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The crucible: Motivations of the Which trials.

            Revenge and jealousy is a very powerful form 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's work. However, there are plenty of feuds and rivalries in the small town that have nothing to with religion, and many Salem residents take advantage of the trials to express long held grudges and revenge on their enemies. In the Novel there are key people in the town that manipulate the trials the most. One of these characters is Reverend Parris. Reverend Parris, a paranoid and insecure figure, begins the play with a precarious hold on his office, and the trials enable him to strengthen his position within the village by making scapegoats of people like Proctor who question his authority. He and another character John Proctor have had confrontations before. John Proctor had been singled out because he does not attend Church as often as the other townsmen do. Throughout .
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             the trials John is thought of to undermine the court which would make Parris look bad, because he has been slowly losing respect between the townsman. During the trials Proctor's slave turns on him fearing for her life. To make matters worse Parris says "The devil's book? [ Proctor ] come with a book?"(110) The Reverend further instigates and gets the judges to think the way they want them to so John Proctor looks bad.
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             Among the minor characters, the wealthy, ambitious Thomas Putnam has a bitter grudge against Francis Nurse for a number of reasons: Nurse prevented Putnam's brother-in-law from being elected to the Salem ministry, and Nurse is also engaged in a bitter land dispute with one of Putnam's relatives.


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1. What Lies Behind the Accusations of the Innocent?

... , historians have searched, time and time again, for answers to this probing question: What secret motivations or reasons lie behind the accusations of the innocent? In the Salem Witch Trials, the accusations were clearly caused by the girls" own fears, and the fears of the community also led to the use of scapegoats for the evils of Salem. Arthur Miller, who wrote The Crucible, a play depicting the tragic events that occurred in Salem, was "profoundly, angrily concerned with ... , along with others, investigated the pasts of many Hollywood workers, and upon the discovery of just one litt...

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2. The Crucible - Characters and Themes

... a good liar, and vindictive when crossed. Of the major characters, Abigail is the least complex. She is clearly the villain of the play, more so than Parris or Danforth: she tells lies, manipulates her friends and the entire town, and eventually sends nineteen innocent people to their deaths. Throughout the hysteria, Abigail's motivations never seem more complex than simple jealousy and ... a desire to have revenge on Elizabeth Proctor. The language of the play is almost biblical, and Abigail seems like a biblical character ... the witch trials. Herrick he marshal of Salem. Mercy Lewis O...

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3. The Crucible

... evil in his play the Crucible, paying particular attention to his characterisation. The Crucible's main purpose was to show the mass hysteria, which led to the 1692 Salem witchcraft trials. The Crucible concentrates on the fate of some of the key characters caught up in the persecution. It shows people under pressure and what were the issues and motivations involved. The play is an allegory of the communists trials in 1950s USA. This play is actually a criticism of the American government. In Salem ... 1692, people believed in the existence of witches. In a society of strong ... ...

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4. The Crucible as a timeless play

... of "good" and "evil"; it is the most basic of conflicts. In The Crucible, Miller has submerged the characters in an atmosphere of "evil", such that their true personalities are revealed to the audience, and thus are subconsciously divided into "good" and "evil". As there is both of these sides in any society, this division by the audience imparts a sense of reality upon the play and thus a sense of relevance. The people of Salem - from which the ... between Proctor's and Miller's motivations for the truth. However, it has been said that the character of Giles Corey best reflects Miller'...

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5. John Proctor in Arthur Miller's The Crucible

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6. The Crucible

The Crucible takes place in the Puritan New England town of Salem Massachusetts in 1692. When the play opens a group of girls are dancing in the forest with a black slave whose name is Tituba. The local minister Reverend Parris catches the girls dancing in the forest. His daughter, Betty Parris, was one of the many girls who were in the forest. When startled by her father she went into a coma-like state. Rumors of ... the pride of the specialist whose unique knowledge has at last been publicly called for."" Early in the play he is the force behind the witch trials, probing for confessions and ...

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7. Abigail's Role in the Cause of

... being considered important, and her fear of getting beaten or even killed were her chief motivations of accusing people in this play. Abigail's dislike of certain people was obvious and could easily be seen by the reader and the audience. She disliked these people because of what they might have done to her or because she was jealous of them. One of the people that she despised and also was ... she was saying and did what she wanted him to do. She also was a chief cause of the Salem Witch Trials in The Crucible because for once she, along with the other girls, was considered important. ...

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8. Modern Witch-Hunt

... The Crucible use the same method to gain what they desire. Using the knowledge that witchcraft is illegal and immoral, the girls accuse Salem residents of witchcraft. The trials are clearly an attack on women in the community and on those who stand in the girls' path. Abby and John Proctor, a well-respected man in the Salem, engage in an affair in which she cannot forget. John, on the ... Abigail denies Mary and leads the girls into accusing her of witchcraft. Mary, horrified by the action, pleads for Abby to stop. In response Abigail declares, "No, I cannot, I cannot stop my mouth; it's ...

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9. Cruicible

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