trials were during the time of McCarthyism; McCarthyism suggested people were guilty without hard proof. Elizabeth Proctor was a character in the Crucible that stood by her husband John, even through the lies, miscommunications, and even his death. Elizabeth was a typical housewife, and honest women who had many mixed emotions about her marriage.…
There are many characters that Arthur Miller has written about in The Crucible that have many meaning. Mary Warren is a character of importance and shows examples of a lesson that many people need to learn today. Demonstrating qualities of being a coward, fearful, and a very dishonest, the character of Mary Warren is developed by Arthur Miller in order to support lesson that many people need to learn today that if we do not learn from the past that history will repeat itself.…
Abigail Williams, a major character, is a servant to Elizabeth and John Proctor is known as the villain in the play, The Crucible written by Arthur Miller. In the small town of Salem, Massachusetts, girls are accused of dancing in the forest, casting spells, and conspiring with the devil, which is recognized as witchcraft. This creates a big conflict in the town that leads to many deaths. Abigail Williams’ choices influence the outcome of the play more than anyone else by her selfishness and manipulation. Being concerned for oneself’s own advantage, regardless of others is described as being selfish.…
Although weak and tentative, John Proctor takes Mary to the court to confess that the girls are only pretending, Mary Warren eventually breaks down and testifies against Abigail until Abigail charges her with witchery. "I never done none of it, Abby" (Page 175). She is not strong enough to fight Abigail and as soon as Abigail leads the other girls against her, Mary caves and runs back to her side by accusing Proctor himself. Most significantly, Warren introduced the possibility of fraud on the part of the accusing girls when she stated that they "did but dissemble." Arthur Miller's play The Crucible focuses on this unique aspect of Mary Warren's behavior. After her own confession, Warren more actively participated in the accusations, including those against the…
The witch trials were a grueling and unnecessary process. The trials were finally kicked off when Reverend Parris found Abby, Betty, Ruth, Mary Warren, Mercy Lewis, and Tituba dancing in the woods and trying to conjure spirits. Betty fell ill the next day, almost all of Salem thought that the devil was in their small, conservative, intolerant town. To avoid being prosecuted as witches, the girls, with Abigail as their leader, would go on to accuse many of the people who live in Salem and areas around it. At the end of Act I alone Sarah Good, Goody Osburn, Bridget Bishop , George Jacobs, Goody Howe, Martha Bellows, Goody Sibber, Alice Barrow, Goody Hawkins, Goody Bibber, Goody…
The Crucible is a play constructed on conflict, lies and deception, written by Arthur Miller in 1952. The key theme of this theatrical four-act drama is ‘Wheels within wheels’. Set in Salem, in the heart of puritan Massachusetts, in 1692, the plot follows a community of villagers plagued by accusations of witchcraft. Amidst the executions of their friends, the remaining villagers turn to religion, rumours and secrets to alleviate the tragedy, and gravity of the circumstances unfolding on their doorsteps. Throughout the play, we become progressively responsive to the fact that sex/sexual repression are the motives behind a significant volume of the conflict that develops as the plot continues, as well as being a vital theme throughout the story. Although not immediately detected, as pivotal characters such as Abigail Williams, John Proctor and Elizabeth Proctor advance, it becomes apparent that the source of the deeply bedded antipathies are sex and being sexually repressed. Miller uses the theme of sexual repression to allow the audience to contextualise the era that the play was set in (1690’s Massachusetts, consumed by Puritanism), and how the characters conflicts/personas/reactions link to this. The main window that this can be seen is through Abigail Williams, the conniving, unscrupulous seventeen year old girl, who is the antagonist of the plot.…
Everyone has a part to play in story, even it's a small action, it will have a big effect in the future. In the play of The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, there is a group of young girls, in their teens, crying witchery. After being caught dancing in the forest, they are called witches. Trying to become innocent they throw others into the fire who have nothing to do with the problem they began. While the girls took this action some people would take advantage of this and have their daughter blame someone they are jealous of. The people blamed would have two options, to confess their actions and be free of their sins or to not confess and be hanged for the sin they have committed. In the end innocent people were hung, for a crime they did not commit.…