The Crucible

A detailed Summary of The Crucible

"In what ways does Miller succeed in making the moments when Proctor tears up his confession particularly dramatic? In your answer you might consider the character of Proctor, the events that lead up to this situation and the pressures he's under both to sign the confession and to destroy it".

Towards the end of the play we see how john proctor is accused of witchcraft and sentenced to death, unless he confesses his dealings with the devil. As he is a true committed Christian he would rather stick to his beliefs and principles and loose his life than to lie in court and to God and save himself.

In 1692, Salem Massachusetts was ruled by religion and men. The communities in Salem were all puritans and were deeply devoted to their religion. The lives of people in Salem were organised around their religion. They had a very simple way of life and had no means of amusement. There was no entertainment as it was forbidden. If anyone were caught dancing, singing or reading anything other than the bible the people of Salem would automatically suspect that this person was dealing in witchcraft. People in Salem could go to jail for such things. To make sure nobody was accused of devil dealing nobody had a private life, everyone in

Miller himself had a huge fascination with witchcraft and the events in Salem ever since he attended college. He became very interested and involved when the McCarthy trails came about. A senator in the 1940's started up a group to rule out communism. This group felt that communism would 'eventually undermine and destroy capitalism'. Communists were put on trial and even put in jail. Miller himself was accused of being a communist. After experiencing this he related it to the witch trials held in Salem in 1692. How people thought differently was said to be a crime in Salem at that time, these people were then accused of dealing with the devil and put on trial and then hanged if found guilty. Just like the McCarthy trials, but nobody died for being a communist.

When we first meet john proctor in act 1 we see him as an influential and important person in Salem and in the play. He is very judgemental towards other characters in the play especially MrParris. However proctor's character as a sense of irony about it as he had is judgemental towards others when he had an affair with Abigail! But still he is quick to judge the motives of others in Salem. Proctor and parries have never seen eye to eye ever since parries moved to Salem, this is because proctor feels that parries puts personal and individual interests into the church which are not Christian like and are not needed! Even though proctor is a well respected party in Salem he has that hidden depth that only he, his wife and Abigail know about. The affair! His wife still fears he has feelings towards Abigail. Abigail too hopes that proctor dies still feel for her. When proctor and Abigail are alone in Betty's room they argue about what feelings are still between them. Abigail accuses proctor of "putting knowledge" in her heart. She means to say that proctor still shows her signs of affection and that she still means something to him!

the community knew everyone's business. This was all normal to the puritans of Salem. There were no real feuds or arguments in the county. The only disputes wer

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Approximate Word count = 1392
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English