Arthur+Miller

Summary to The Crucible: This story takes place in Salem, Massachusetts in the 1690's. It starts out with Reverend Parris trying to liven up his young daughter, Betsy. He is accompanied by the adopted 18 year old girl, Abigail Williams. The whole town has heard about the illness of Betsy and they all want to give it the same diagnosis, witchcraft. As the day progresses many people come in and out of the church giving their opinions. First, Mr. and Mrs. Putnam come to spread rumors how they know this is witchcraft and how they saw Betsy trying to fly the previous night. Another person who stops to take a visit is John Proctor. When Proctor and Abigail are alone (with the semi-conscious Betsy), Abigail tells how much she misses him and how she still wants to have an affair. Proctor cannot deny this but would like to forget about it and does not want to give Abigail any idea that he still might be interested. He realizes that it was a sin and wants to keep it a secret so he can keep his good reputation. Then Betsy panics when she hears the Lord's name and everyone comes upstairs to see what happened. Most saw it as another sign of witchcraft, but not Proctor. Proctor was a firm believer throughout the story that there was no such thing as witchcraft and that it is a sin to worship the devil. After a collection of debates between all the people, Reverend Hale of Beverly arrives, someone who acclaims to be able to diagnose witchcraft or not. At first he cannot tell if its witchcraft or not, until Betsy rises again and Abigail and her both start crying out the people they saw with the devil.

After a week or so, Proctor and his wife Elizabeth are talking at their dinner table when Mary Warren, their slave, comes back from the courthouse. She tells them how many more ladies were put in jail and will be hung if they do not admit to witchcraft. Mary also tells them that Elizabeth was on the list of accused, but defended her case. Minutes later, Hale arrives to discuss witchcraft with the Proctors. John says how he would rather be hung than admit to believing in witchcraft. Just then, Guiles and Cheever arrived at the Proctor house with the warrant to Elizabeth's arrest and say that Abigail Williams accused her. As Elizabeth is led away with the guards, Hale is surprised because he knows she committed no crime and John Proctor is so upset he rips the warrant into pieces.

Later on in the year, the witch trials resume in Salem with the judges being Judge Danforth and Hathorne. John Proctor arrives with Mary Warren and Mary proclaims that her and the other girls were pretending to be witches. Proctor tells the judges that he only wants his wife to be free, but Cheever tells the judges that Proctor ripped up the warrant and does not go to church. Also, Abigail and the other girls deny Mary's accusations and pretends to feel wind as a sign of Mary sending her evil spirits. Proctor then calls Abigail a whore and finally confesses his sins so they can free his wife. Instead, he is put under arrest.

In the final act of the book, Proctor is debating with himself what is more important- his respectable reputation- or his life. Elizabeth tries to convince him to tell the judge names who is also witchcraft along with him, but he cannot think its possible. He finally tells his confessions and is told to give other names and sign the confession.Proctor is debating with himself what to do until he finally he tells them that he would not do that because he wants to keep his name respected and does not want to sin no more. With this decision he is taken to the gallows and hung.

Correlation in The Crucible**:** Abigail: //I cannot sleep for dreamin'; I cannot dream but but I wake and walk about the house as though I'd find you comin' through some door//. ... Proctor: //Abby, I may think of you softly time to time. But I will cut off my hand before I'll ever reach for you again. Wipe it out of mind. We never touched, Abby. (Act I, pg. 22)// Explanation: This passage will gain more significance as the book progresses. Here Abigail talks about the affair that Proctor had with her. She still wants Proctor to have a relationship and she is always waiting for him to come take her and leave his wife, Elizabeth. Proctor on the of hand does not want to show any emotion to Abigail and wants to forget about the affair completely. The affair is haunting Proctor and is kept private because he is afraid it will ruin his reputation as a good Christian man. This can also show how religion was a larger influence back than than it is today. In today's society, many men would be proud to admit that they had an affair with another woman; few would think of it as a reputation destroyer and a devastating sin. It also shows the confusion that circled around religion. People never think that they are actually being possessed by the devil and following Lucifer's ideas.

Abigail: //I want the light of God, I want the sweet love of Jesus! I danced for the Devil; I saw him, I wrote in his book; I go back to Jesus; I kiss His hand. I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil! (Act I, pg. 45)// Explanation: In this passage, Abigail confesses to being a witch. Abigail follows the same pattern of Tituba, her slave. She begins with confessing a meeting with the devil, then reuniting with Jesus, and ends with accusing others of witchcraft. Although the accusations were false, many people believed them and were used in court. This outburst exemplifies the hysteria present in Salem by the absurd accusations of the witch trials. The sad part is that this actually happened in the Salem witch trails and people really did die from these lies. This can show the time period that this event was in because of the people falling for this acting. The passage also can be related to McCarthyism because even though Abigail has no proof that any of these events are happening to her, people believe her because the general public is afraid of witchcraft. With McCarthyism, Joseph McCarthy claims that many famous people are communist in the 1950's and people believed him because they were afraid of communism.

Proctor: //Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul, leave me my name!// (//Act IV, pg. 133)// Explanation: This is one of the last speeches that Proctor gave. It was directed towards Judge Danforth and is when Proctor is deciding whether or not to sign the confession. Proctor considers the fact that his reputation is at stake, but finds the best way to save his reputation is by telling the truth. Also he shows that Abigail has won their little battle by admitting to witchcraft but he does not want to give up quite yet. He does not accuse any one else of witchcraft. The correlation with this passage again shows how religion and reputation was important in the Puritan era.

Elizabeth: //He have his goodness now, God forbid I take it from him. (Act IV, pg. 134)// Explanation: After all of the tragedy and drama in Salem during these last moments of the book, Elizabeth ends the story with a simple yet deep sentence to bring a peace to the book. Even though her husband is dead because he cheated on her, she realizes that he is at peace with himself by admitted his sin. She respects that and says how she cannot take away that "goodness" from them. From my knowledge, this seems like a typical storyline with a normal ending because of the literary movement in the time of Arthur Miller. Although he chose the topic because of the McCarthyism and communism in the time, most stories had the idea that there was plenty of drama throughout the book. Also there was always a death from the protagonist and the story ends with a short sentence that brings the book to an end in a peaceful calm way.

Reflection to The Crucible: During the time Arthur Miller wrote __The Crucible__, a political revelation was passing through the US government. Miller wrote the book in the early 1950's right after World War II. At the time, all Americans were scared to death about the idea of communism and did not want it to come to the USA. A Republican politician by the name of Joseph McCarthy jumped into the news because what he was saying. McCarthy had a list of suspects that could be communists. Everyone from politicians to athletes to movie stars, many people were put on the list. Even though he had no evidence to prove they were communists, Americans became worried and believed what he was saying. Eventually, his allegations went to far and no one believed his words. When looking back at the outcome of McCarthyism or the "red scare", the accusations led to a Republican president, House of Representatives,and Senate, along with tarnishing many celebrities' fame as well. This idea can be seen in __The Crucible__, even though it was a different situation and time period. Joseph McCarthy's role is similar with Abigail Williams. Both characters were the ones who began the accusations without any evidence to prove. Communism in the 50's was the witchcraft of the 1600's, and the whole population fell into their trap or beliefs. John Proctor was in the same shoes as the people that McCarthy accused of communism: not being able to do anything about it. To sum up the last two paragraphs, the literary technique that Arthur Miller uses in his work is allegory. Yes, one can read __The Crucible__ and know that it is about a Puritan village in Salem where people accuse others of witchcraft. But if you look deeper and learn more about Arthur Miller and his motives, you realize that this story can have the same influence with McCarthyism as witchcraft.