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Crucible Themes

            The Crucible written by Arthur Miller is a story that explains a down side to human nature. This shows how human nature can be cruel to it's own kind. In such a way that killing of it's own species begins to take place. The Crucible takes place in a little town called Salem where not too much happens besides a few disagreements between neighbors. The horrible, unexpected events that take place show how the people of Salem can actually blame their own fellow neighbors and friends of witchery to watch them hang. Others accuse out of nothing but spite. In this story mankind takes on a different kind of role, one in which is not explainable. .
             In this story, Abigail Williams is the niece of a man named Reverend Parris who is Salem's minister. Abigail has already committed adultery with a man named John Proctor. At the beginning of the story Abigail drinks chicken blood to create a charm to kill John Proctor's wife Elizabeth, "She wishes to dance with me on my wife's grave!" (106). This shows how cruel mankind is to it's own species over worthless matters. Killing another human being over love is meaningless, and this is just one of the very many examples that take place in this story representing the horrible cruelness that humans present.
             Another example, a man by the name of Thomas Putnam presents his very cruel side over wanting more land. Thomas has his own daughter accuse all of his fellow neighbors of witchery just to receive their land. "If Jacobs hangs for a witch he forfeit up his property - that's law! And there is none but Putnam with the coin to buy so great a piece. This man is killing his neighbors for their land!" Selfishness is yet another one of humans? worthless immoralities. So instead of buying or just inheriting his own land himself, he would have innocent people killed to benefit from their life. Thomas Putnam would have people hung for his own good and would not care at all if the people accused were guilty.


Essays Related to Crucible Themes

1. The Crucible - Characters and Themes

... who presides, along with Danforth, over the witch trials. Herrick he marshal of Salem. Mercy Lewis One of the girls in Abigail's group. Themes, Motifs & Symbols Themes Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work. Intolerance The Crucible  is set in a theocratic society, in which the church and the state are one, and the religion is a strict, austere form of ...  1950s. Several parallels exist between the House Un-American Activities Committee's rooting out of suspected communists during this time and the seventeenth-century witch-hunt that Miller d...

  • Word Count: 4038
  • Approx Pages: 16
  • Grade Level: High School

2. The crucible

... is weakened as John is seen to be a liar. Abigail's credibility is re-enforced because Danforth is leaning towards her side of the argument. In the Crucible the stage directions are often used to build up tension. The stage directions can provoke many emotions including sympathy, suspicion, curiosity, tension, confusion, fear, hatred ... Might it be we have no afflicting spirits loose" This makes Mary Warren Feel small and threatened by him. In the "yellow bird scene" several themes are revealed like the conflict between good and evil and love passion and lust. The conflict between good ...

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

3. Themes of The Crucible

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 ... confess to being guilty of witchcraft, although, in actuality, there were no witches. In the end, many innocent people died from these witchcraft trials. The Crucible uses strong themes to show the events and actions which took place in the year of 1692, in Salem, Massachusetts. One major theme in the play was justice. ... when Abigail pressured a...

  • Word Count: 753
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

4. Comparison of Themes Between The Scarlet Letter and The Cruc

... of the forest, and truth. But they also had many similar views, which dictate the path that is followed in their literary works. The author of The Crucible saw the nature of evil as a thing of children. This view can be seen when, through a sick, twisted joke, a group of children pretend to ... Nathaniel Hawthorne's view on the forest in The Scarlet Letter. The Scarlet Letter does not see the forest in such a grim light as does The Crucible, but it does see the forest as a place where you express your true self, outside the boundaries of society. The forest is the first place ... Dimmes...

  • Word Count: 656
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

5. Themes And the Crucible

... Arthur Miller is a historical play, but more importantly a social and psychological drama. The diverse ways the themes are developed through The Crucible are through characters, plot, setting and dialogue. The importance of the witch-trials is, that in themthe moral crisis of a society is explicit, is directly enacted and stated, in such a ... 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...

  • Word Count: 637
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

6. Crucible

... theme of Arthur Miller's, The Crucible. Closely related to the word "crucifixion", The Crucible is about a man put in a crucible situation, who is forced to choose between life and morality, just as Jesus Christ did. Miller interweaved these scenarios to form the main themes of the play - the problem ... of making the right moral choice and the necessity of sacrifice as a means of redemption. Both of these themes ... can be abridged to form one main theme, good versus evil. Based on the Salem witch trials of the late 17th century, The Crucible explores the vulnerability of a society an...

  • Word Count: 1259
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: High School

7. Crucible

Themes in "The Crucible" The play The Crucible introduces us to some vital insights by the themes presented throughout it. One of these themes is that fear and suspicion are infectious and can produce a state of general hysteria that results in the destruction of public order and rationality. This theme is displayed in the past in Hollywood as well as Salem. These two themes displayed in The ... Crucible are applied to today's life as well as in past historic events. First off, in order to understand the theme of fear and suspicion being infectious and producing ... deaths and irrational acc...

  • Word Count: 425
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

8. Crucible

... 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 happen to be Personal Tragedy, Integrity and Ambition. Picture this; the year is around1696, and you are a Puritan mother. Your ... feed the town lies that he condoned witchcraft. He was not willing to hand over his name to Danforth, because he had what I believe was one of the most important themes displayed in this book: Integrity. Anot...

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

9. Paranoia, the Cold War and The Crucible

... mock the government officials and portrays them as overly suspicious, and dim. The officials were made to parallel the judges in The Crucible. Arthur Miller does a similar job of drawing the paranoia of the Red Scare. The Crucible depicts similar themes of paranoia as the political cartoons. The citizens of Salem have reached a point of paranoia that causes them to question even their ... grow immensely distrustful of each other. Similar to the Anti-Subversive Committee, the court officials' and accusers' authority are seldom questioned. "Is the accuser always holy now?" (Miller). Throu...

  • Word Count: 945
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

10. The Crucible

... Miller Through the dramatic play, the Crucible, Arthur Miller presents the audience with many themes. Some examples being the impact of hysteria, conformity versus the freedom of individuality, and the wrongful use of authority. These themes are all eternal issues, which continually re-occur in society throughout time, and therefore can be seen as "universal messages". This essay will discuss these messages ... symbolising the loss of any human dignity, and Sarah Good symbolising a scapegoat, suffering from the injustices of authority figures abusing their powers. One of Millers univers...

  • Word Count: 925
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

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