Integrity And Reputation In The Crucible

Improved Essays
Miller’s proficiency in characterization can be seen within many of the characters of the play, however, Miller’s talent is highlighted with the character of John Procter. Miller uses Proctor to convey the two conflicting themes of integrity and reputation. Procter is shown as a distressed individual who is wedged between the guilt of committing adultery with his made Abigail and maintaining his reputation within the scrupulous town. From the hysteria of the witchcraft accusation, Abigail gains immense power within the village, allowing her to freely accuse anyone within the village, with her extreme power Abigail accuses Elizabeth Procter of practising witchcraft. Elizabeth’s arrest cause Procter’s integrity to take effect. This draws out

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    When a mother’s child is insulted, her love for her kid becomes apparent as she slowly morphs into an enormous, hairy, sharp toothed, mama bear. She has become defensive over her child, and is ready to attack at any moment. Arthur Miller, author of the play, The Crucible gives the character, John Proctor the same aura as a mama bear, or for his sake, a masculine manly bear. Proctors’ integrity, dishonesty, defensiveness and hot temper helps to build Miller’s storyline. The argument Miller presents is even if you make mistakes today, there is always room for change tomorrow and Proctors four traits elaborate on this theme.…

    • 753 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Many People will do crazy things to preserve their reputation. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller Strange, things happen in Salem during 1692, and innocent people got hurt because of it. The main conflict is Abby because she makes up ridiculous lies about who did it when she was the one doing witch craft in Salem and innocent people died because of it such as: Giles, Proctor, and Rebecca. Abby, Proctor, and Parris are the main characters in The Crucible. Parris, Proctor, and Abby portray the theme that people will go through extreme measures to preserve their reputation.…

    • 1358 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Robert Miller’s play “The Crucible”, the story takes place in 17th century Salem during the Witch trials. In the play, Miller uses different characters in order to reveal the themes of the story. One of these characters is John Proctor, husband of Elizabeth Proctor and a citizen that resides in the town of Salem. Miller portrays John Proctor as prideful, dedicated, and honest in order to illustrate integrity. John Proctor protects his pride against the town in order to preserve his integrity.…

    • 750 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Lying is something that all humans do. Whether you lie for good or for bad, it is in our human nature to do so. People lie for many reasons, a lie can be big or small. For example in the play, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, it shows the consequences of lying. The characters, Elizabeth Proctor, Abigail Williams, Samuel Parris, and Thomas Putnam all lie for different reasons.…

    • 1341 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “When love is involved no sacrifice is too great” (David Eddings). In Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, John Proctor begins as a self-centered man; however, John changes his point of view and in the end, most values his name. This suggests that it is more honorable to die with people knowing the truth rather living with a lie. Arthur Miller’s play opens with John Proctor portrayed as a selfish man, as well as a faulty husband.…

    • 758 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Miller continues to define Proctor’s ethical and moral considerations by including him discussing Abigail with his wife. When Elizabeth finds out John was alone with Abigail she grows upset because he had not told her this previously. Recoiling her reaction, he says, “You will not judge me more, Elizabeth… Some dream I had must have mistaken you for God that day I confessed my affair with Abigail. But you're not, you're not, and let you remember it!…

    • 743 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In manipulating the character of John Proctor, the playwright shows that nobody is free from the mob. He made Proctor a community figure, one of the “most respected” (Polster). Proctor, who was accused solely based on the ulterior motives of Abigail, stood up to the authority attempting to prove the situation false. As the protagonist, John Proctor is viewed as a good person who has made mistakes. Miller utilized this perception making Proctor’s fatal decision have an even greater impact.…

    • 1054 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Power of Integrity If you were given a choice: your integrity or your life, which would you chose? In the play, The Crucible, the author, Arthur Miller, reveals that most people chose their life over their integrity. The Crucible illustrates that this decision leads greater chaos and distrust through the hysteria that occurred in Salem in 1692. In this time people start to lie and accuse their neighbor of witchcraft to save themselves from the punishment, while their neighbors either hang for their false accusations or they too lie and put their neighbor in the same situation.…

    • 1080 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A crucial theme Arthur Miller discusses in his play, The Crucible, is repression of individual freedom. While John Proctor represents individuality, the Puritan theocracy symbolizes the repressiveness of a body of government. The most prominent representation of individuality in Miller’s play is John Proctor. Proctor’s idiosyncratic mind within Salem is not apparent to the reader until he stops agreeing with the courts and his peers.…

    • 1307 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Integrity is the quality of being honest and fair, having a good heart with good morals and honor. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Miller writes about life in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 and appreciates those who risked their lives for the goodness in their hearts. Additionally, there are three characters who portray this quality in their own way. Reverend John Hale, the puritan pastor, and loyal man to the people of Salem. Elizabeth Proctor, wife of John Proctor, a hardworking mother with very strong morals.…

    • 1087 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Lie to Live, Confess to Die Readers of The Crucible recently discovered a serious phenomenon: cowards are the most sought after and well-admired individuals in all social situations, while brave individuals are abased to that of useless liars. It absolutely seems paradoxical and unrealistic, but this premise exists in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. In his play, the antagonist Abigail, who operates in cowardice, manipulates others for her personal benefit, and to induce hatred towards the protagonist, John Proctor. The affinity between cowards and the brave is clearest and well-defined through the relationship of Abigail and Proctor. Accordingly, Miller attempts to demonstrate the clash between the two worlds of cowardice and bravery because…

    • 1313 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The words, witch hunts, are usually looked at as a joke or stupidity on the side of the humans. One of the most well-known witch hunts in history was in Massachusetts Salem. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, he discusses the seriousness and unjustness of the crucible. Major power often results in the abuse of power and corruption, is one of the things he said provoked the witch hunts in Salem. In act two, John Proctor was furious because Abigail accused his wife, Elizabeth, of witchcraft.…

    • 1098 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The fact that when John, a man of authority within the Salem community, goes to court and states that Abigail has concocted this huge lie, and the court chooses to believe Abigail, a young, unmarried girl, shows Proctor’s significant loss of influence and credibility during the Salem witch trials. The themes of loss of power and abuse of power within the play, The Crucible, are more thoroughly explored than the theme of…

    • 1183 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Reputation plays a large role in everyone’s life. Because of this, people act irrationally to defend it. Some even go as far as to betray their morals or put themselves in danger to protect their reputation. A large part of defending reputation is the fear of becoming a social outcast. The unprincipled characters within The Crucible manipulate the truth out of fear in order to safeguard their reputation.…

    • 1020 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Many people experience downfalls in their lives. Some may be worse than others and cost them their life. The sudden realization is not enough to recover. In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, the story starts out with young girls dancing in the forest in Salem Massachusetts. The town accuses one of them of being a witch and from there it is chaos.…

    • 891 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays