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 a way, John welcomes the loss of his reputation because he feels so guilty about the disconnect between how he is perceived by others and the sins he has committed. John Proctor sabotages his own reputation in Act 3 after realizing it's the only way he can discredit Abigail. This is a decision with dire consequences in a town where reputation is so important, a fact that contributes to the misunderstanding that follows.
She continues to act under the assumption that his reputation is of the utmost importance to him, and she does not reveal the affair. This lie essentially condemns both of them. Danforth also acts out of concern for his reputations here.
He references the many sentencing decisions he has already made in the trials of the accused. This fact could destroy his credibility , so he is biased towards continuing to trust Abigail. Danforth has extensive pride in his intelligence and perceptiveness. This makes him particularly averse to accepting that he's been fooled by a teenage girl.
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. Parris begs Danforth to postpone their hangings because he fears for his life if the executions proceed as planned. In the final events of Act 4, John Proctor has a tough choice to make between losing his dignity and losing his life. The price he has to pay in reputation to save his own life is ultimately too high. I have given you my soul; leave me my name!
Here are a few discussion questions to consider after you've read my summary of how the theme of reputation motivates characters and plot developments in The Crucible :. If you're an old beggar woman who sometimes takes shelter in this creepy shack, you better believe these jerks are gonna turn on you as soon as anyone says the word "witch. The desire to preserve and gain power pervades The Crucible as the witch trials lead to dramatic changes in which characters hold the greatest control over the course of events.
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. The main pillars of traditional power are represented by the law and the church. These two institutions fuse together in The Crucible to actively encourage accusers and discourage rational explanations of events.
The girls are essentially given permission by authority figures to continue their act because they are made to feel special and important for their participation.
The people in charge are so eager to hold onto their power that if anyone disagrees with them in the way the trials are conducted, it is taken as a personal affront and challenge to their authority. Danforth, Hathorne, and Parris become even more rigid in their views when they feel they are under attack.
As mentioned in the overview, religion holds significant power over the people of Salem. Reverend Parris is in a position of power as the town's spiritual leader, but he is insecure about his authority. He believes there is a group of people in town determined to remove him from this position, and he will say and do whatever it takes to retain control. This causes problems down the line as Parris allows his paranoia about losing his position to translate into enthusiasm for the witch hunt.
Abigail, on the other hand, faces an uphill battle towards more power over her situation. She is clearly outspoken and dominant, but her initial position in society is one of very little influence and authority. Abigail accuses Tituba first because Tituba is the one person below her on the ladder of power, so she makes an easy scapegoat. If Tituba was permitted to explain what really happened, the ensuing tragedy might have been prevented.
No one will listen to Tituba until she agrees to confirm the version of events that the people in traditional positions of authority have already decided is true, a pattern which continues throughout the play. By Act 2, there have been notable changes in the power structure in Salem as a result of the ongoing trials.
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. Abigail, in particular, has quickly risen from a nobody to one of the most influential people in Salem.
No one thinks a teenage orphan girl is capable of such extensive deception or delusion , so she is consistently trusted. She openly threatens Danforth for even entertaining Mary and John's accusations of fraud against her. Though Danforth is the most powerful official figure in court, Abigail manipulates him easily with her performance as a victim of witchcraft.
He's already accepted her testimony as evidence, so he is happy for any excuse to believe her over John and Mary. John finally comes to the realization that Mary's truthful testimony cannot compete with the hysteria that has taken hold of the court.
The petition he presents to Danforth is used as a weapon against the signers rather than a proof of the innocence of Elizabeth, Martha, and Rebecca. Abigail's version of events is held to be true even after John confesses to their affair in a final effort to discredit her. Logic has no power to combat paranoia and superstition even when the claims of the girls are clearly fraudulent. John Proctor surrenders his agency at the end of Act 3 in despair at the determination of the court to pursue the accusations of witchcraft and ignore all evidence of their falsehood.
By Act 4, many of the power structures that were firmly in place earlier in the play have disintegrated. Reverend Parris has fallen from his position of authority as a result of the outcomes of the trials.
In Act 1 he jumped on board with the hysteria to preserve his power, but he ended up losing what little authority he had in the first place and, according to Miller's afterward, was voted out of office soon after the end of the play.
The prisoners have lost all faith in earthly authority figures and look towards the judgment of God. The only power they have left is in refusing to confess and preserving their integrity. I n steadfastly refusing to confess, Rebecca Nurse holds onto a great deal of power.
The judges cannot force her to commit herself to a lie, and her martyrdom severely damages their legitimacy and favor amongst the townspeople. 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.
These are themes that could be considered subsets of the topics detailed in the previous sections, but there's also room to discuss them as topics in their own right.
I'll give a short summary of how each plays a role in the events of The Crucible. The theme of guilt is one that is deeply relevant to John Proctor's character development throughout the play. John feels incredibly ashamed of his affair with Abigail, so he tries to bury it and pretend it never happened. 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.
In reality, he is constantly judging himself, and this leads to outbursts of anger against others who remind him of what he did he already feels guilty enough! Hale also contends with his guilt in act 4 for his role in condemning the accused witches , who he now believes are innocent. There's a message here about the choices we have in dealing with guilt.
John attempts to crush his guilt instead of facing it, which only ends up making it an even more destructive factor in his life. Hale tries to combat his guilt by persuading the prisoners to confess, refusing to accept that the damage has already been done.
Both Hale and Proctor don't want to live with the consequences of their mistakes, so they try to ignore or undo their past actions. Miller's portrayal of women in The Crucible is a much-discussed topic. The attitudes towards women in the s, when the play was written, are evident in the roles they're given. The most substantial female character is Abigail, who is portrayed as a devious and highly sexualized young woman. She is cast as a villain. Then, on the other end of the spectrum, we have Rebecca Nurse.
She is a sensible, saintly old woman who chooses to martyr herself rather than lie and confess to witchcraft. The other two main female characters, Elizabeth and Mary Warren, are somewhat bland.
Elizabeth is defined by her relationship to John, and Mary is pushed around by other characters mostly men throughout the play. 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.
Abigail, the one character who breaks from this mold slightly, is portrayed extremely unsympathetically despite the fact that the power dynamic between her and John makes him far more culpable in their illicit relationship. Deception is a major driving force in The Crucible. This includes not only accusatory lies about the involvement of others in witchcraft but also the lies that people consistently tell about their own virtuousness and purity in such a repressive society.
The turmoil in Salem is propelled forward by desires for revenge and power that have been simmering beneath the town's placid exterior.
There is a culture of keeping up appearances already in place, which makes it natural for people to lie about witnessing their neighbors partaking in Satanic rituals when the opportunity arises especially if it means insulating themselves from similar accusations and even achieving personal gain. The Crucible provides an example of how convenient lies can build on one another to create a universally accepted truth even in the absence of any real evidence.
Even before the witch trials, the people of Salem are doing lots of little magic tricks to make all their unholy thoughts and actions disappear.
It's one thing to understand the major themes in The Crucible , and it's another thing completely to write about them yourself. Essay prompts will ask about these themes in a variety of different ways. Some will be very direct. An example would be something like:.
Choose a single character and discuss how this person embodies one of the themes. In a case like this, you'd be writing directly about a specific theme in connection to one of the characters. Essay questions that ask about themes in this straightforward way can be tricky because there's a temptation to speak in vague terms about the theme's significance. Always include specific details, including direct quotes, to support your argument about how the theme is expressed in the play.
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. Parris says he thinks they've boarded a ship, and they stole his entire life's savings to pay for passage. He's been upset lately because he's completely broke. Danforth is exasperated and calls Parris a fool. Parris says that the next town over, Andover, rejected the witch trial trend and threw out the court, which has sparked the beginnings of a rebellion in Salem.
Abigail most likely left for fear that people in Salem might turn against her. Hathorne doesn't buy into the idea that a rebellion is fomenting in Salem because the town has been supportive of the executions so far. Parris points out that this is because all of the people who have been executed up until now had bad reputations for other reasons Bridget Bishop lived with a man before marrying him, Isaac Ward's alcoholism left his family in poverty.
Now they're about to hang Rebecca Nurse and John Proctor, people who are still well-liked and respected in the community. That's not going to sit well with many of the townspeople. Parris advises Danforth to postpone the hangings so he and Hale can continue to push for confessions and avoid social unrest.
Danforth is adamant that everything will proceed as planned. Parris reveals that he has received a death threat and fears for his life if they don't postpone the executions. Hale enters the cell, saddened and exhausted, and says he hasn't been able to get anyone to confess. He begs Danforth to pardon the prisoners or at least give him more time to bring them around.
Danforth insists he can't pardon anyone or postpone the hangings. Twelve people have already been hung for the same crime. Pardon or postponement would be unfair and, what's worse, it would make him look weak. John Proctor is the only prisoner Hale hasn't spoken to yet. The officials decide to summon Elizabeth Proctor to see if she will speak to her husband and persuade him to confess.
Hale keeps pushing Danforth to postpone the executions, arguing that it would show that he is merciful rather than weak, but Danforth won't change his mind. Hale points out that society in Salem is on the verge of collapsing because of the upheaval caused by the trials. Danforth asks Hale why he has even bothered to return to Salem , and Hale says it's because he can't live with the part he played in condemning innocent people to death.
There will be less blood on his hands if he can get them to confess. Elizabeth Proctor is led into the cell. Hale begs her to convince her husband to confess. He says it's better to tell a white lie than to sacrifice a life for pride, but Elizabeth is not convinced "I think that be the Devil's argument. She agrees to speak with her husband, but she doesn't promise to persuade him to confess. Elizabeth reveals to John that many people have confessed to witchcraft, but Giles Corey refused to plead one way or the other on the charges leveled against him.
He was pressed to death by his interrogators, but his sons will inherit his farm his property would have been publicly auctioned off if he officially died a criminal.
Proctor has been contemplating making a confession, and he asks Elizabeth what she thinks he should do. He feels he has already committed so many sins that it's stupid for him to bother holding up his integrity on this one point. John says he has only refrained from confessing out of spite, not nobility. He asks for Elizabeth's forgiveness. She says he needs to forgive himself first, and her forgiveness doesn't mean much if he still feels he's a bad person.
She blames herself for pushing him into Abigail's arms and says he shouldn't take responsibility for her issues as well. Hathorne returns to the jail cell. Elizabeth tells John that he has to make his own choice on whether or not to confess. John says he chooses to have his life, and Hathorne assumes this means he will confess.
John asks Elizabeth what she would do, but his question ends up being rhetorical. He knows she would never give into the pressure and lie. However, he still hates himself and thinks he's not good enough to die a martyr. Danforth, Parris, Cheever, and Hale return and start questioning Proctor so they can write down his confession.
John begins to confess, but he falters when Rebecca Nurse is led into the cell and expresses her disappointment. John refuses to name any names of other people he's seen with the Devil, and Danforth becomes frustrated. Hale manages to persuade Danforth to accept this and allow John to sign the confession as-is. John balks at actually signing his name to the confession.
He finally does so, but then he snatches the signed paper away. He doesn't want to be held up by the court as an example to other prisoners. John says he can't bring himself to bind his name to such a shameful lie.
Danforth is incensed and insists that the document must be an honest confession, or Proctor will hang. Proctor tears up his confession. He finally decides he does have some decency within him, and it will be manifested in this final sacrifice. Danforth orders the hangings to commence. Parris and Hale beg Elizabeth to convince John to reconsider as John and Rebecca are led off to the gallows.
Elizabeth refuses; she realizes that this is what John needs to do. He'd rather die with dignity than live in shame, and she respects his choice. Yeah do whatever you want John. Honestly, I don't know why you didn't just tell them you're pregnant too—these guys will believe anything. In this section, I'll list a few of the most important quotes in Act 4 and explain why they matter.
Devil, him be pleasure-man in Barbados, him be singin' and dancin' in Barbados. It's you folks - you riles him up 'round here; it be too cold 'round here for that Old Boy. This is probably the most substantive line spoken by Tituba in the play.
She recognizes the culture in Salem as overly repressive and conceives of "the Devil" in a different light. The Devil is not an evil presence; he represents freedom from the bonds of a society that forces people to deny their humanity constantly. Tituba feels that the Devil is provoked into mischief by the hypocrisy of the citizens of Salem. While I speak God's law, I will not crack its voice with whimpering.
If retaliation is your fear, know this - I should hang ten thousand that dared to rise against the law, and an ocean of salt tears could not melt the resolution of the statutes.
This quote provides deeper insight into Danforth's character and state of mind. He feels that he can't postpone the hangings now because he may be seen as weak and indecisive.
He definitely can't pardon the prisoners because people might suspect mistakes were also made in past convictions. Every person brought in by the trials and convicted must receive an equally harsh punishment, or Danforth's reputation will be decimated. He is so authoritarian that he would hang ten thousand people who objected to a law without stopping to consider whether this big of an uprising could indicate major flaws in the law itself. Danforth is dependent on this concept of the infallibility of the law because it allows him to maintain control.
Beware, Goody Proctor - cleave to no faith where faith brings blood. It is mistaken law that leads you to sacrifice. Life, woman, life is God's most precious gift; no principle, however glorious, may justify the taking of it. I beg you, woman, prevail upon your husband to confess. Let him give his lie. Quail not before God's judgement in this, for it may well be God damns a liar less than he that throws his life away for pride.
Hale is a disillusioned shell of the man he was at the beginning of the play. He initially felt that he was bringing enlightenment to Salem, but he inadvertently brought destruction instead. His good intentions rooted in a strong faith led to the loss of innocent lives.
Elizabeth believes that Abigail is holding onto a promise—spoken or unspoken—made between Abigail and John that would make Abigail want to have Elizabeth killed in order to take her place. She decides that Rebecca Nurse is responsible because Ruth, Mrs. To accomplish this, Abigail makes it look like Elizabeth is practicing witchcraft by claiming that Elizabeth sticks needles in the poppet that Mary Warren gave Elizabeth in order to cause Abigail pain.
When Mary Warren tells the court the truth that the girls were just pretending that they were being affected by witchcraft, she is challenged by Parris, Hathorne, and Danforth, and she is intimidated by the other girls. Mary explains that she fainted because she thought she saw spirits. Abigail Williams tells John Proctor that the witchcraft is not real.
After Reverend Parris finds Abigail, Betty Parris, and some other girls dancing in the woods, Betty becomes unresponsive. This makes the townspeople think witchcraft is involved, and the girls play along with the idea, accusing other townspeople of being witches. Hale presses Danforth to pardon them when they refuse to confess to witchcraft, but Danforth will not relent. Hale sees that the court has become feared in Salem for its brutality and lack of justice.
Instead of saving his own life, John Proctor chooses to guard his reputation and not accuse others of witchcraft. When John confesses to being guilty, Deputy Governor Danforth pressures John to name other people who might have sided with the devil. John dies with his integrity intact. SparkTeach Teacher's Handbook.
Why is the play called The Crucible? What is a crucible? Did the girls really see the Devil or witches? Why did Tituba confess to dancing with the Devil? Was John still in love with Abigail?
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