Monday, September 2, 2019

The Dilemmas of Conscience in The Crucible Essay -- The Crucible Moral

The Dilemmas of Conscience in The Crucible The play "The Crucible" was written by Arthur Miller written 1950's but was first performed in 1953. It is set in Salem, Massachusetts in the spring of 1692 and is about a small community torn apart due to accusations of witchcraft. In this essay I am going to write about the affect that conscience has on peoples' minds and decisions. Miller once said "Now I wanted to move closer to a conscious hero". By this he meant after his last play he wanted to move closer to a character that was aware of what he has done i.e. sins and that he becomes a hero for it. I will analyze John Proctor, Reverend John Hale and Goodwife Elizabeth Proctor because these three all have their own moral struggle due to the witch-hunts. Arthur Miller has based his drama on a true story, which happened in Salem in 1692. The names of the characters he used were actually the people involved. He found out their names from his visit to Salem to look at the court records. He had changed their characters slightly i.e. making Abigail Williams older. Also at the time of him writing the play there were the McCarthy witch hunts for communists, which as a writer miller himself was thought to be communist. He was interrogated by the government and was under pressure to name names and confess just as John Proctor was, so Miller can relate to Proctor's situation. The first person I am going to analyze from the play is John Proctor. He is the central character and the "conscious hero" Miller was referring to. He is a farmer in Salem and is in his middle thirties with a wife and three sons. He is "even tempered" and has a very dark secret, his infidelity with Abigail Williams, "before you go... ... are faced by each of the characters I have studied. There are other characters beside the ones I have studied that face a battle with their conscience. These people are Mary Warren and Danforth. Danforth faces a struggle with his conscience as he has to make the decisions of who dies and who lives and each death is on his conscience for the rest of his life. Miller wanted a conscious hero central to his drama because he thought that it related to his own life and the events going on around him at the time There are a few people in The Crucible that appear to have no conscience at all. These people are Abigail and The Putnams. Deep down I think the play The Crucible is all about the battles people face with their conscience and the different ways in which people deal with it. It is the central story line, upon which the entire play is based around. The Dilemmas of Conscience in The Crucible Essay -- The Crucible Moral The Dilemmas of Conscience in The Crucible The play "The Crucible" was written by Arthur Miller written 1950's but was first performed in 1953. It is set in Salem, Massachusetts in the spring of 1692 and is about a small community torn apart due to accusations of witchcraft. In this essay I am going to write about the affect that conscience has on peoples' minds and decisions. Miller once said "Now I wanted to move closer to a conscious hero". By this he meant after his last play he wanted to move closer to a character that was aware of what he has done i.e. sins and that he becomes a hero for it. I will analyze John Proctor, Reverend John Hale and Goodwife Elizabeth Proctor because these three all have their own moral struggle due to the witch-hunts. Arthur Miller has based his drama on a true story, which happened in Salem in 1692. The names of the characters he used were actually the people involved. He found out their names from his visit to Salem to look at the court records. He had changed their characters slightly i.e. making Abigail Williams older. Also at the time of him writing the play there were the McCarthy witch hunts for communists, which as a writer miller himself was thought to be communist. He was interrogated by the government and was under pressure to name names and confess just as John Proctor was, so Miller can relate to Proctor's situation. The first person I am going to analyze from the play is John Proctor. He is the central character and the "conscious hero" Miller was referring to. He is a farmer in Salem and is in his middle thirties with a wife and three sons. He is "even tempered" and has a very dark secret, his infidelity with Abigail Williams, "before you go... ... are faced by each of the characters I have studied. There are other characters beside the ones I have studied that face a battle with their conscience. These people are Mary Warren and Danforth. Danforth faces a struggle with his conscience as he has to make the decisions of who dies and who lives and each death is on his conscience for the rest of his life. Miller wanted a conscious hero central to his drama because he thought that it related to his own life and the events going on around him at the time There are a few people in The Crucible that appear to have no conscience at all. These people are Abigail and The Putnams. Deep down I think the play The Crucible is all about the battles people face with their conscience and the different ways in which people deal with it. It is the central story line, upon which the entire play is based around.

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