Edgar Allan Poe once said, “The noose of a mob is its imagination. By this, at any time, it can be quietly led”. The Crucible by Arthur Miller adequately reinforces this statement. A mob knows no justice and the townspeople of Salem had an agenda of vengeance. Throughout the play characters such as Elizabeth and Rebecca Nurse were wrongly accused of witchcraft without the proper evidence. In the midst of chaos, it was clear that power had no official title and anyone could be a victim of its wrath. The consequences of this lead to the tarnishing of a man’s name, his god given birthright. The Crucible illustrates that if you take away order and value within a society, mania will take a hold of everyone. The two most prominent themes throughout
…show more content…
The society within The Crucible has a very high virtue. It is very difficult to build a good reputation and it can easily be crushed by accusations. Rebecca Nurse is an example of this. She is the perfect representation of an honorable women and is deeply respected throughout the whole town for her religious ways. When she was convicted of witchcraft it shocked her and everyone else down to the core. Even though she knew that death was waiting at her doorstep she refused to confess to a crime that she didn’t commit. ( insert quote from rebecca ) . Rebecca was not the only one who put her reputation before her life; Proctor did the same as well. He is an all around exceptional character but he seems to struggle with the loss of a good reputation. In the play, Proctor is also required to admit to a crime that he did not commit in order to save his own life. He makes the conscious decision that keeping his good reputation and integrity is more valuable than life itself. This became evident in his final moments. In the dialogue between him and danforth, proctor desperately states “it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life!” [200] The significance behind these words and the real universal theme is that there’s only one chance to live right. It’s impossible to start from scratch so every decision that is made should be weighed accordingly. Both Proctor and
The society within The Crucible has a very high virtue. It is very difficult to build a good reputation and it can easily be crushed by accusations. Rebecca Nurse is an example of this. She is the perfect representation of an honorable women and is deeply respected throughout the whole town for her religious ways. When she was convicted of witchcraft it shocked her and everyone else down to the core. Even though she knew that death was waiting at her doorstep she refused to confess to a crime that she didn’t commit. ( insert quote from rebecca ) . Rebecca was not the only one who put her reputation before her life; Proctor did the same as well. He is an all around exceptional character but he seems to struggle with the loss of a good reputation. In the play, Proctor is also required to admit to a crime that he did not commit in order to save his own life. He makes the conscious decision that keeping his good reputation and integrity is more valuable than life itself. This became evident in his final moments. In the dialogue between him and danforth, proctor desperately states “it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life!” [200] The significance behind these words and the real universal theme is that there’s only one chance to live right. It’s impossible to start from scratch so every decision that is made should be weighed accordingly. Both Proctor and