The Crucible and The Scarlet Letter share many themes that are still present in today’s society, such as the use of public humiliation as a punishment. Because of their sins, both John Proctor and Hester Prynne were alienated and punished by their peers and town leaders. The public humiliation that they faced helped shape the characters in the eyes of the reader and affected the way that they behaved and acted. The most obvious theme contained in both texts is sin. In The Scarlet Letter, the sin that has been committed is adultery where Hester Prynne and Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale conceive an illegitimate child, a daughter named Pearl.
While lying with Betty, she warns the other girls, “If anyone breathe a word or the edge of a word about the other things, I will come to you in the black of some terrible night” (). However, when the news of her and the other girl's strange actions spreads like wildfire, the hysteria sets in. Abigail only contributes to the hysteria, though. She makes up lie after lie just to conceal her wrongdoing. She even pretends to see Mary Warren take the shape of a yellow bird while in court just to take the focus off her and John’s affair.
The course of enacting revenge is symbolically signified through the fervour of allegations of witchcraft, which destroys all judgment and creates a sense of belonging with the members of the community that have been involved in monstrous actions, such as killing babies and communicating with the devil. Miller, having been blamed of being a communist along with many of his friends, is critical of this hysteria. Despite some of his characters’ legitimate fear of witchcraft, the fervour surrounding their accusations leads to innocent people being accused of wrongdoing to satisfy vengeful grudges and create a sense of belonging. Abigail accuses Elizabeth of witchcraft in order to seek revenge, as Elizabeth acknowledges when she says, Abigail ‘thinks to kill me, then to take my place’. This shows Abigails desire to belong not only to proctor but also within the community, by taking Elizabeth’s position.
The Red Scare and The Crucible What do Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and the Red Scare of the 1950’s have in common? Well first, The Crucible is actually an allegory of the Red Scare. An allegory is “the expression by means of symbolic fictional figures and actions of truths or generalizations about human existence.” Basically, using a narrative to reflect something that happened within the real world, such as politics. The Red Scare was a movement led by Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950’s in an attempt to cause mass awareness, or fear in my opinion, among the public about Communist spies living amongst the masses and even within the government. The Red Scare caused many American citizens to fear that Communism would thrive in America over our Capitalist system, causing our whole government to be turned into a country ran by the Communist Party.
The Villain A villain is someone capable of a crime or wickedness. Curley's wife demonstrates that she is a villain by causing emotional harm to others. She talks to other guys and start disputes between the workers and Curley on various occasions. She also does not hold back when it comes to insulting people she does not hold back and always makes sure that everyone is beneath her. In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck Curley's wife demonstrates multiple time that she is a villain and in many ways is the cause of her own death.
Salem, Massachusetts in the late 17th century was full of hysteria about witches casting spells, spirits being conjured, and the devil influencing the townspeople. Accusations of witchcraft, for personal vengeance, hurled fellow citizens into jail for eventual execution. The greedy were taking neighbors land once their innocent blood was spilled for crimes of witchery. John Proctor disliked the court’s lack of justice, and thought that the spreaders of the lies only did it to get what they wanted. All he wanted was for fair trials to be conducted and evidence to be looked for, because he was a very just individual and when a debate of who had authority he said “we vote by name in this society, not by acreage” (1.
While In court with Mary Warren, Abigail and the girls say, “Why do you come, yellow bird?” (106). They claim that Mary Warren is sending the devil upon them. They all establish lie in order to be heard over Mary Warren. The girls and Abigail feel as though since they lack power in the community that lying is the only way they can gain that power and feel as though they impact the community. Through all of history women have struggled to have a voice.
The perhaps most critical theme in ‘The Crucible’ is the role that hysteria can play in tearing apart a community. Hysteria replaces logic and enables people to believe that their neighbors, whom they have always considered upstanding people, are committing absurd and unbelievable crimes—communing with the devil, killing babies, and so on. In ‘The Crucible’, the townsfolk accept and become active in the hysterical climate not only out of genuine religious faithfulness but also because it gives them a chance to express repressed sentiments and to act on long-held grudges. The most obvious case is Abigail, who uses the situation to accuse Elizabeth Proctor of witchcraft and have her sent to jail. But others thrive on the hysteria as well: Reverend Parris strengthens his position within the village, albeit temporarily, by making scapegoats of people like Proctor who question his authority.
Hysteria leads the people of Salem to believe that those who were friends are executing witchery and associating themselves with the devil. The continuous accusations of witchery present the people of Salem with a chance to redeem long-term grudges. The abundant case of Abigail Williams uses the current situation to indict charges on Elizabeth Proctor, having her sent to jail. Not to be entirely blamed, Reverend Parries also pronounces his placement in society by accusing the people who question his authority. Hysteria can prosper from those who feed off of it.
As we read through the work, we learn that as Pearl develops so too does the levels of intricacy and pain of Hester Prynne's sin. Hawthorne first reveals the significance of Pearl when he introduces Hester during her public shaming. The horrified women of the town scold and humiliate her for the entire world to see - the proof lying in that growing mass in her stomach. The issue is that in reality all Puritans were victim to sin occasionally; Hester was simply one of the few who carried the proof on her - to live her repentance. Alternatively, the rest of the Puritan society would hide their sins from the light of day: preferring the drag them to judgment day rather than unveil them before the scrutinizing community.