Elizabeth Proctor's Portrayal Of Women In The Crucible

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Christopher Bennett Brewington D’Antonio and Walker English 3 Acc 22 January 2015 Rough Draft It’s a common belief that we’ve come along way since the 1600s such advancements in fields like technology, medicine, and government. What “The Crucible” illustrates, however, is that the way women are viewed may still be archaic and still have some catching up to do. Arthur Miller’s portrayal of women in “The Crucible” strongly supports the stereotypes of women in the 1950s because of the similarities in social standing, inequality, and life style. The common attitude towards women in the 1950s was that they had to be a mother, homemaker, and an obedient wife. In the 1950s women had to perform certain tasks as a mother…show more content…
None of the women “The Crucible” possess a lot of power. But the truthful, pure-hearted, and family oriented women seem to be even less powerful than the others. Elizabeth Proctor and Rebecca Nurse are two of the less powerful women in The Crucible. Both of their lives are led by an instinct to serve their families and other people around them. Primarily, people were believed to be born into sin and would have to live as a puritan to cleanse themselves. With that said, women would have to attended to the house work, watching the children, and being man’s servant as an obedient wife. These are roles they had to perform to stay pure. Also women would have to attend church regular. Abigail Williams, an orphan in the story, would work as a housekeeper to assist Elizabeth Proctor. This shows how young women were treated in “The Crucible”. Women in the 1950s and women in “The Crucible” play the same roles in society, for the most part. In the play, women performed the duties of being a homemaker, mother, wife, and pure women. In the 1950s, women would rarely have jobs but mostly be a stay at home mother. These duties are essential in “The Crucible” and 1950s for the…show more content…
It seems to be that history almost repeats itself. This was also known as McCarthyism. McCarthyism was named after Joseph McCarthy who was a Senator of Wisconsin. Joseph McCarthy thought that the Communist Party of the United States was gaining too much power, so anyone who supported the communist or was suspected to have relations with the communist was thrown in jail. In “The Crucible”, the girls accused people of being witches just to make themselves look better to others to gain respect. “We are what we always were in Salem, but now the little crazy children are jangling the keys of the kingdom, and common vengeance writes the law!” (Miller 196). The direct quote from “The Crucible” means children who are overtaken by social fears have the power to control the life or death of a single individual, by accusing them of witchcraft. Many women were killed in the town of Salem during the trials and the ones who weren't killed had their reputations forever lowered. Everyone who was charged by McCarthy had his or her own reputation diminished also. The Salem witch trials and the McCarthy hearings are very similar and from very different times in history. They both involved many innocent women who were accused of being something that they were not, and were also very horrendous and repulsive to be in the day and age in which they were living. A lot of women's lives were ruined

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