The Theme Of Predestination In Arthur Miller's Play '

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (John 1:9). In the Bible, it is stated that God forgives anyone who asks for forgiveness, but the Puritans don’t necessarily believe that. Puritans believed in a concept called predestination, meaning that God has already chosen for each person whether they will go to Heaven or Hell once they 've died. the Puritans believed it was not up to a person to decide if they are forgiven. They believed that if a person sinned, they are bound to Hell. Puritans believed in a concept called predestination, meaning that God has already chosen for each person whether they will go to Heaven or Hell once they 've died. This means that, when …show more content…
Many instances throughout the play show that Parris sins by letting his greed get the better of him. His selfishness begins to show at the point in the play when he 's afraid that his name could possibly be blackened by the trials because the two of the 'afflicted ' girls are his daughter and niece, so he could be associated with witchcraft. When some of the townspeople come out and say that his daughter and niece are lying, Parris takes it as a personal threat and states that people of the town are coming after him. John Proctor, one of the townspeople accused of opposing him suggests that if there was a group against him he would be in it. This shows that there truly were townspeople that were not fond of Reverend Parris because they did not believe in the way he preached. Another time is he does not tell judge Danforth that the girls were dancing in the woods he keeps this a secret to protect his name. He took these actions to protect himself because two of the girls in dancing in the woods fell under his responsibility, which would put the blame on him. A second example of his greed is when he wants to postpone the hangings to save his own life. Parris finds a dagger stuck in his door so he tries to convince Danforth by saying “Tonight, when I open my door to leave my house- a dagger clattered to the ground...there is a danger for me” (Miller, 232 ) he did this to put the hangings on another day so that he will live. Danforth does not postpone the hangings because he does not believe it is the right thing to do. Throughout The Crucible, Reverend Parris remains greedy and only worries about his own life, showing that he is a static character. He never once thinks about putting somebody else before his own wants, leaving only room for himself and whatever is in his best