Crucible For Everyone Analysis
A Crucible for Everyone
Everybody makes mistakes in their lives, but how they react to them, and how others respond, exposes who they really are. In the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the Puritan citizens of Salem are caught in a perilous storm of terror and accusations of witchcraft. The sins and choices of other characters in the play fuel the fire of injustice and cost the lives of many. There are two tested characters who played large roles in the outbreak of witchcraft accusations; they either passed or failed this crucible, or a situation of severe trial. John Proctor passed the trial of his sins, and Abigail Williams failed her crucible.
John Proctor committed the serious sin of adultery and then experienced the trial of his wife …show more content…
John Proctor exemplifies his uprightness when he says, “If [Elizabeth] is innocent! Why do you never wonder if Parris be innocent, or Abigail? Is the accuser always holy now? Were [the accusers] born this morning as clean as God's fingers? I'll tell you what's walking Salem—vengeance is walking Salem. We are what we always were in Salem, but now the little crazy children are jangling the keys of the kingdom, and common vengeance writes the law! This warrant's vengeance! I'll not give my wife to vengeance!” (Miller 1283). Proctor has realized that the court is corrupted. The judges of the court are using the words of the accusers as solid evidence against the accused, and this is extremely unjust. He also mentions how vengeance is walking in Salem, not witchcraft. Many people, including Abigail, have used the fear in Salem to fulfill their own vendettas. Ann Putnam, Thomas Putnam’s wife who sent the girls into the forest to conjure the spirits of her seven dead infants, had Goody Osbourn, Ann’s midwife, accused of witchcraft because the Putnam babies died. Abigail accused Tituba, a slave from Barbados who attempted to conjure the infants’ spirits, to hide her own wrongdoings. There were many other accusations because of grudges held by the citizens of Salem. Abigail shows the root of her heinous acts when she converses with Proctor and says, “Oh, I marvel how such a strong man may let such a sickly wife be -- … She is blackening my name in the village! She is telling lies about me! She is a cold, sniveling woman, and you bend to her! Let her turn you like a—” (Miller 1246-1247). Abigail is still in love with Proctor and despises Elizabeth Proctor. These feelings are the cause of Abigail’s choice to drink the potion to kill Elizabeth Proctor. When she got caught in the forest, she decided to fabricate a story of witches forcing her to sign the devil’s
Everybody makes mistakes in their lives, but how they react to them, and how others respond, exposes who they really are. In the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the Puritan citizens of Salem are caught in a perilous storm of terror and accusations of witchcraft. The sins and choices of other characters in the play fuel the fire of injustice and cost the lives of many. There are two tested characters who played large roles in the outbreak of witchcraft accusations; they either passed or failed this crucible, or a situation of severe trial. John Proctor passed the trial of his sins, and Abigail Williams failed her crucible.
John Proctor committed the serious sin of adultery and then experienced the trial of his wife …show more content…
John Proctor exemplifies his uprightness when he says, “If [Elizabeth] is innocent! Why do you never wonder if Parris be innocent, or Abigail? Is the accuser always holy now? Were [the accusers] born this morning as clean as God's fingers? I'll tell you what's walking Salem—vengeance is walking Salem. We are what we always were in Salem, but now the little crazy children are jangling the keys of the kingdom, and common vengeance writes the law! This warrant's vengeance! I'll not give my wife to vengeance!” (Miller 1283). Proctor has realized that the court is corrupted. The judges of the court are using the words of the accusers as solid evidence against the accused, and this is extremely unjust. He also mentions how vengeance is walking in Salem, not witchcraft. Many people, including Abigail, have used the fear in Salem to fulfill their own vendettas. Ann Putnam, Thomas Putnam’s wife who sent the girls into the forest to conjure the spirits of her seven dead infants, had Goody Osbourn, Ann’s midwife, accused of witchcraft because the Putnam babies died. Abigail accused Tituba, a slave from Barbados who attempted to conjure the infants’ spirits, to hide her own wrongdoings. There were many other accusations because of grudges held by the citizens of Salem. Abigail shows the root of her heinous acts when she converses with Proctor and says, “Oh, I marvel how such a strong man may let such a sickly wife be -- … She is blackening my name in the village! She is telling lies about me! She is a cold, sniveling woman, and you bend to her! Let her turn you like a—” (Miller 1246-1247). Abigail is still in love with Proctor and despises Elizabeth Proctor. These feelings are the cause of Abigail’s choice to drink the potion to kill Elizabeth Proctor. When she got caught in the forest, she decided to fabricate a story of witches forcing her to sign the devil’s