The Crucible Essay

Greed: An Unavoidable Human Nature Everyone, at one point in his or her life, experiences greed. Not because of choice, rather, by human nature alone. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller portrays greed throughout many of the main characters. The main people, for example, include Thomas Putnam, Abigail, and Danforth. Each character shows greed in their own way. Throughout these characters, Arthur Miller try’s to show us that as a human, we cannot help to control the underlying greed within ourselves. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller shows internal greed through Putnam. An example of his greed would be killing Jacobs just to buy his land. As said by Giles Corey, “ I have heard from an honest man who heard Putnam say it! The day his daughter cried out on Jacobs, he said she’d given him a fair gift of land” (Miller 96). This is a great example of the greed in Putnam. He is low enough to use his own daughter to get people into jail. In addition to the first quote, another good example of Putnam showing greed would be when he tries to kill another man, Giles Corey, for his land. When Giles says, “The man is killing his neighbors for his land” (Miller 90). he is saying that he knows that Putnam is purposely having people accused just so he can buy up their land. It shows that Putnam cared more about land and property then his friends and neighbors. To summarize, Putnam is a great example of greed because he accuses his own neighbors just so he can buy their land. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller shows internal greed through Abigail. Abigail is very greedy, and she is not afraid to show it. An example of this greed would be her lust for John. This lust is clearly shown when learned that she had drunk a potion to kill Goody Proctor. The act of witchcraft becomes apparent when Betty says, “You drank blood, Abby! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor!” (Miller 19). Here, Betty is talking about how Abigail tried to conjure spirits to have Elizabeth Proctor killed. Another

Cited: Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York: Penguin, 1976. Vocab Words Transition Words