... relevance in the themes and was inspired to write The Crucible. The characters were drawn from a conglomerate of primary accounts, and based on reality. The play begins with a flustered Reverend Parris praying for Betty, his daughter, who is in a state of comatose. Earlier, Parris had heard a commotion in ... feelings and actions. Hysteria's chokehold motivates Proctor, Rebecca, and Elizabeth to act as they did, and brings about significant events (i.e., the death of our protagonist, the rise of a rebellion against the government). Hysteria overcomes social order and promotes anarchy. T...

• Word Count: 2297
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: High School

... along with many others, greed was shown rampant in Salem during these times. I believe that greed, in all the forms presented in the book, destroyed the town and the people of Salem, Massachusetts. This book really shows the effect that greed can have on people and how easily it can ruin a person. Many people ... were greed for money, greed for power, and greed for another person's spouse. Greed for Money Greed for money was evident in this play and was expressed thru the characters of Rev Parris and Thomas Putnam. Both men were known and hated for their greed, and were accused repeated...

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

... about his daughter, Betty. The night before, his daughter and niece, Abigail, were caught dancing in the nude in the forest with some of the other town girls. Since this, Betty has slept in what seems like a trance. Thomas Putnam, a ruthless landowner, and his wife Ann, arrive with news that their ... involved, he denies any thoughts of it. This is when Mary Warren, the Proctor's present servant, enters, announcing that talk of witches is all over town. When the girls are left alone, they talk of revealing their secret of conjuring spirits, but Abigail warns them not to speak a word to ...

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

... who accused innocent people of the village of being under the influence of the devil and harming them with spells of witchcraft. How would a town so concerned with religion react to such crazy accusations? Arthur Miller describes such reactions to these in The Crucible. In this story Miller describes ... victims-, are in accusing them otherwise innocent people of witchcraft, if witchcraft is even the cause of the girls' hysteria. Arthur Miller writes the play to demonstrate that human nature is actually good regardless of how easily humans can be influenced by the spread of evil. Miller ...

• Word Count: 1415
• Approx Pages: 6

... witchcraft, and described death as the penalty thereof. "(95) The judge thought this way: due to their religious beliefs, the holy book was just like our system of laws. Thus, this system was unfair and corrupted, because the Bible is not meant to be taken literally. Many lives were destroyed and many ... New England when the repressions of order were heavier than seemed warranted by the dangers against which the order was organized. "(6) This quotation from the play stated that at some point in their history, the population wanted to have more individual rights, to be more independent li...

• Word Count: 2328
• Approx Pages: 9
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... a witch and then the court would actually forgive the accused if they blamed their accusations on another individual. This was the main idea of the play. In this play a group of young girls are caught dancing in the woods and are then accused of being witches. These girls then blame other people in order ... towards Abigail. He is married to a good woman (Elizabeth Proctor). Maybe he's trying to make things all right. Elizabeth Proctor is John Proctor's wife. Our first impression of her comes from Abigail who obviously doesn't like her because she is jealous of the marriage between John...

• Word Count: 1302
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School