Preview

Crucible vs real life

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1594 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Crucible vs real life
Hundreds accused, many killed, leaving a town left abandoned. The Salem witch trials spread across massachusetts like a plague. A war started by jealousy, carried on by reputation and ended in tragedy. In the novel, the Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, the Parris family, the Procter Family, Giles Corey, and the Putnam family can be compared and contrasted to their real life personas. Miller demonstrates a rather dramatic story of a group of families pulled together and ripped apart due to a jealous little girl. But his has some big differences to reality.
Tituba, a slave from Barbados who was owned by the Parris family during the time of the witch trials was the first person in the small town of Salem to be accused of being a witch. The Crucible gets that one fact right but throughout the play a lot of facts about this key character are jumbled and confused. One of the first things confused in the play is that Tituba was first asked to identify witches and the afflicted not like in the story where Abigail accuses her first. Beforehand Tituba is asked by Parris himself to bake a Witch cake. A Witch cake was a mix of rye and the afflicted person’s urine; this was then fed to the dog, which was considered a familiar (witches helper). After the dog ate it, it was said that the spell was broken and that the witches would be revealed. It’s at this point that the girls snap out of it and blame Tituba. Another unknown fact that is not mentioned is how Tituba was not actually from Barbados but from small South American village. She is easily perceived differently in the book. Another fact that is not talked about in the book is how Pastor Parris beat her into submission when the girls pointed fingers at her. In the play she just gives up after a few shouts, in actual Salem it took a few punches instead. One last thing not mentioned or referenced in the play is the fact that in real life Tituba was married to a man named john. He was another slave owned by the reverend

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    In 1953, Arthur Miller wrote a novel called The Crucible. This book is set in 1962 and it tells the story of the infamous witch trials that took place in Salem, Massachusetts. Throughout this whole story we find that greed, revenge, and hysteria affected much of what happened in Salem. From Abigail Williams's lust for John Proctor, to the hysteria throughout the trials, and to Abigail's accusation on Tituba; greed, revenge, and hysteria was shown rampant in Salem during these times. I believe that greed, revenge, and hysteria presented in the book, destroyed the town and the people of Salem, Massachusetts. This book really shows how slight misconceptions of innocent individuals can create uterpandimony. Many people who were thought to be Godly…

    • 139 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    characters to exploit other people in the book. This is demonstrated in a story based off the Salem Witch Trials and a major problem in the McCarthy Era. Arthur Miller was living through this McCarthy Era where people were accused for being communists yet there was none. He wrote The Crucible based off the that. Mass hysteria is used within the story by Abigail, Hale, and Mary Warren to exploit the people around them.…

    • 658 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In The Crucible, the people that confessed to save their own lives, such as Tituba, are to blame for the unnecessary deaths of innocent people in Salem. When the first person to confess, Tituba, was confronted for witchcraft, she was given two choices: confess or be hanged. Instead of standing up for herself, she took the easy path and confessed to being a witch. Tituba really had never seen the devil, however the fear of death made her confess to something she was not a part of. Although this may seem like a harmless thing to do, it made everybody believe that perhaps there actually were witches in Salem.…

    • 437 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Crucible by Arthur Miller is an American classic that was written in the early 1950’s. It takes place is Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. It conveys the story of the Salem Witch Trials. At this time, hysteria, deceit, and paranoia absorbed the minds of the Puritan towns of New England.…

    • 304 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Over the next several months the two girls began to show strange behavior. Betty’s father, the Reverend Samuel Parris, was puzzled by the girl’s peculiar behavior and found out about the sessions with Tituba and decided that the girls were under the Devil’s spell. Soon the strange behavior spread to other girls in town. On February 29, 1692, the girls identified two local white women and the slave Tituba as the witches who were causing them such pain. The three accused women were carted off to jail in Boston and only Tituba confessed to practicing witchcraft, in which her life was saved. Over the next few weeks, the odd behavior of the girls continued and accusations kept increasing. The Salem witch hunt was under way and people were determined to not stop until they’ve found every last witch in Salem. (The Crucible by: Arthur…

    • 1714 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Crucible written by Arthur Miller was a story in which takes place in a town called Salem, Massachusets. This story was directed towards the topic of the witch trials of 1692 and how the people were effected by the deaths and horrific torture treatments. The Crucible portrayed the perfect description of how the time of witch trials were so curropt and unfair. In this time if someone were to blame another person of something then the person blamed would immediatly be guilty and thrown in Jail or hung. Is Salem many people tried accusing people of different crimes so that they could gain power aswell as land. Thomas Putnam was greedy for land because more…

    • 872 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sequential to the 1692 Salem witch trials, Author Arthur Miller transcribed the mishaps and vindictive behavior in his play The Crucible, which portrays the hysteria and consternation of the town. An exemplar woman named Elizabeth Proctor exhibits the arbitrary and discriminatory circumstances. In distinguishing, unlikeness Mary Warren impersonates a girl whose hesitancy and uncertainty guides her to condemn many lives. The play depicts the inequitable mobocracy and unjustified perpetrations provoked by self-indulgence and greed.…

    • 662 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In "The Crucible", written by Arthur Miller, religious freedom and justice of the law are the main controversial aspects that are not enforced in this play. The Crucible is a play in which Arthur Miller writes about the tendentious, hysterical event of the Salem witch trials that occurred in Salem, Massachusetts during 1692. Miller writes "The Crucible" to show how inequitable and unjust the law can be in a time of fear and tension of the masses. In the play, inferior and subordinate people were accusing innocent citizens of witchcraft for revenge or land. The hysteria and fear in this time of the Salem witch trials influenced the law to become less dependable and accurate when Salem did not adhere to the basic American fundamentals of religious freedom and "innocent until proven guilty." Arthur Miller creates this play to show that we still as modern America are hurt by…

    • 891 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tituba is a black female slave, an individual without any power. She cannot hope to defend herself against Abigail's accusations "she makes me drink blood! ... she makes me laugh at prayer!" using exclamatory dialogue Abigail exaggerates the situation more to make herself seem less of a suspect as she draws the blame onto Tituba, even though she and Abigail both know that Abigail is lying. Hale questions Tituba and tells her that she can redeem herself by admitting that she has been working with the Devil and by telling him the names of anyone else involved "You must have no fear to tell us who they are, do you understand? we will protect you". Tituba confesses to witchcraft when the townspeople threaten her with physical violence "I will take you out and whip you to your death". The fact that Tituba confesses to witchcraft "I tell him I don't desire to work for him" In order to preserve her own life, Tituba takes cues from her interrogators and tells them what they want to hear "the devil got him numerous witches." The…

    • 1098 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The devil came to me and bid me serve him” (Blumburg). According to Jess Blumburg, a writer and a historian, these were the words that started the Salem witch trials. Tituba was a slave living with the Parris family when she was swept away into the nonsense that was the Salem witch trials. The Salem witch trials happened in Massachusetts in 1692 and 1693. Around 200 people, in the town of salem, were accused of witchcraft, and twenty people actually hung. The Salem witch trials are known to the world as a large conspiracy. Today when people read about Salem in history textbooks they think about how deranged the people in the town…

    • 544 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In 1692, the small town of Salem, Massachusetts grew wild with grief, panic, and accusations of sinful witchcraft. The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, is set in this frenzy and follows the story of an uncomfortable couple: John and Elizabeth Proctor. With a past in adultery and distrust, John constantly tries to make up for the mistake he made with the seventeen year old Abigail Williams. Despite his attempts, his wife continues to feel abandoned and lied to. To add to their marital problems, Abigail and her friends were found dancing naked in the woods which set a deep fear of witchery in the Puritan citizens. As more and more people became accused, such as both the Proctors, or afraid of being accused, a fever of witchcraft sent the town…

    • 1023 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tituba accuses a few women of witchery because of the fear from being executed. Her fear of death causes her to falsely claim she compacted with the Devil and wants to be good now. The reverends are threatening Tituba with an execution because Abigail accuses her of witchcraft. Tituba says, “(Frightened by the coming process). Mister Reverend, I do believe somebody else be witchin’ these children” (188). She is not practicing sorcery on the children and tries to put the blame away from her. She truthfully explains that she doesn’t know of this, but the reverends still threaten with death. When she is frightened, she quickly explains that it isn’t her and someone accused her. Although a slave, she…

    • 556 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Crucible Themes Essay

    • 655 Words
    • 3 Pages

    If you don't believe in witch hunts, that's fine. But the idea of them is very real. The Crucible is a story that takes place in Salem, Massachusetts. This small community is full of superstition and the towns people let their beliefs destroy friendships, and lives. Arthur Miller uses many repeating themes in the play The Crucible. There are many good, and bad themes that come up throughout the play. Some of the common themes of this story are lust, fear, and courage.…

    • 655 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a play that takes place in 1692 in the small Massachusetts village of Salem. Salem is a Puritan community; they are a very restrictive society with strong beliefs. They believe in hard work and prayer, therefore they consider material and sexual desires unnatural and evil. Abigail Williams, the main character is the reason for the witch trials that begin in Salem. She is dishonest, manipulative and her seductive ways is what makes her the antagonist of this play.…

    • 872 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Crucible

    • 879 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In the story The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, it explains a play that involves historical events like witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. This drama is an example of the unjust events that happened, due to the terrible lies that some young girls made up, who were supposedly witchcraft. This was a hard situation for the entire town because of the accusation of witchcraft toward innocent people. In The Crucible, Miller shows us several examples of themes, some interesting themes were man vs. society, man vs. man, and man vs. self-internal.…

    • 879 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays