Conflict Brings Out the Worst in People

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Conflict brings out the worst in people.

Statement of explanation

My response to this prompt is written in the form of a speech for publication written for a conference of interested and educated people who are concerned about the nature and future of the human spirit. The stance adopted is, that whileconflict may bring out the worst in some people it may also bring out the best in others. This is not to say that the majority of us might well respond to conflict in a more complex way, which avoids the two extremes.

Arthur Miller's play, the Crucible, will be used to help develop this thesis, for it presents a spectrum of responses from various characters when presented with fears that accusations of witchcraft, whether they exploited the conflict, put their own safety first, performed prodigies of rationalisation, or stood up against injustice. Miller's purpose in writing this play was to protest against what he saw as abuse of legal process and human rights in the anti-Communist witch hunts in the USA of the early 1950s, as well as to vindicate his own part in the conflict.

Fiction, film, historical and current events also offer some comparable scenarios, where characters are forced by the pressure of conflict to make choices and decisions which define them morally. These will include the print and film versions of Harper Lee's, To Kill a Mockingbird, a film version of the Crucible, references to the lives of some 20th-century heroes and villains, and passing attention to other relevant examples.

Language will be a challenge, a seamless transition from the general to the specific context of Miller's play, must appear natural. In the speech, attention will be given to rhetorical features which address the audience in the second person, using inclusive language and other ploys to capture the tone of the presentation. When considering the characters in
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