... within and the contempt of people who chose different beliefs. These connections show in each situation, both escalated into complete and undoubted paranoia However Miller changed a number of things about the story to make it into an engaging and thought provoking play. He creates a much more intense ... year old girl, where as in reality she was simply a twelve year old child. This change in age and increase in beauty allows Miller then to manufacture a love triangle into the story involving Abigail, John Proctor and Goody Proctor. This adds further drama to the scenes incorporating ......

• Word Count: 1854
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... After Mary was questioned by the court she broke out and said "He come at me by night and every day to sign, to sign"(Miller 1314). Instead of being honorable, and telling the truth to judge Danforth, Mary called out John Proctor and called him the Devils man. To prove her ... point that she was innocent Mary said "No I love God, I go your way no more. I love God, I bless God" (Miller 1314). This shows Mary does not love God if she is lying, and falsely accusing others to save herself. To characterize yourself as having integrity, you have to simply ... , and tried to keep it a secret. I...

• Word Count: 836
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

In Miller's "The Crucible" the pride of the people of Salem leads to a massacre of innocent lives. Pride is delight or elation arising from some act, possession, or relationship. One of the main characters, John Proctor, has pride in his beliefs of purifying the Church of England. His wife, Elizabet...

• Word Count: 662
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... view concerned with social criticism, it has scenes that are especially fascinating. There is undeniable dramatic attraction in the whole matter of witchcraft and strange vigils in the forest. Although Miller uses a playwright's privilege to handle material freely, he deals largely with historical figures. There was, for instance, a real Rebecca Nurse (or Nourse). She was the wife of Francis Nurse ... . The hysteria goes along everywhere, mostly with Tituba's confession and Abigail's frightening Mary, suggesting uncontrolled emotions can make a large group behave unreasonably. Miller not...

• Word Count: 2029
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

... 1600's, most commonly in Salem, Massachusetts. Does witchcraft still exist today? In the Crucible, plenty of different stories circulated of people changing, being arrested, and just simply accused. Arthur Miller, the author of the Crucible, shows the transactions that the characters go through using direct and indirect characterization; He shows how Abigail's manipulation, Proctor's withholding, and Elizabeth's loving ... and choosing her words wisely Abigail states: "oh posh! Winningly she comes a little closer, with a confidential wicked air we were dancing in the woods last night" (M...

• Word Count: 805
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... hidden communists in the United States government. He falsely accused numerous Americans of being Communist spies and ruined their reputations in the process. Although Miller set the play in the late 1600's, he wrote it to address these current issues facing the country. He illustrates the detrimental effects on ... people are wrongly accused. He also shows that the accusers are 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...

• Word Count: 491
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... coupled with the heavy religious overtones create the feeling, right for the start of the play, that the people speaking are irrational, and dangerously so. Miller also can use the theme of witchcraft and Heaven vs. Hell to create scenes including vivid imagery. In Act 3 Abigail tells the court that ... that there is no bird the suggestion of one coupled with evil spirits looming over the court heightens the tension with massive dramatic effect. Miller also uses characters such as Proctor to heighten the tension at the end of each act. Proctor being the main protagonist is involved in .....

• Word Count: 1066
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... cannot charge murder on Abigail, she"ll kill me for sayin" that! Abby"ll charge lechery on you, Mr Proctor! I cannot, they"ll turn on me." (Miller 80) The audience can really feel the fear in the tone of her voice. When it comes to pride Giles Corey sure shows this trait. The audience can feel ... "You know I never hired a lawyer in my life, and always plaintiff, too. I am never put - upon, I know my rights, sir, and I will have them." (Miller 95) This allows the audience to feel his deep pride for himself. The dialogue between characters in the play is very good also in this aspect Arthu...

• Word Count: 688
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... arose in this little town, people were shocked and amazed, especially because it was the children that were involved. In the play The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, he retells history, but modifies a few minor details, and adds in a few from his own imagination along the way. The one main detail that ... her maturity level, and to also raise her leadership abilities as an older woman. Now, as audiences have also discovered happens in Hollywood remakes of history, Miller wanted to add some sort of element of excitement to this period in time by adding in a romance between two characters. In...

• Word Count: 653
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... and McCarthyism. The Crucible is based on a true story therefore he based his story on real life events in Salem from the 17th century. Miller had to hide the true meaning of the play because he would have been accused of being a communist himself and would have probably been deported. ... weeping" the main concentration of the audience is on him. In The Crucible there are a variety of different styles of language used. Arthur Miller used repetition, Shouting and crying to build up atmosphere. The language adds to the atmosphere because it builds up suspense and the audience can ... Proc...

• Word Count: 1767
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... witch-hunter, enters the play in Act I when Parris summons him to examine his daughter, Betty. In an extended commentary on Hale in Act I, Miller describes him as "a tight-skinned, eager-eyed intellectual. This is a beloved errand for him; on being called here to ascertain witchcraft he has felt ... the pride of the specialist whose unique knowledge has at last been publicly called for- (Miller 32). Hale enters in a flurry of activity, carrying large books and projecting himself as a very knowledgeable man. At the start of the play, ... starts to doubt the law. "There is a misty plot af...

• Word Count: 1339
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... During this time he accused many of the public servants including teachers and civil servants as well as more prominent personalities of having pro-communist beliefs. Miller himself was accused of this and was called before the Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in 1956 to testify and when he had refused to apologise, ... he was sent for trial. Initially they fined him and gave a suspended prison sentence, which he appealed to and was later acquitted of. Miller fought to maintain his dignity and his principles, like his John Proctor in the play who stood up to what he believed in t...

• Word Count: 2628
• Approx Pages: 11
• Grade Level: High School

... is a fictional re-call of events in the American history surrounding the Salem witch trials of the seventeenth century which also provide the metaphor for Miller's parable of the Mc Carthy trials of the 1950s, John Proctor's agonising struggle with guilt emphasises the restrictive nature of the Puritan society. The ... During this time he accused many of the public servants including teachers and civil servants as well as more prominent personalities of having pro-communist beliefs. Miller himself was accused of this and was called before the Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in 1...

• Word Count: 2648
• Approx Pages: 11
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... often underestimated. It only takes the greed and self-interest of one person to begin an irreversible process of decay. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, this is the dilemma that faces Salem. Early one morning, the daughter of Reverend Samuel Parris, Betty Parris, is found in her bed, ... at risk and he is willing to compromise what he claimed he stood for in order to save himself, which is something that neither Arthur Miller, nor John Proctor believed in. Eventually, this belief system backfires on him and he is voted out of office and leaves Salem. Reverend Parris ... arguing with ...

• Word Count: 2562
• Approx Pages: 10
• Grade Level: High School

... love for money. Instead of worrying and caring for his daughter when she was "sick" he was arguing with his members about his ministers salary(Miller 29). John Proctor didn't have much respect for Rev Parris because when Parris came to Salem he wanted golden candlesticks instead of the perfectly good pewter ... ones they had. For twenty weeks he preached nothing but golden candlesticks until he got them(Miller 65). Another example of Rev Parris's greed was when Abigail and Mary Warren stole Parris's money from his strongbox, he seemed more worried about ... for money caused a lot of pr...

• Word Count: 1303
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... well as the McCarthy Trials of 1952, show that governments are always looking for excuses. Because history is bound to repeat itself, characters from Arthur Miller's The Crucible draw parallels to characters in the McCarthy Trials. Few characters are shown to have ethics and morals in The Crucible, and those that ... when you know in all your black hearts that this be fraud-God damns our kind especially, and we will burn, we will burn together!(Miller 1315). John Proctor opposes the court, telling the truth about the witch trials, which ultimately gets himself accused. Because of these c...

• Word Count: 1066
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... it, "She thinks to dance with me on my wife's grave." For both to gain support, they fed on the fears and worries of the public. Arthur Miller almost fell victim to the HUAC and blacklisting after the release of The Crucible. He was hoping a "John Proctor" would shed light for Americans on the unjust ... extremities of the anticommunist movement. This may be the reason Miller made Proctor the center character of stability in the play. When Miller characterizes Proctor, he makes him the tragic hero, who tries to redeem himself from a bad trait. In the end of the ... six months to a year ...

• Word Count: 1398
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... including, "All of My Sons" and "Death of a Sails man". As an American Arthur Miller undertook questioning for being accused of communism. Miller thought this was violating his freedom, since America is a free country he believed people should not be questioned for their beliefs. Out of this, Arthur Miller was inspired to write "The crucible", which is a story about people attacking others for ... witchcraft practices and beliefs. In a way Miller extracted some of the "cold wars' ideas on communism and assimilated them to the crucible where girls attacked others for ... ...

• Word Count: 921
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... throughout our history. Generally, the classic tragic hero in literature is characterized as a noble man, of many virtues and high position. However, according to Arthur Miller in his theatre essay, "Tragedy and the Common Man," "any common man is as apt a subject for tragedy in its highest sense as a king." Thus ... fights courageously against the overwhelming odds of the society. Accordingly, Atticus Finch, of Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, as well as John Proctor, from Miller's own play, The Crucible, can be identified as such tragic heroes. Harper Lee, in her novel, To Kil...

• Word Count: 1090
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... be addressing the Salem Witch Trials, and the unfairness of it. To a more trained eye, it could all be a symbol addressing Arthur Miller's ordeal with Communism. Although I am ambiguous as to the motives of the play, I am sure that Miller, when writing this play had a vast array of themes in mind. Of these themes, however, I will only speak on three. These three ... made up the whole witchcraft falsehood to kill Goody Proctor and to gain the rank as Proctor's girl. This backfired on her however. Like I previously stated, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller is one of those books that seems on...

• Word Count: 667
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... the term "crucible" is never actually mentioned. The word crucible, in simplest terms, means "a trial." Although the play is based around a series of court-trials, Miller chose it as the title to mean a severe test, as of patience or belief; a trial within oneself. Many of the characters in The Crucible face difficult decisions ... only way the court will believe him is by telling of Abigail's previous sins. He chooses to confess to their affair, even though it means destroying his name. Miller depicts the situation, "trembling, his life collapsing around him: I have known her, sir. I hav...

• Word Count: 1041
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... Abigail Williams as a frustrating character with a strong desire for power, very similar to that of Joseph McCarthy. Miller also displays Abigail as a ruthless, resentful and deceitful individual. Joseph McCarthy and Abigail Williams both did wrong things ... when they were alone, but now Proctor has no way of proving to the court that she is lying. Through Abigail Williams" character, Arthur Miller shows how the desire for power can destroy society and corrupt and individual causing them to be ruthless, resentful and deceitful. Abigail was a ruthless ... girl who showed no mercy upon ...

• Word Count: 1072
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... quotes that best symbolizes John Proctor's love and overall good affections for his wife "I mean to please you Elizabeth"(Miller, page.50). After saying this Proctor afterwards goes on to say, "I think you"re sad again. Are you?" (Miller, page.51). These quotes best give an example of Proctor's caring affections toward his wife Elizabeth, at a time ... her living yet another year, and a year is long. What say you sir? It is done now. Will you drop this charge? Proctor: I - I think I cannot."(Miller, page.92). In this passage judge Danforth questions if Proctor's wife is really pregnant, t...

• Word Count: 1009
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... try your patience, liability, or morality. In The Crucible, several of the characters, particularly Proctor, experience explicit trials on their principles. Arthur Miller accurately entitled his drama The Crucible since it deals with a series of trials/tests that, specifically, focus on the concept of integrity. When ... damaged his integrity by committing lechery with the young Abigail Williams. When his morals were tested by temptation, he failed and committed adultery. Miller indicates that Proctor felt guilt when he described John as a "[sinner] against his own vision of decent cond...

• Word Count: 763
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... crucial role. Farmer John Proctor, who is in his middle thirties, is married to Elizabeth Proctor. John is pretty much an even-tempered man. In Authur Miller's book The Crucible it is clearly shown that John Proctor is not an honest man. Proctor is not honest in that he cheats on his wife, he ... Parris greatly. Abigail Williams says, "I know how you clutched my back behind your house and sweated like a stallion and you loved me then and you do now" (Miller 22). Later on Mr. Proctor admits to the court that he cheated on his wife. "I have known her, sir. I have known her." In other words...

• Word Count: 545
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School