The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a play about what happened during the Salem Witch Trials. It gives insight about what people had to deal with in this situation and how they handled it. The trials were basically a big test which helped figuring out whether or not people were guilty of witchcraft. This is an example of what a crucible is. In our world today we still have crucibles and even though they are different than back then, they all relate to each other because of what influence they have on people. These “tests” make us act a certain way to achieve a reputation that we’re proud to display in public. But what exactly do these crucibles really do to us? A crucible is defined as a “very significant and difficult trial or test”. In the play …show more content…
In the play Abigail only cares about herself and what she can do to protect herself. When the girls talk in Betty’s room and Mary shows weakness and wants to tell everyone about what they did in the forest, Abigail gets really angry. She threatens the girls and is not afraid to show what she is willing to do. “Now look you. All of you. We danced. And Tituba conjured Ruth Putnam’s dead sisters. And that is all. And mark this – let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you. And you know I can do it; I saw Indians smash my dear parents’ head on the pillow next to mine, and I have seen some reddish work done at night, and I can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down!” (Miller 12). This quote shows how Abigail has changed and what she’d do if she was confronted with such a situation. She made the decision quickly and opted to only save herself. Over the course of the book it gets represented pretty well that she is capable of doing everything to hold up her reputation: she wants to be a saint. Every decision she makes is like a little test that shows what kind of person and friend she is. Coming off of this she doesn’t perform well as an example as either of
Abigail is a selfish and manipulative. She makes other people do things for her. That way is more obvious to people believe what she is saying is true. She never wants to take responsibility of her own actions and that's another reason why she lies and makes people lie just because she wants to be covered. Abigail's belief is that she always wants to be right on the choices she makes.
Abigail is one of the most inconsiderate, shallow and careless person there is in the Crucible, she does not realize that she is always affecting the life of the man she is rooting to stay and have all for herself. If Abigail really loved Proctor she should care and keep him safe from
The crucible is defined as a severe trial of test, which not only happened in Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible, but also in Miller's life. Arthur Miller wanted The Crucible to symbolize McCarthyism. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s McCarthyism was prominent in America and is known as the paranoid hunt for infiltrators who were communist sympathizers. Writers and entertainers were mainly targeted because they have a lot of influence in society and were used an example. Targeting writers and entertainers showed the people that the government wouldn't sympathize with anyone who supported communism and shook fear into the town.
And mark this. Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you” (317). Abigail is trying to convince herself that this is all she did with the girls even though, in reality, she knows they did much more. She does this in order to make herself feel less guilt towards the situation. She knows the trouble she will get into so she chooses to
The Salem witch trials proved to be one of the most cruel and fear driven events to ever occur in history. Many innocent people were accused of witchcraft, and while some got out of the situation alive not everyone was as lucky. Arthur Miller the author of The Crucible conveys this horrific event in his book and demonstrates what fear can lead people to do. But the reason as to why Arthur Miller felt the need to write The Crucible in the first place was because the unfortunate reality that history seemed to have repeated itself again. In the article “Are You Now or Were You Ever”, Arthur Miller claims that the McCarthy era and the Salem witch trials were similar and he does this through his choice of diction, figurative language, and rhetorical questions.
Do you remember learning about the Holocaust in school? Do you remember all of the feelings and thoughts you had? Imagine if it was you. Imagine if you were one of the soldiers. Would you stand up for what was right?
Abigail is the ring leader of the young girls who pretend to be victims of witchcraft. Since she has the support of all the girls, they back up
Mary Warren, Mercy, Betty and Abigail gave the impression of a close knit bond. But, in secret Abigail is ruthless to the girls. This personality change shows the steaks of the situation at hand. Maybe Abigail did value their friendship but not enough to put before her own greed. She found it easier to protect herself by bullying the potential threats.
In the first Act, Abigail manipulates the girls into helping her lie about the forest “incident” in the beginning of the play. "Now look you, all of you we danced and Tituba conjured Ruth Putnam 's dead sisters, and that is all. Mark this let either of you breathe a word and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you." (Miller I, 20). In this quote, Abigail becomes aware of what she did in the forest along with the girl and threatens them to keep silence if they want to keep their lives.
Abigail oftentimes makes me wonder what people would do in order to have a good reputation. In the play Abigail only cares about herself and what she can do to protect herself. When the girls talk in Betty’s room and Mary shows weakness and wants to tell everyone about what they did in the forest, Abigail gets really angry. She threatens the girls and is not afraid to show what she is willing to do. “Now look you.
Abigail uses her own personal desires to get to what she wants even though many people died in the
Based off both of this text, one can see that in a time or crisis, people will abandon the morals and ethics they have, and essentially sacrifice the people around them to save themselves. The Crucible starts with small talk about girls dancing in the forest, and somehow, this begins to turn into talk of those girls being witches. As the story picks up, friends begin turning on each other. Abigail, a devious character, while in a heated argument with Betty and Mary on what to confess states, “We danced.
Abigail fuels this situation even more with her manipulative personality. She is a very selfish girl and she is willing to do whatever she can to protect herself. Abigail “smashes her across the face: Shut it! Now shut it!” Abigail smacks Betty when she starts remembering what happened and that Abigail drank blood to kill John Proctor’s wife.
The Crucible “The Crucible” is a play, by Arthur Miller, about the Salem Witch Trials. After reading “The Crucible”, you will be asking yourself, is it necessary for a person to suffer? The answer to the question is shown through the characters, Giles Corey, John and Elizabeth Proctor, and Abigail Williams. John Proctor is a respected puritan man in the community. John had made the mistake of sleeping with, a teenage girl, Abigail Williams.
Abigail 's heartless attitude is shown in act two when she frames and accuses Elizabeth Proctor for witchcraft. She desired and longed for this revenge on poor Proctors innocent wife, aiming for her through out the play. Later on in Act Three she seems to lose her last attachment of society by destroying John Proctor, who she claims to love with all her heart. When John attempts and threatens to expose Abigail’s wrong doings, she skillfully manages to turn the whole problem around on him, sending him off