Although his wife, Elizabeth Proctor is nice enough that can forgive his sin, John Proctor has his mind set that he will not confess to anyone else, in fear of running his good name. The affair between John and Abigail causes the start of chaotic witchery and accusation. Abigail became very jealous of Elizabeth Proctor. John realizes there is only way to stop all the witch hysteria in Salem, and that would be to confess adultery. He knows what he should do, but he continues to deny, until his wife is put into jail.
But, he was said to be a servant of the “Black Man.” He watched Hester stand on the scaffold holding their child, with a scarlet letter embroidered on her clothing for all to see, alone. He was too cowardly to stand up and say “Yes, that’s my child, and I am just as guilty as she is.” In the eyes of a Puritan, the devil is the only thing that could keep you from confessing your sins. Evil doesn’t always come with age, but in these circumstances it seems to be unavoidable. Dimmesdale finally comes to the
Because of their sins, the townsfolk have guilt and blame others to free themselves of it. People call out names for the witch-hunt on behalf of God; but in reality, they blame others to avoid dealing with their guilt. These accusations make the townspeople turn on their neighbors and friends, ultimately adding to the intensity of the witch trials. In contrast to the townsfolk, Giles deals with his guilt. He asks Reverend Hale to resolve his curiosity about what his wife Martha might be reading behind his back, but instead rouses the town’s suspicion of Martha being a witch.
Arrogance in pride has the potential to ruin a man’s integrity, destroy his life, and even drive a settlement to insanity. Salem experiences all of the previous and more because of the arrogance of those involved in the Salem Witch Trials. Nathan Hale is one of the few men involved in the trials who had potential to prevent its tragedies from ever occurring. When Reverend Hale was summoned to Salem, he was quick to let his “extensive” dealing with witchcraft be known. Though he is more a man of God than Parris, he is not without his faults, and his faults will prove fatal.
In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, pride played an important role. Many events in Salem took place because of pride. Pride caused innocent people to be put to death by the accusations of the convincing children of Salem. The pride of some characters caused information concealment. Parris feared that Abigail’s increasingly questionable actions and the hints of witchcraft surrounding his daughter’s coma will threaten his reputation and force him from the pulpit.
The sins that the citizens in the community committed might not have been horrible but no one judged them like they judged and humiliated Hester. When someone is disliked by majority of the people their side of the situation doesn’t matter and justice is never served correctly. Hester Prynne’s adultery was wrong but the punishment wasn’t fair. She was forced to wear the red letter A that stood for adultery, which in the religious community was a sin and a crime. Hester slept with the preacher in the town, and became pregnant, and because no unmarried man came forward, they assumed that she slept with a married man.
John also detests vanity and greed. He completely stopped going to church because Parris would “…preach nothin’ but golden candlesticks until he had them.” he said “…it hurt my prayer, sir…” to “…see my money glaring at his elbows.” John Proctor’s motivation in the play was to save his wife from being accused as a witch in court. At the end of Act II, his wife is taken by Danforth because she was accused by Abigail of practicing voodoo, and attempted
His implication was that he has lied before and therefore it would be no different if he lied again; he was not an untainted soul and thus it would not be tarnished if he had lied. This indicated that he has lost respect and faith in himself as he began to waive from his beliefs. Proctor: “I have three children - how may I teach them to walk like men in the world, and I sold my friends?” Proctor’s refusal to condemn his innocent friends proved him to be a
These works of literature have clear conflicts that revolve around the value of the expectations and aspects of one’s character. In 1692, Salem, Massachusetts was a largely theocratic community. Religion and Law were practically one and the same. From the beginning of The Crucible, Reverend Parris fears that his daughter’s coma and his niece’s, Abigail, suspicious behavior will destroy his reputation and ultimately his career by being associated in any way with witchcraft. “If you trafficked with spirits in the forest, I must know it now, for surely my enemies will, and they will ruin me with it.” (Miller, 11) John Proctor, the protagonist, is under the manipulation of Abigail throughout the play, because he struggles between preserving his reputation or stopping Abigail’s mischief and saving his wife by exposing their secret affair.
The society has been swept away by religion since they do not criticize Meursault because of his direct involvement in the murder but they despise him because of other issues. The society conflicts with Meursault because during the burial of her mother, it is claimed that he never showed emotions or any form of depression. He is also said to have made sex with Marie the following day after they attended in a Fernandel comedy and this made things more controversial. The prosecutor judges him by saying that, “…all I see is a monster.” I think that religion had eroded