Preview

The Crucible Moral Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
229 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Crucible Moral Analysis
Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible, has a moral of the story, which is that everything in life isn't always black and white. This lesson extends beyond the play script and into the world today. Written in the late 1950s, the play is about the people that were involved by the Salem Witch Trials back in the 1690s. Mr. Danforth, a judge in the trials, was talking to Francis Nurse, a very powerful and wealthy man, about the Salem Witch Trials. Francis Nurse was trying to defend the defendants without disrespecting Mr. Danforth when Danforth said, "You must understand, sir, that a person is either with this court or he must be counted against it, there be no road between" (Miller 94). This really explains the whole dynamic of the tiny town of Salem,

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

    Arthur Miller’s ‘The Crucible’ is based upon the Salem Witch Trials which occurred in the year 1692. The text also serves as an allegorical warning about much more recent events, in particular the McCarthy Trials of 1953. The McCarthy Trials were exploring communism. ‘The Crucible’ was written to highlight the similarities between McCarthyism and communism in the 1950’s in the United States of America and the witch hunts of Europe in the 17th century. The play is literally written about the witch trials but it is figuratively about the society Miller lived in, in 1953. Thousands of Americans were accused of being communists like in ‘The Crucible’; hundreds of the town’s people were accused of being witches. Three major ideologies that are still relevant in society today are evident in the play, intolerance, mass hysteria and reputation.…

    • 770 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    ‘The Crucible’ is a novel which was written by Arthur Miller in 1953. It takes place during the times of the Salem witch trials in Massachusetts. This was a time of much hypocrisy in the people of the town of Salem. Many people believed anything they heard or saw. Although The Crucible is fictitious, the story depicts the historical information of the Salem witch trials, and blends them with fictitious characters to create a very realistic plot and conflict in the story. Miller wrote this play as a response to the political environment in which he lived. The story relates to the McCarthy trials. During the 1950's Senator Joseph McCarthy accused many American leaders of being communists. This lead to many accusations that people were communists. Some people believed him because they had fear of communism. McCarthy was, in effect, conducting "witch hunts". The Red Scare was a witch hunt where the US government was searching for "dangerous communists." Accusations came from left and right, much the same as the characters did for "real witches" in The Crucible. This meant that people were forced to either confess to the crime of witchery or shove the blame towards a different person. As an effect of this bias, the accused were never discharged, but were given the opportunity to confess to the crime of witchcraft to lessen their sentence. With the red scare, the accused were given a chance to give up names of other suspected communists to lessen their sentence as well. In both situations, there were people who confessed even though they had no relation to the crime at all. The majority, however, valued their morals and refused to give into political pressure by lying. This is shown as abuse of power. The puritans were a group of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th century. The entire plot of the novel is moulded by the repressive Puritan society. Like many puritan women, Elizabeth Proctor is dutiful and loves her husband dearly. Yet, Elizabeth is hurt by the fact…

    • 895 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the play, “The Crucible”, written by Arthur Miller has a theme about reputation and respect. In the small town of Salem reputation is very important, especially important to the leaders of the town. They want to keep a good name, and the people also want to be good citizens. When people have a good reputation others give you more respect. When you have a good reputation in a small town, it's easier to get a fair hearing. However, when people started getting accused of witchcraft their reputation was destroyed. This made people more cautious of their own reputations. The characters in “The Crucible” John Proctor, Reverend Parris, and Judge Danforth all want to be known for something good to have a good reputation. All of the characters in “The Crucible” will make a bad choice in order to keep a good reputation.…

    • 504 Words
    • 3 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

    The Crucible takes place in a real life town called Salem in Massachusetts where the Salem witch trials also took place at, during the life at Salem, there have some account of witchery within it and when the time came for the trials law, it strike salem and other towns very hard, accusing the innocents and others using the law to seek revenge of other for either greed/lust of items/land. while the corrupted ones use the law to it’s advantage by accusing others, jails and hangings were high by this, leaving others to think “who can i trust?” thinking that there are very few still innocent, some those innocents who got caught up in the corruption and many of those who are corrupted.…

    • 524 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In The Crucible (1953), author, Arthur Miller brings to life many decisions that drag a respectable man to the noose. This play, based on the history of the Salem Witch Trials that occurred in Salem Massachusetts in 1692, though not completely true, does follow the basic line of events. This line of events begins with curious young girls who are caught dancing in the forest by the Puritan reverend of the community, Reverend Parris. An effort to contain the events by Reverend Parris, Parris’s niece, Abigail, and others backfired and resulted in the bringing in of Puritan priests trained in the topic of witchcraft, which quickly led to a mass hysteria of witches in the community. Once accused of being a witch, a citizen had two basic choices,…

    • 1126 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the Crucible, Arthur Miller writes of the hysteria during Salem Witch Trials, hoping that the world will never do anything stupid again because of hysteria. During the Salem Witch Trials there were many people that chose to act as individuals, rather than a community. Judge Danforth, Reverend Parris , and Abigail Williams had the power to stop, and even prevent the trials, but chose not to because they did not care for anyone except themselves. Judge Danforth could have stopped the trials when he found out that he was wrong about the whole thing. Also, Parris is the reason the trails took place, and Abigail Williams fed the flame of hysteria throughout the trails. These three individual contribute to callous attitudes that exist in Salem, and cause the ultimate deaths of the innocent.…

    • 797 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Salem Witch trails took place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. It was a time where reason and facts become cloudy by unreasonable desires to place the blame for society’s problems on others. Many innocent men and women were convicted of witchcraft, and were sent to be hanged. Others spent many months in jail waiting for trial. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller illustrates the power of false confession and effect of fear in Salem proving that mankind will say anything to save their own life, when their life is in danger.…

    • 545 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the city of Salem , Mass Crucible lays a town of citizens who have no idea that one act of a child will bring harm to many of their love ones . In Arthur Miller play The Crucible each act waits another death to be placed in line to watch them hang holding on to their pride . Not knowing the true story that lays right in front of them . As one man says , '' The ones who confessed did to survive '' . Having no choice whether to go by the words of god or confess a sin and break the rule by God through religious officals . Abigail Williams is responsible for the mayhem in Salem .…

    • 122 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    One of the first life lessons a child is taught growing up is that lying can only ever make a situation worse. This claim can easily be proven through Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. The story follows the people of Salem, Massachusetts as their lives turn to chaos as a result of the Salem Witch Trials. No matter how farfetched the accusations were, the copious amount of lies told within the small town made it nearly impossible for anyone to know what really happened. These gaps in knowledge made people’s minds open to any kind of explanation. The dishonesty, brainwashing and manipulation exhibited by Abigail Williams, Mary Warren and the court is ultimately what allowed the witch trials to occur and to continue.…

    • 453 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    People fear change. People fear persecution. In the play The Crucible fear is used ridiculously to persecute the innocent and save ones self. Salem, a puritan community, had god and religion as its number one priority. Therefore the devil was the people of Salem's greatest fear. In he United States during the cold war, people feared communism. Here came the creation of McCarthyism, this is almost identical to the events of Salem, people were accused in the United States of being communist sympathizers, usually without much evidence, and people were persecuted. Arthur miller himself was accused of being a communist supporter and charged after his writing of The Crucible. Even more recently terrorism is the world's greatest fear, and therefore people are persecuted, not in a court of law but in society. These people are discriminated against due to race or culture without any evidence that they are terrorists or murderers. This strongly links to the major themes in the play.…

    • 326 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    During this time, the city was governed by the church and a massive witch hunt took where people were condemned for being pawns of the Devil. Officials in Salem authorized many of the witch trials and sent dozens of accused witches to die. Deputy Governor Danforth was one of them. He showed no signs of backing down from his cause. “[D]o you know that near to four hundred are in jails . . . upon my signature? . . . And seventy-two condemned to hang by that signature” (Miller, 91)? This was not because he was evil, but because he believed he was righteous. His intentions were good because he truly believed he was saving Salem, but his actions, as seen today, were evil. Another authority figure who believes they are doing good and perpetuates the Salem Witch Trials is Judge Hathorne. “Why at every execution I have seen naught but high satisfaction in the town” (Miller, 133). Hathorne, like Danforth, believes he is on a Holy Crusade that will move Salem out of the Devil’s hands, and into God’s grace. These authority figures in The Crucible illustrate how values change over time. The society they lived in had different values than society does today. Because of this, they acted accordingly with their ideas of good and evil and cannot be judged by people…

    • 1002 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Our names are labels, plainly printed on the bottled essence of our past behavior. ~Logan Pearsall Smith “The Crucible” a 1952 play written by Arthur Miller is an allegory of McCarthyism. The play itself is a dramatization of the Salem Witch Trials which occurred in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. In Miller’s masterpiece we meet a wide array of characters, village people, ordained ministers, judges, and farmers. We have the major characters, John Proctor, Rev. Hale, Rev. Parris, Abigail Williams, and Elizabeth Proctor. Arthur Miller’s 1952 drama The Crucible illustrates that, moral integrity and human dignity are worth sacrifice. The clearest representations of a characters sacrifices for the preservation of their own moral and human dignity can be seen by the actions of three key characters; John Proctor’s sacrifice of his reputation and eventually his life to do the right thing, Giles’s brute force and refusal to save his own life by confessing a lie, and Rebecca Nurse’s will to stick to her moral believes to her grave. Reputation, a man’s image and how he is seen by those around him impacts his whole life, some can say that a man’s reputation is their most prized position if it is good, but can be a curse if bad. For Proctor to sacrifice his reputation, and name in the village to save his wife, and stop the courts trials is a truly selfless act and preserves ones integrity because they are making a large sacrifice to do the right thing. “She thinks to dance with me on my wife’s grave! And well she might, for I have thought of her softly. God help me, I lusted, and there is a promise in such sweat. But it is a whore’s vengeance.” – (John Proctor 116) this public confession of John’s affair with Abigail was meant to expose Abigail’s hidden motive for the accusation of Elizabeth. Although this confession destroys John’s reputation he confesses not only…

    • 944 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays