Fear plays an immense role in the way people make their decisions, such as when the characters of Danforth and Mary Warren resort to hypocrisy when no other options remain. The Crucible, a play by Arthur Miller, is a story where many people had been accused of witchcraft and a lot of innocent victims faced a difficult decision. Later in Act 4, Danforth becomes angry at the implication that Johns confession may not be the truth. Hypocrisy involves the deception of others and is thus a kind of lie. Arthur Miller speaks of Reverend Parris, stating: ''until this strange crisis he, like the rest of Salem, never conceived that the children were anything but thankful for being permitted to walk straight, eyes slightly lowered, arms at the sides, and mouths shut until bidden to speak.''. People who were accused of witchcraft are wrongfully indicted, and those transgressions must be justified. 61). When she cant get John to abandon Elizabeth for her, she decides to take matters into her own hands and gain control through manipulating the fears of others. Hypocrisy In Salem And The Crucible Proctor knows that unlike most of the other people who have gotten hanged, his is not completely innocent. hypocrisy is a flaw in human character that can be avoided if chosen to be. First off, what is irony? The main pillars of traditional power are represented by the law and the church. By Act 2, there are nearly 40 people in jail accused of witchcraft. It is part of our carnal nature to hold others to a higher standard than our own. Can a work of art bring about change in the world? Abigails power skyrockets as the hysteria grows more severe. The hysterical atmosphere and the dramatic performances of some of the accusers cause people to believe they have seen genuine proof of witchcraft. Mary is a hypocrite, because she's supposed to be helping the church rid of conjurers of the devil but instead she is deceitful. Innocent and guilty people have been put to death underneath his Judgement, to him this demonstrates his superiority and power. When he starts to realize he continues to avoid people from getting mad at him for putting innocent people in jail and killing them. Parris is very quick to position himself on the side of the accusers as soon as Abigail throws the first punch, and he immediately threatens violence on Tituba if she doesn't confess (pg. Her jealousy of Elizabeth Proctors position as Johns wife has led her to attempted murder, first by the charm in the woods and now by accusing Elizabeth of witchcraft. Though the Puritans believed that children were not to be taken seriously, they are later convinced by the court officials that the children are the authorities on witchcraft. Here's another example of a potential essay question for The Crucible that's less explicit in its request for you to discuss themes of the play: "Most of the main characters in the play have personal flaws and either contribute to or end up in tragedy. Here are some discussion questions to consider after reading about the thematic role of the concepts of power and authority in the events of the play: Mary Warren when she comes back from Salem in Act 2. John tells the judge to summon Elizabeth to back him up because he knows she always tells the truth. Abigail's strength in Act I is the strength that is within her ability to influence others. A man of conscience is one who is aware of his moral and ethical beliefs and judgments and one who will prefer right over wrong. Furthermore, this is destructive influence because by telling Elizabeth to tell Proctor to lie, this adds upon his sins. As John gives his confession, Danforth says to Rebecca Nurse Now, woman, you surely see it profit nothin to keep this conspiracy any further. 12) The first act of The Crucibleclearly establishes the fact that a bad reputation can damage a persons position in this society severely and irreparably. This quotation shows the overall theme that hypocrisy is bred from the fear and condemnation of a society. The depths of the hysteria that has gripped Salem are revealed in Act 3 when John finally confronts the court. The play is about human weakness, hypocrisy, and vindictiveness. The desire to preserve and gain power pervadesThe Crucible as the witch trials lead to dramatic changes in which characters hold the greatest control over the course of events. This well-intentioned mistake seals both of their fates. How do outside forces contribute to the character's flaws and eventual downfall?". Themes tell us what the purpose of the work is. They so fear the devilish consequences of challenging the accusers that theyre willing to take them at their word and ignore any defenses the accused have to offer. When Abigail accuses Elizabeth, a respected farmers wife, it shows that she is willing to take big risks to remove Elizabeth from the picture. She believed she had seen spirits earlier because she was caught up in the delusions of those around her. For example, proctor waits till the very last minute to reveal Abigail is lying. Parris is hypocritical because he is not a . The overall message is that when a person's actions are driven by desires to preserve favorable public opinion rather than do the morally right thing, there can be extremely dire consequences. Why doesnt John immediately tell the court that he knows Abigail is faking? Her jealousy of Elizabeth Proctors position as Johns wife has led her to attempted murder, first by the charm in the woods and now by accusing Elizabeth of witchcraft. The classic example of an incorrect use of irony is in Alanis Morisette's song "Ironic" when she says that "rain on your wedding day" is an example of irony. (pg. In each paragraph these traits will be further explained . Even before Abigail makes accusations, rumors of witchcraft have morphed into accepted truths in the minds of the more superstitious members of the community. In fact, we've all seen hypocrisy in our daily lives. An example would be something like: "How are themes like hysteria, hunger for power, reputation, or any of a number of others functional in the drama? No one even considers Mary's statement about sticking the needle in herself. Danforth explains that witchcraft is an invisible crime and that only the victims are reliable. Hypocrisy is shown between the characters: Abigail Williams, Reverend Parris, and Hale. One path to higher standing and greater control would be in becoming John Proctors wife. The Judge forcing people to lie to save their lives he cant see the wrong hes doing. The town slips further and further into chaos and paranoia until it reaches a point of total devastation. . The main display of Abby's hypocrisy is her incessant accusations of the accused as being unholy, God-damned and doing the Devils work. This attitude comes from a man who has shown no remorse for condemning people to death throughout the play. To illustrate this, he simultaneously shows the Puritan belief system while describing characters that do not obey that system, yet pretend to in their daily lives. Later in Act 4, Danforth becomes angry at the implication that Johns confession may not be the truth. The town suspected her of lewd dealings, so she was put to death for it. He appears to have no governing system of morality. He is completely oblivious to the fact that the victims might be lying. One such example would be the scene in which Proctor and Parris are discussing Parris style of sermon, when Parris randomly exclaims that he is not being provided with as much wood as his contract spells out, as well as arguing for an extra six pounds per year. Why is Cory arrested? Abigail's version of events is held to be true even after John confesses to their affair in a final effort to discredit her. He claims that they must not jump to conclusions based on superstition in their investigation of Bettys affliction. He refers to Johns refusal to confess as a calamity, looking past his own involvement in the larger calamity of the conviction that led John to this point. Parris initially insists that there are no unnatural causes for Bettys illness because he fears that he will lose favor with the townspeople if witchcraft is discovered under his roof. They are extremely biased towards believing they have made the correct sentencing decisions in court thus far, so they are reluctant to accept new evidence that may prove them wrong. In the play The Crucible, Arthur Miller repeatedly portrays that duplicity and deceit are a natural part of human lives. Shes not a traditionally accepted target like the others (except in her susceptibility as a woman to the misogyny that runs rampant in the play). Both flaws led him to delay telling the truth about Abigail's fraudulent claims and their previous relationship, thus dooming himself and many others to death or imprisonment. Here again, he is driving the point home that the villagers were greedy and seeking land, so they put some of the pillars of the community to death for their own gain. This is especially true with the reputation and hysteria themes. If Tituba was permitted to explain what really happened, the ensuing tragedy might have been prevented. Being a person, from Latin persona ("mask", per and soneo - "resound") means precisely "being a mask . 41). 61). To illustrate, here are some examples of . In the Crucible by Arthur Miller is a play that is based of 1962 Salem Massachusetts, the site of one of the worst witch-hunts in history. John feels incredibly ashamed of his affair with Abigail, so he tries to bury it and pretend it never happened. Answer (1 of 7): In that all states of mind occur due to the nature of the brain, yes, hypocrisy is natural in people with that tendency. A professor tells us that he has a strict rule about cell phones in the classroom, then he answers it midway through his own lecture. They so fear the devilish consequences of challenging the accusers that theyre willing to take them at their word and ignore any defenses the accused have to offer. What is the writer attempting to convey to the viewer? The whole purpose of a trial is to hear both sides of the story before a verdict is reached. Its easy for more respectable citizens to accept that shes in league with the Devil because she is an "other" in Salem, just like Tituba. It is used to draw away from a person's counterargument through addressing something unrelated. Ann Putnam jumps at any opportunity to blame supernatural forces for the deaths of her children. Rational explanations are ground up by the drama of the rumor mill, and people see only what they want to see (whatever keeps them in the good graces of society andmakes them feel the best about themselves) in situations that don't appear to have easy explanations. Reverend Parris' concerns about his reputation are immediately evident in Act 1. Every person has some kind of flaw; no one is completely perfect. Our new student and parent forum, at ExpertHub.PrepScholar.com, allow you to interact with your peers and the PrepScholar staff. People were put to death because their neighbors suspected them of committing a crime, but murder is a sin in the Puritan religion. He has sentenced people to death based on lies about their dealings in black magic, and he has accepted other false confessions from those who would rather lie than be executed. By the end of class, you should be able to: Identify basic elements of McCarthyism, including the following terms: Other essay questions may not ask you directly about the themes listed in this article, but that doesn't mean that the themes are irrelevant to your writing. The Crucible is a play written by American author, Arthur Miller, in 1953. In The Crucible, they all fear witchcraft, because there is a rumor going around. It caused many people, in Salem during this event to think fast, rash and jump to conclusions. While touting his holy credentials, he claims that he dare not take a life without there be a proof so immaculate no slightest qualm of my conscience may doubt it (pg. This leads to Marys hysterical accusation of Proctor after she finds herself targeted by the other girls and about to be consumed by the hysteria herself if she doesnt contribute to it. Many of us in today's society do not believe in this; however, the Puritans really did believe that people could be vessels for the Devil. SAT is a registered trademark of the College Entrance Examination BoardTM. Hereferences the many sentencing decisions he has already made in the trials of the accused. This immaculate proof that has led him to sign numerous death warrants is nothing but the fabrications of teenage girls and other townspeople seeking petty revenge. This lie essentially condemns both of them. When she cant get John to abandon Elizabeth for her, she decides to take matters into her own hands and gain control through manipulating the fears of others. Compare and contrast three authority figures in this drama: Hale, Danforth, and Parris. This is taken as evidence that things are really getting out of control ("if Rebecca Nurse be tainted, then nothing's left to stop the whole green world from burning." When she is brought in for questioning and claims to see Marys familiar spirit, she says Envy is a deadly sin, Mary.Abigail herself has acted out of envy for the entire play. She attended church regularly and was the embodiment of how a Puritan woman should behave. Ironically, he is the first to demand a confession from Tituba based on Abigail's dramatic but false testimony. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the setting is Salem, Massachusetts during the late 1600s where the towns pious Puritan beliefs directly influence their government. Interestingly, she was the first woman put to death in the trials. Just like generosity, honesty and kindness are natural in people with those tendencies. The power of collective hysteria ultimately becomes insurmountable because it grows larger than the influence of the few rational voices in the community. Why does John decide to ruin his reputation in Act 3 by confessing to the affair? Ironically, though she is normally honest to a fault, in this situation Elizabeth decides to lie to preserve Johns reputation, not knowing he has already confessed. If you argued that John Proctor was the central tragic character, you could say that his flaws were an excessive concern for his reputation and overconfidence in the power of reason to overcome hysteria. John has already confessed that the affair was the reason for Abigails dismissal. I am with God, I, Danforth expresses his opinions on lying when Mary Warren enter his court to confess herself and he begins the conversation by saying, How were you instructed in your life? This vicious cycle continues to claim the lives of more and more people as the play progresses. Fear that spread among a group of people in Salem during the Salem Witch Trials, that event in history is a prime example of Mass Hysteria. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a dramatic play that expresses a very important message and that is how far people would go to save themselves from the hands of death. Goody Good, an old beggar woman, is one of the first to be named a witch. The hypocrisy in this statement is almost funny. Hypocrisy, actually, didn't have a bad meaning until hypocrisy met politics in the 4th century B.C. Hysteria blinds the people of Salem to reason as they become convinced that there is a grand Satanic plot brewing in town, and they must not hesitate to condemn anyone who could be involved. In steadfastly refusing to confess, Rebecca Nurse holds onto a great deal of power. Though hysteria overpowered the reputations of the accused in the past two acts, in act 4 the sticking power of their original reputations becomes apparent. Throughout the play, Miller uses the Salem Witch trials as a catalyst for Proctor's crucial development. The accusers cannot present concrete evidences, and their wrongful convictions must be further scrutinized. One theory of the cause of the trials is that people used the trials as a way to gain land. Ann Putnam jumps at any opportunity to blame supernatural forces for the deaths of her children. Arthur Miller portrays the protagonist, Proctor, as the tragic hero of his play The Crucible. In Act 3, Hale continues to make ironic statements about the existence of concrete proof for the accusations of witchcraft. Though Rebecca Nurse's involvement has already been corroborated by other confessors, Danforth demands to hear it from John to confirm that John is fully committed to renouncing his supposed ties to Satan. Where before she was just an orphaned teenager, now, in the midst of the trials, she becomes the main witness to the inner workings of a Satanic plot. She comes to me while I sleep; shes always making me dream corruptions! pg. We saw that Arthur Miller used the Puritans in The Crucible to explore the themes, or main ideas of a text, in order to make the statement that society can be hypocritical and that we should question intentions. Why does he decide to do so anyways? Hypocrisy is "the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform". Do you not know that God damns all liars? (Miller 101). This entry was posted in offline website builder software for windows 10 on June 30, 2022 by .offline website builder software for windows 10 on June 30, 2022 by . Hale is convinced that a scientific inquiry based only on facts and reality can be conducted to detect a supernatural presence. His guilt leads to great tension in interactions with Elizabeth because he projects his feelings onto her, accusing her of being judgmental and dwelling on his mistakes. This is interesting because the children are the ones that the rest of the village relies upon to condemn people to death. She also ran the local tavern. The evolution of his character is due to vairous . The ruthlessness with which the suspected witches are treated is aimed at purifying Salem, but it achieves the opposite outcome. The narrator tells the audience that there is very little good to be said of him (Miller 1100), yet as a minister the people of the town look to him to be a pious religious leader. Lying- Explain why the girls are more willing to lie . This is irony of the same type that I discussed in the overview of this theme. Abigail, in particular, has quickly risen from a nobody to one of the most influential people in Salem. 91). 118). The Devil has returned putting children under his control is what many people believed in Salem village in 1962. This new power is exciting and very dangerous because it encourages the girls to make additional accusations in order to preserve their value in the eyes of the court. Miller's portrayal of women in The Crucible is a much-discussed topic. The Crucible is set during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. What motivates their attitudes and responses toward the witch trials? (Cheever pg. A real example of irony would be if two married guests got into a fight about going to your wedding that ended in their divorce. The Crucible, a short play dedicated to these events in Salem shows us how hysteria was such a leading cause of why the Witch Trials had even occurred. In high school, she earned a 2400 on the SAT, 5's on all seven of her AP tests, and was named a National Merit Scholar. Hypocrisy: A Human Flaw In the play The Crucible, Arthur Miller repeatedly portrays that duplicity and deceit are a natural part of human lives. It's atoxic strategy that causes panic to spread quickly and fear for ones life to take the place of rationality. He is weak and vulnerable after Abigail's theft of his life's savings, and hes even facing death threats from the townspeople as a result of John and Rebecca's imminent executions. The judges cannot force her to commit herself to a lie, and her martyrdom severely damages their legitimacy and favor amongst the townspeople. The College Entrance Examination BoardTM does not endorse, nor is it affiliated in any way with the owner or any content of this site. He believes there is a group of people in town determined to remove him from this position, and. As mentioned in the overview, religion holds significant power over the people of Salem. As Reverend Hale says to Danforth, Excellency, there are orphans wandering from house to house; abandoned cattle bellow on the highroads, the stink of rotting crops hangs everywhere, and no man knows when the harlots cry will end his life - and you wonder yet if rebellions spoke? (Act 4, pg. 119). A professor tells us that he has a strict rule about cell phones in the classroom, then he answers it midway through his own lecture. Even with prompts that ask you to discuss a specific character or plot point, you can find ways to connect your answer to major themes. This act also sees the irony of Hale discussing the powers of the dark that are attacking Salem (pg. officials (like Danforth) unable or unwilling to listen to reason? We hear a lot about hypocrisy, or when someone's actions don't match up with the professed values. The faces that people present to the public are designed to garner respect in the community, but the witch trials have thrown this system into disarray. In this act, she yells Dont lie! at Tituba immediately before she tells some of the most damning lies of the play accusing Tituba of witchcraft (She comes to me while I sleep; shes always making me dream corruptions! pg. Giles got arrested for contempt. MPP friends writing about life, love, and everything else in between together. The idea that a witch's familiar spirit is capable of stabbing people is too scary for the superstitious and now hysterical people of Salem to give Elizabeth the benefit of the doubt. Do you not know that God damns all liars? Why does Mary Warren behave differently when she becomes involved in the trials? 119). The importance placed on reputation helps perpetuate hysteria because it leads to inaction, inflexibility, and, in many cases, active sabotage of the reputations of others for selfish purposes. Why do certain characters seem to be blind to the irony of their actions (Abigail, Danforth)? How to use hypocrisy in a sentence. These hypocritical actions take away from the authority of the person or people committing them. As Reverend Hale says to Danforth, Excellency, there are orphans wandering from house to house; abandoned cattle bellow on the highroads, the stink of rotting crops hangs everywhere, and no man knows when the harlots cry will end his life - and you wonder yet if rebellions spoke? (Act 4, pg. In the final events of Act 4, John Proctor has a tough choice to make between losing his dignity and losing his life. Tituba is forced to accept her role as a pawn for those with greater authority and a stepping stone for Abigails ascent to power. (Cheever pg. She says, "My name is good in the village! Get unlimited access to over 88,000 lessons. No one even considers Mary's statement about sticking the needle in herself. An ad hominem means that it shifts the argument away from the issue to a personal attack on the person involved. An error occurred trying to load this video. A character named Abigail lived with proctor and his wife and his two sons. I feel like its a lifeline. Instead of living a simple life and managing his duties in the town, he is always complaining that he either does not have enough material items or someone is attacking him, all thoughts that a priest should not be concerning himself with. Act 4 is Danforths turn to shine in the irony department. Goody Proctor is a gossiping liar!" Miller fills us in on much of the history in breaks in the play where he offers commentary in his own voice. I have not seen a single politician who isnt a hypocrite. By examining the characters of the play, I believe that the three major characters who should be blamed the most for the witch trials are Abigail Williams. John attempts to crush his guilt instead of facing it, which only ends up making it an even more destructive factor in his life. Diehard fan of The Wire. Support me by becoming a Medium member: https://bit.ly/39Cybb8. I chose . Abigails many deceptions are sometimes laughably ironic as she chastises others for lying even as she is spinning falsehoods. In Act 2, John Proctors guilt over his affair with Abigail is demonstrated through an ironic exchange with Reverend Hale. However, this runs up against Danforths desire to preserve his reputation as a strong judge. This makes him particularly averse to accepting that he's been fooled by a teenage girl. Thus demonstrating how mob mentality can impact an individual and ultimately drive the action of the play. Rebecca Nurse is a pure soul, who always took care of other people's children. In this environment, whoever yells the loudest seems to get the most credibility. I propose that each and every one of us is, or at some time has been, guilty of hyopcrisy. As he says,How may I live without my name? Miller himself was blacklisted for refusing to testify in front of the HUAC, a committee that was created to investigate any person who might be a communist. Abigails low status and perceived innocence under normal circumstances allow her to claim even greater power in her current situation. She continues to act under the assumption that his reputation is of the utmost importance to him, and she does not reveal the affair. How is Millers underlying message revealed in one of these themes and through the character?". Concern for reputation is a theme that looms large over most of the events in. The Crucible presents a view of women that essentially reduces them to caricatures of human beings that are defined by their roles as mothers, wives, and servants to men.