“The Crucible” by Arthur Miller is driven by certain characters dominating or manipulating others. Throughout the entire play Abigail Williams is the epitome of manipulative, scheming and vengeful behavior. She uses everyone around her by intimidating them into saying incriminating things in court, and abusing background knowledge for her own agenda. This impression of Abigail is delivered through the use of dialogue and stage directions, reflecting the power and influence one person can have over another. Miller leaves the audience with a negative impression of the affect that these with power can have over others as he conveys the suffering that can result from such situations.
Guilt is constantly seen throughout the play Macbeth driving the characters to question their morals. To the responder it appears that Lady Macbeth is the driving force behind the initial killing of King Duncan influencing her husband Macbeth to commit the evil deeds by threatening him with his man hood by saying “when you do it, then you are a man”. Her tone portrays her dominant nature and her hunger for authority and demonstrates to the responder her strength as a character. However her over confident traits and clear and concise thinking is diminished once the guilt of the crime poisons her conscience. This is demonstrated by her imagining her hands stained by blood and her constantly trying to clean the “damned spot” away and rid her sole of the guilt.
The use of this allows the reader to be involved in the description of the situation that the lady is currently undergoing, and this is simply her cheating ‘Lover’. The use of imperatives throughout the poem, ‘’NOW, Mash, Grind’’ exaggerates her needs of death. She portrays that she is also as ambitious to kill Elise and Pauline and hurt her ‘Lover’ as Lady Macbeth is to become Queen. Browning uses
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.
Petruchio embarks on a near-impossible plan, which consists of depriving Katherine of essential activities in an attempt to tame her. Katherine Minola, daughter of Baptista, is undoubtedly a stereotypical virago. A virago, or a shrew, is basically defined as a woman of violent temper, and speech. Katherine substantiates her allegation of a shrew in many occasions. The first sign of her aggressive behavior is seen when she unashamedly cusses Hortensio " I' faith, sir, you shall never need to fear.
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.
The witches were the driving force of Macbeth’s guilty ambition and were the prophecies that would play on his mind continually. “All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be King hereafter,” (Act One, Scene 3, Line 53). Following this, readers are introduced to Lady Macbeth, another character that encounters an ambitious discourse. The audience witnesses Lady Macbeth and Macbeth’s ambitious discourse being ruined when they conclude that the only way to be on the throne is to commit the murder of the loyal King Duncan. The murderous actions of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth lead to their guilty ambition influencing each other to commit deeds that would not only ruin their clean conscience, but also their cultural assumptions.
"And often to win us to our harm, the instruments of darkness tell us truths." This quote is spoken by Banquo, it expresses the cunning, foul witches and how they play with the minds of the weak, in this case Macbeth's aspiring consciousness, in order for acts of evil to be committed by telling only half truths. Banquo confronts our protagonist about these 'Instruments of darkness', but in defiance to this warning, our protagonist is consumed by his desire to acquire power, sending this warning into oblivion. This is the beginning of Macbeth's destruction, his vulnerability is unearthed as we start to uncover his own instrument of evil embedded deep within the core of his soul. We start to see that seed of corruption growing, and how he is not so noble after all.
Gillian MacDonald 21 March 2013 ENG 4U Mr. Chalmers The Ringleaders of the Salem Witch Trials In the book The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the theme of hysteria is dominantly present throughout the entire play. It is not hard to narrow down the cause of the widespread hysteria to three people that inevitably had their hand in the trials. The devious character, Abigail, shows her wicked mind and skill of manipulation in the play so she can get what she wants, John Proctor. The slave, Tituba, gave into the accusations and started the hysteria of the witch trials. The last character that contributed to an entire town’s belief in witches would be Danforth.
Nevertheless, it is the innate evil in Macbeth that makes him curious about their predictions. In fact Banquo’s statements on noticing Macbeth’s reaction to the witches’ prophesies, “Look how our partner’s rapt,” make us suspect Macbeth’s integrity. Again, the fact that he gets dependant on the witches for further advice clearly demonstrates the evil in him. While it was the initial influence of the witches, that led Macbeth astray, it is ultimately Macbeth’s decision to commit such heinous crimes.” Apart from the witches, Lady Macbeth also has a profound influence on bringing about Macbeth’s tragedy. Lady Macbeth is an evil and ruthless woman who, being aware of Macbeth’s ambitious nature decides to exploit it and manipulates him into murdering King Duncan.