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. Throughout the story Hester is put on display and humiliated for her sin, while Dimmsdale is still thought to be the "almighty" minister. In similarity from The Crucible, sin is put on trial. The Crucible directly addresses the themes and ideas from Salem Witch Trials. The young girls and their leader Abigail are the core of sin and evil in the girls and the community.
Throughout the years, witchcraft has been the common fear of mankind. In England, the legal definition of a witch was “a person who hath a conference with the devil to consult with him or to do some act”. In early modern Europe, women were thought to be witches due to their biblical association with the devil, the superstitions and misunderstanding of the people of Europe, and the negative perceptions of those who deviated from the social norm. As a result, these beliefs and superstitions led to the death of thousands of alleged witches. (Witch Hunts) Witches were thought to be consults of the devil who gave up their bodies and led others away from the church for the devil in exchange for otherworldly power.
The characters that break these sins are Deputy Gov. Danforth, the person sentencing accused witches, Abigail Williams who is a self claimed victim of witchcraft and John Proctor, a well known man who is falsely accused of witchcraft.. Danforth broke the sins of pride and sloth, John Proctor breaks sins of lust and pride and Abigail Williams breaks sins of lust and gluttony. The character Abigail Williams sinned profusely in the play The Crucible. A couple of sins she committed were lust and gluttony. A direct example of Abigail expressing lust is on page 176 “John, I am waitin’ for you every night.
Crucible in the Modern Day World The world is full of those who think their ways are better than others. These people condemn those who don’t have their same beliefs. Prejudice views and judgments cause the world to erupt in wars and conflicts that sometimes are not easy to overcome. The Crucible still speaks to audiences because of prejudice and false judgment everywhere. In the Crucible, Parris tells Tituba she must confess: “You will confess or I will take you out and whip you to your death, Tituba!” (1233).
Hysteria in Salem In 1692, in Salem Massachusetts, the superstition of witches existed in a society of strong Christian beliefs. Anybody who acted out of the ordinary was accused of being a witch and the accused would actually be forgiven if they blamed their accusations on another individual. In this play, a group of young girls is accused of being witches. These girls then blame other people in order to get out of trouble and even pretend to be "bewitched" in front of the court during a trial. This leads into the deaths of the innocent people who are accused and automatically found guilty.
Miller characterizes Abigail as a conniving young girl willing to harm others with the objective of personal gain. When accused of working with the devil Abigail results to blame others with this crime. Abigail realizes the power she has, when prominent figures in town believe her accusations. Her goal to take down Elizabeth Proctor becomes possible, when the trials regarding witchcraft result in hangings. Abigail's insufficient set of morals allow her to pursue her mission regardless of the repercussions on innocent people in town.
The Civil Rights Movements and The Salem witchcraft trials Since the witch trials times in Salem and before, fear and persecution have acted on people’s life. It doesn’t matter if the person was one of the involved or not, it affected indirectectly everyone around. Arthur Miller in the Crucible showed a perfect fear and persecution scenery using the Salem witchcraft trials as and example. Arthur Miller used the Crucible to represent the Mc Cartheism, when the communists were been “persecuted” and everyone was pointing fingers to the enemies. As in Salem, it started with a small portion of people trying to accuse people for personal reasons and ended with a big mass of ruined lives without any evidence.
The witches sound evil and many fear them because of their powers and witchery. They also want Macbeth to be king by saying, “Hail, Hail!” when he walks in. The witches know that this will make him anxious, in which it does. These three hags can also be portrayed as Fates in the mythology state. February 1, 2012 “When shall we three meet again?
Analysis During the time of the witch trials if someone did something that was odd or uncommon they would be accused of being a witch. Or if someone didn’t like someone they would accuse the person of being a witch using false or exaggerated proof. Abigail and the other girls would accuse people in Salem simply because they got in the way of what they wanted. Accusations were thrown easily into situations and people became paranoid. Abigail and the other girls and Parris accused Tituba of being a witch.
The Salem Witch Trials + Arthur Miller= A Good Movie Arthur Miller's The Crucible delivers a powerful message to its modern American viewers about one of the more controversial chapters of our country's history. As a dramatization of the Salem Witch Trials, the movie brought the historical context of the time period to the big screen. The trials, which began in 1692 and resulted in the deaths of nineteen people, demonstrated the dangers of allowing the blurring together of church and state so closely that a legal trial was used to determine the fate of those who "were working with the devil" (Divine, Breen, Fredrickson, Williams, Gross, Brands, 83). The story is set in seventeenth century Massachusetts, where Puritanism had become the social norm. One of the key themes is that under time of stress and adversity, neighbors, friends, and even family members have a tendency to turn on each other when they allow fear to govern their actions.