The Fate Of Cory Giles Corey In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

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‘More weight!’ (Miller 186). These are the last words to come out of Cory Giles as stones are being placed upon his chest in a bid to force him to comply to the interrogators by agreeing to the accusations and giving up his friends after they are accused of practicing witchcraft. The Crucible is a play written by Arthur Miller in 1953 depicting the life of a man that was accused of witchcraft, and all the misfortunes that followed him from that point in his life. He stands trial for his supposed crime and proceedings end up being very interesting. The story is based on the real witch hunt chronicles that occurred in Salem, Massachusetts, in the year 1962, also known as the Salem Witch Trials. Arthur Miller developed this play during the Red …show more content…

The crucial moment came for Giles Corey to plead guilty as expected by the jury. This moment would determine the fate of Giles Corey’s family since his fate had already been decided. In case he pleaded guilty, his property would be excommunicated from the Christian community and his property would be snatched from him. However, in case he denied he would still be considered a Christian and his property would remain in his hands. The two versions recorded provide different accounts of his fate as far as Christianity is concerned. The book and history records provide contradictory information about his status probably due to inaccurate records or speculation. History records Corey’s stand using the following quote, “During his torture, on September 18, Giles Corey was excommunicated from the church on equivocal grounds. The church documents argue that he was either guilty of witchcraft or suicide due to his choice to endure legal torture rather than enter a plea” (Brooks). The history records came to the assumption that Corey was an excommunicated wizard who did not belong to the Christian religion. This means that he was not a part of the Christian community the moment he decided to go through the legal torture, for two reasons. The first reason was that he was guilty of practicing witchcraft, and the second reason was that he had chosen to commit suicide. Both of these reasons, at the time, were enough to warrant an excommunication from the Christian body. The reasons given by the book differ with those in history. The book records that Giles underwent the same test, where he was expected to plead guilty but he refused. The significance of the book is what is different from the historical records since the book does not have such a harsh ending for him as far as the issue of Christianity is concerned. According to the book, his fate is different and is explained by the

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