Personal Motives Fear, greed, ambition, revenge, and jealousy are personal motives used in the 21st Century as well as in the 1600s. The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, illustrates fear, greed, ambition, revenge, and jealousy, and how each of them led to the loss of many innocent lives in Salem, MA, in 1692. Abigail Williams, Ann and Thomas Putnam, and Reverend Parris had personal motives that contributed to the outbreak of hysteria in Salem ... Village. Abigail Williams, the child who started all the hysteria, had three major motives ... ...

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... Bishop with the Devil!" The children would also faint, cry, scream, and blame the poor Salem people for sending their spirit out in to the children the middle of court. The Salem citizens would get blamed for giving the girls stomachaches and headaches, for coming to them in the middle of the night and not letting the girls sleep. The innocent people were also accused of murder. In my opinion this story The Crucible portrays many ... different themes in which are all shown threw the actions of the Salem citizens whether it many be the accusers or the citizens itself. Revenge is shown th...

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... of motivation where someone will do everything to pursue their own personal gain. The Crucible, by Arthur Miller illustrates and demonstrates the extent that personal vengeance can have on a society where townsmen accuse their own. The trials in the Crucible take place against the back drop of a deeply religious and superstitious society, and most of the characters in the play seem to believe that rooting out witches from their community is God ... . Among the minor characters, the wealthy, ambitious Thomas Putnam has a bitter grudge against Francis Nurse for a number of reasons: Nurse p...

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"The Crucible" Arthur Miller's use of passionate, human emotions-greed, jealousy, and vengeance-helps the audience better understand the characters' personality and motivations. The audience can associate with the characters because these are emotions that everyone in the audience has experienced many times in their lives. Abigail wanted John Proctor for herself and she didn't care who she hurt in her path. She had Betty join her in her dancing in ... of Goody Proctor when she was sick. She took this time to get closer to John knowing the love of the two of them was growing apart. Thomas Putn...

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... goes against Puritan ideals. The Putnams, a wealthy and influential family in Salem are very greedy in the sense of ownership of land. The Putnams are known for the willing of land that does not belong to them. At one point, when Proctor is discussing some trees that he gathered wood from, Thomas Putnam claims that the property being spoken of belongs to him. The land does not belong to ... him, in fact, but tries to claim that it does. Greed is also a major part of the Putnam's lives in respect to their relationship with numerous towns people. The Putnams are very greedy and are enviou...

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Arthur Miller writes this play to warn us of the effects of mass hysteria and the way people conform to the crowd. Throughout this play we are shown that people will do dangerous and unethical things, I am going to write about who I thought was responsible for the prosecution of innocent people. Through this play we are shown that people do dangerous and unexpected things when they follow a crowd. I have come to reason that the three people most to blame for the witch hysteria and the subsequent death of innocent people are Abagail Williams, Ruth, Thomas Putnam and Reverend Parris. Each of th...

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... the greed of Thomas Putnam; the quest for revenge on those who have persecuted them, which is carried out by Martha Corey and Abigail Williams. Ann Putnam's jealousy over Rebecca Nurse and Abigail's jealousy of Elizabeth Proctor, and the ambition of Hale and Parris, both of whom seek public approval; the fear of punishment that initially motivates Abigail and the other girls; then the revealing in power they display during the trial. Above all The Crucible investigates the ... mass hysteria which infects the whole community. The concept of evil is central to The Crucible. To understand ...

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Greed can be a very destructive part of everyone's life. It can control our every action at times. Some people let their greed get out of control, which was exactlywhat happened in Salem during the witch trials. Three people's greed brought up this whole tragedy of the trials, convictions and hangings. These three people are Reverend Parris, Thomas Putnam and Abigail Williams. Thomas Putnam was a "well-to-do, hard-handed, landowner." He valued his land probably more than his marriage, his other possessions or his anything else that he had. He used his land as a power source to get anything tha...

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... them to be hurt back. Sometimes, however, our hurt is slight or non-existent, but our hurt back is permanent and harsh. The most obvious and prominent character in The Crucible with revenge as their primary motivation was Abigail Williams. Thomas and Ruth Putnam are also driven by the need for vengeance. Even Parris, for a time, needed a little payback. No one can doubt that Abigail wanted revenge. ... She was angry at John Proctor. She decided a nice, simple way to hurt him was take his wife. Ms. Williams was the one ... who started the accusations. ... ...

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... Nurse and Elizabeth Proctor were arrested and tried also, among others. In the play by Arthur Miller, The Crucible, some historical events were changed around to fit a modern day drama. In the play, Elizabeth Parris" name was changed to Betty. This was probably done so the reader would no confuse Elizabeth Proctor with Elizabeth Parris. The Parris family also included two other children- an older brother, Thomas and ... with Elizabeth Parris was. In reality, Tituba never lead any wild dancing in the woods and certainly Rev. Parris never stumbled upon them. Some of the girls did do tests...

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... often those that can gain something by ruining others reputations. In The Crucible, Miller illustrates through the Salem Witch Trials the mass paranoia and hysteria that occurs when people blindly accuse others of misdeeds. In The Crucible, the main accusers were those that wished to raise their power or social standing in society. Thomas Putman became a leader in the search for witches as a way to acquire more property. Once he ... by society, was even accused of witch craft. Those that dissented and tried to save others, also ended up being accused, as is evident in John Proctor's sit...

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In The Crucible, people conform under pressure in the town of Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. The witch trials bring about the secrets and flaws of the people in Salem, and are not about witchcraft at all. Everybody has an enemie, and the accusation of witchcraft is an easy way to get yours hung. In Salem, if a citizen suspects and accuses someone of witchcraft, they are immediatly guilty in the publics ... sees what Abigail is up to and tries to tell John, who knows she's right, but will not bring himself to admit it. The witch trials are the perfect chance for people to get revenge on anyone....

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... court; based off of their own ruling. In Arthur Miller's drama, The Crucible, the tragic hero, John Proctor, suffers at the hand of the Puritan theocracy because of the lies and selfish behaviors in Salem; however he redeems himself at the end of the drama. Selfish Behaviors of some characters (Parris, Abigail, and Danforth), cause more harm to John and others, while trying to protect their own reputation. Reverend Parris stated ... of his daughter's sickness, because he feared that he would lose his reputation. He is only worried about himself, and eventually causes John to suffer. Thi...

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Themes of The Crucible In Arthur Miller's, The Crucible, there were many themes expressed throughout the play. The themes were the undertone of the story and described exactly what was happening at the time of the narration. In the small town of Salem, hysteria had broken out and charges of witchcraft were brought against many women in the town. There were trials held, at which the only way to be set free was to ... to accuse everyone that they didn't get along with of practicing witchcraft. Two other major themes which go hand in hand were greed and revenge. Some characters found profit in t...

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In Arthur Miller's, "The Crucible," many themes are expressed throughout the play. Themes are the undertone of the story. A theme of a book usually sets the mood and describes what is happening during the time that the story is written. "The Crucible" has many themes that show how everything was and how everyone acted in the year of 1692, in Salem, Massachusetts. Mass hysteria is the most obvious theme in the story. Mass hysteria is represented everywhere ... by God's laws. But this mixing up of the laws of God and the laws of government set up the chaos of the Salem witch trials. Greed and r...

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In the play The Crucible a lot of people lost their lives because they had pride. Giles Corey, Rebbeca Nurse, and John Proctor all died because they felt they had to keep a good name. Abigail Williams also had pride, but didn't lose her live because she was a good liar. If you ... accused of witchcraft. He tries to defend his wife, and when he does, he is charged with contempt of the court. In the play he is killed for two different things. One thing is he would not give Danforth the name of the person who told him that Thomas Putnam was trying to get rid of the people in the town so that he...

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Most Villainous/Least Villainous For my first choice, I picked Abigail Williams as Most Villainous. I felt that the word malicious matched her perfectly in the sense that she was driven by lust and vengeance. I thought that because she was a harlot and a selfish girl who only cared about her wants and needs. She wanted John Proctor to herself and wished for the death of Elizabeth Proctor so she could take her place. That was the only reason why she provoked the witch trials by falsely confessing and ruining people's lives. As for the second person up on the villainous list, I chose Thomas Putn...

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... and hysteria and destroying basic organization in the town of Salem. The severity and high value of the Salem witch trials created complex situations in which stir up problems in Salem. The townsfolk accept and become active in the chaotic incident not only out of genuine religious piety but also because it gives them a chance to express withdrawn sentiments and to act on personal grudges. In the crucible, Abigail Williams, Francis Parris, and Thomas Putnam ... help populate hysteria throughout Salem by continuously making false accusations and hiding under righteousness. Abigail Willia...

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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... of vanity is burned away leaving a man of good character. A crucible is also a time period of stress upon a society. Rebecca Nurse and Elizabeth Proctor proved their moral character in their turbulent epoch. In retrospect, people such as Abigail Williams and Thomas Putnam exemplify a person's innate tendency to be greedy and selfish. Lastly, a crucible can be related to the crucifixion of Christ. He died to save other. In his ... death He refused to confess lie to save himself. Rebecca Nurse, Giles Corey, and John Proctor all stand in the truth regardless of the ensuing consequences. Jo...

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