The Theme Of Reputation In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

In my opinion the theme of The Crucible is to not jump to conclusions. There are many instances in the play where people jump to conclusions and very bad things happen in return. Another theme that the author is trying to portray is that reputation doesn't matter. For example, in the play many people would not have gotten convicted, had Rev. Parris not cared so much about his reputation he would have come clean about the girls and the trials would probably have stopped.An example of Rev. Parris only caring about his reputation is when he say “Abigail, I have fought here three long years to bend these stiff-necked people to me, and now, just now when some good respect is rising for me in the parish, you compromise my very character.” and he didn't care about whether the girls were okay and only cared about his reputation. Also the judges did not want to stop the trials even when they were presented evidence that would have stopped the trials and they didn't even want to see the evidence just because it would have ruined their reputation. Even Rev. Hale realized he was wrong after he gets over the fact that he will ruin his reputation he even says “Let you not mistake your duty as I mistook my own. I came into this village like a bridegroom to his beloved, bearing gifts of high religion; the very crowns of holy law I brought, and what I touched
with my bright confidence, it died; and where I turned the eye of my great faith, blood flowed up”. Another theme would be the danger of mixing an ideology , such as religion, with the government and/or law. If the church and state had been separated in Salem, no one would have been changed because the so-called “witchcraft” that went on would not have been a death sentence. The trials would not of even happened in the first place had the church and state been separated. Jealousy could be another theme because Abigail tries to get Elizabeth Proctor killed just because she is jealous. I believe if Arthur Miller were alive today he would strongly disagree with limiting muslims into the country.
Arthur Miller was around during the Hollywood Blacklist which was when the government hunted down communists in hollywood and they falsely accused some people and he was accused and even said “I have lost the dead weight of fear I had then” which shows how scared he was when the blacklist was going on, so I think he would connect the two incidents. Also the reason he wrote The Crucible was because he thought it was like a witch hunt was going on so I think he would think the two were somewhat the
same. In my opinion limiting Muslims is not a witch hunt like the one in Salem because the “witches” in Salem were not actually witches but we know that the majority of foreign terrorists, terrorists being the modern day witches, come from Muslim majority countries. The limiting of Muslims helps to stop terrorists and terrorists hurt people and we know this for certain unlike the courts in Salem where the only reason people were convicted of witchcraft was because the only views came from the puritans and today we have almost no religious views coming into play. People could argue the point either way but I believe the limiting of Muslims is a justified witch hunt. I think Arthur Miller's messages could be applied to today's society in many ways. Jealousy is still rampant among people today and it tears people apart, ruins relationships, etc. Reputation still controls many people in today's society. Many people base their entire lives on trying get their reputation as high as possible and only care how other people think about them. Many people could learn from the lessons in The Crucible and from Arthur Miller.