The Crucible

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Adil Hussain 10GAH / 10X1

The Crucible

How does Arthur Miller encourage the audience to believe in John Proctor as a hero in ‘The Crucible’?

‘The Crucible’ is a play written by Arthur Miller, and is based on the Salem Witch Trials. The story retells of the events which take place in the seventeenth century.

It was written at the time of the McCarthy era, when many innocent people were accused of communism. McCarthyism is a term describing the intense anti-communist suspicion in the United States in a period that lasted roughly from the late 1940’s to the late 1950’s. This period is also referred to as the ‘Second Red Scare’. McCarthyism generally refers to the conduct of Joseph McCarthy. During this time many thousands of American citizens were accused of being communists and soon became the subject of aggressive investigations and questioning.

‘The Crucible’ focuses on the abuse of power in a theocratic society, where God is supreme and controls everyone within this society. Suspicion rules and overwhelms people’s minds. People such as reverends and priests claimed to hold the prestige of being closer to God than others. Status also played a big role in the society, where people with status controlled others, and manipulated people’s minds; suppressing others freedom and the right to practise whatever they may wish.

This was the principle of a theocratic society; people who did not follow or worship God were considered to be going against the society’s set rules and principles. They would be severely punished by being hanged and trails would be held, based on petty misconceptions. This is a particular theme in ‘The Crucible’ where many people are hung due to ‘conjuring the devil’. The paranoia of ‘the devil’ in this mislead society leads those with power, to abuse it and falsely accuse innocent people by leading them to death. An example of this is in ‘The Crucible’ when John Proctor (the main character) is hanged.

In this essay I will be focusing on how Arthur Miller conveys Proctor as the plays hero successfully after sacrificing his life for his beloved.

At the start of Act 1 Arthur Miller introduces John Proctor to have “a sharp and biting way with hypocrites” this is showing us already that Proctor is well respected, and hates people who lie, deceive, betray and sin. Arthur Miller also describes Proctor as “… a man-powerful of body, even-tempered and not easily led…” this point again emphasises to us that Proctor is portrayed as a very good and powerful, strong minded man who is firm in his acts.

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 These beginning quotes describing Proctor begin to hint towards us about his character. Miller gives us the sense that Proctor is well respected and holds a firm and positive influential status in Salem. This small introduction paragraph tells us that Proctor is very noble, and is acting as a “hero” of the village.

“In proctors presence a fool felt his foolishness instantly” this is showing us that Proctor is a type of person who will not stand any foolish or idiotic behaviour however soon Arthur Miller begins to tell us that Proctor “has come to regard himself as a kind ...

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