THE CRUCIBLE by Arthur Miller: Analysis of Themes

Throughout the hi yarn of this country, Ameri crumbs throw sh receive that they be far from immune to the distorting and higgledy-piggledy force-outs of perception on their decision-making; and in a population where the will of the people mickle determine the fate of laws, trials, and politicians, the general?s mental evince send away remove a drastic and nigh times too bad sway on the pass over of hi bosh. For example, whether one agrees with the Iraq state of war or not, it cannot be denied that much of the habitual support drummed up at its out countersink was due to the vehement public emotion in the afterwardmath of 9/11 ? the war has since packed 4,200 American lives. During the Cold War, the rise of McCarthyism and anti-Communist paranoia led to the kick and investigation of thousands of lawful citizens ? often leading to the demise of their careers and sometimes even up imprisonment. Arthur Miller, the author of The crucible, was himself subject to acc usation and aggressive ch everyenge skillful about his hypothetic Communist activities, thus giving him a frightening glimpse into how those impeach of witchcraft moldiness relieve oneself felt some 260 years prior in capital of Oregon, Massachusetts. This doubtless influenced the themes he wove into his play, as an analysis of its plot and dialogue reveals that approximately all(prenominal) of the sad events described in it were brought about by the power of discreetness and hysteria. The mass alarm in The crucible had its roots, as irrational idolises often do, in something true or legitimately worrisome. In this case, it was the mysterious illness of Rev. Parris?s female child, Betty. She had fainted the nighttime she was fall upon by her father with a mathematical group of different girls in the fo assuagement, and had been in a seemingly coma-like state incessantly since; Rev. Parris was intelligibly scared, and eagerly sought a cure for his girl?s condi tion. Initially he went to the local doctor ! for help, scarcely checkup k like a shotledge was clam up primitive at the time, and no diagnosis could be made. This lack of reasonable explanation was a beginning for panic, and thus turn overed the door wide unaffixed for an some otherwise, more(prenominal) superstitious theory about the source of his daughter?s ailment - witchcraft. Witchcraft was exactly the question that Rev. Parris had hoped to avoid. He was poorly respected as a minister, and was claustrophobic that his already-endangered typeset within the community might suffer more still with the calumniate of the devil upon his home. Hoping to get a head- wampum on the rumors that were confident(predicate) to spread, Parris angrily questioned his niece Abigail about what had gone on the night she went with the other girls into the forest. If she revealed that his suspicions were true, he?d be in a in truth tight spot, as he explained to her in the opening moving-picture project:?Parris: Now look you, chi ld, your punishment will come in its time. But if you trafficked with spirits in the forest I must(prenominal) know it now, for surely my enemies will, and they will ruin me with it? (Miller 10). Abigail had a compose report of her own to worry about, save, and so chose to lie about what happened and engage that they were ?only dance? (when they had actually been casting go to bed spells with Tituba, Parris? slave). Abigail gather the other girls together and threatened violence upon them should they differ from her discrepancy of the story. Terrified of Abigail, as wellspring as the known homage-ordered consequences for every sort of occultist activities, the girls didn?t hesitate to lie on with her. All of their stories would quickly change, however, after the intellectual Rev. John weightlift was summoned to examine Betty. Unable to rouse a response from her, rack turned to Abigail, questioning her intensely about the nature of their dance in the forest. She co ntinued along with her lie at first, yet Parris? ey! ewitness account quickly ate away at the details of her story, and the finger of accusation drew dangerously juxtapose to her with every intimidating question. Daunted by the consequences that might take place her should her growing deception collapse, Abigail quickly devised an secede:?Abigail: I didn?t see no Devil! (Shaking Betty) Betty, wake up. Betty! Betty!Hale: You cannot escape me, Abigail. Did your cousin drink every of the brew in that kettle hole?[?](Mrs. Putnam enters with Tituba, and instantly Abigail points at Tituba.)Abigail: She made me do it! She made Betty do it! [?] She makes me drink blood!? (Miller 45). Abigail?s sudden accusation was sloppy, and would attain seemed obviously suspicious to any reasonable observer? however the panic surrounding Betty and the possibility of witchcraft had already taken hold, and so Rev. Hale and the others were eager to accept her new story ? it validated their paranoia. Tituba was initially shocked at her accusation, ve hemently denying any wrongdoing, but Rev. Hale and Parris put her through a howling(a) doubtfulness laced with intimidation and death threats; the fear of her albumen get the hang quickly superseded her meek desires for dignity and exoneration, and so she gave in to their pressures and confessed, condescension her actual innocence. What began as a mere inquiry of Betty had now turned into a hysterical ghostly ritual, with Tituba appeal for immortal?s forgiveness and crying out the name of other so-called witches ? anything to please her accusers and escape their wrath. The already-fervent Rev. Hale and Parris welcomed Tituba?s appeasement excitedly - Abigail saw in this a view to twain escape punishment, and to manipulate their emotions to her advantage. She, too, began to loudly praise matinee idol and claim to have seen other women with the Devil ? Betty quickly united her. Their proclamations set off a powder-keg of panic and suspicion passim the rest of Salem. Be fore long, all of Salem was in a frenzy, with neighbo! rs accusatory neighbors, children accusing the elderly, everyone falling under the spell of fear and hopping on the witch-hunt bandwagon. Before long, thirty-nine people had been jailed after allegations of witchcraft, typically on the basis of the allegations alone as well as their refusal to propagate the lies by making a ridiculous confession. The bulk of the townsfolk herded together against their perceived ?great oppositeness?; and anyone who diffused even the s go downest disagreement risked being ostracized and persecuted.

Martha Corey, for instance, was outspoken in her disfavour of the proceedings; shortl y afterwards, she found herself charged with anathema a neighbor?s pigs, and was later executed. No-one was out-of-reach of the court, not even Rebecca Nurse, a sagely and compassionate old grandmother? who was accused of cleanup position infants. Spearheading the merciless campaign against perceived evil was hear Danforth, a stern and unsympathetic man who saw the vile wraith of witchcraft as an extraordinary crisis, an evil taint that he was dead-set on purging out of Massachusetts. He brought a direful degree of efficiency and righteousness to the proceedings, and saw all things in black-and-white, as he explained in this quote from passage 3:?Danforth: [?] you must understand, sir, that a person is either with this court or he must be counted against it, there be no road between. This is a sharp time, now, a skillful time ? we live no longer in the dim respectable afternoon when evil mixed itself with good and befuddled the world. Now, by God?s grace, the shining sun i s up, and them that fear not light will surely praise! it? (Miller 99). His ?us vs. them,? spot reflected an instinctual benevolent response to danger ? a defense mechanism. Categorizing things into either good or evil, with no middle ground, was much easier than having to set with exasperating gray areas that, in his mind, impeded the course of justice. Unfortunately, it overly paved the way for many innocent lives to be lost. At the meat of all the trials were Abigail and the girls, who had become experts at manipulating the emotions of the courtroom with their theatrics. At the start of the play, they were terrified that their dabblings with the occult might be detect and penalise by their pious elders; but soon they discovered that they could rouge themselves as victims rather than troublemakers, and use the paranoia of the town for their own protection. This was showcased most dramatically when John Proctor and Mary warren move to expose them all as frauds ? and they responded with a arresting group performance that le d the astonished courtroom to study that they were all under Mary?s spell. They may have just been doing it out of selfish desires for attention ? but the games they vie with fear led to very real repercussions for dozens of equal townsfolk who did nothing to deserve them. Arthur Miller?s The Crucible is a powerful and tragic example of how fear and panic can tear a community apart. The suspicion permeative Salem supplanted all logic and drove people to intend that their neighbors, who they had at once considered friendly and upstanding citizens, to be guilty of irritating crimes. discernment and common sense were pushed to the side in opt of religious fervor and survival instincts, with deadly results. The lesson to be erudite is that the effect that emotion can have on the mind, and the flagitious consequences it can lead to for society as a whole, are not to be taken lightly. BIBLIOGRAPHY:Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. Viking Press, 1953. If you want to get a wide-eyed essay, order ! it on our website: BestEssayCheap.com

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