Arthur Miller's The Crucible: A Perverse Society

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The Crucible: A Perverse Society

The United States of America’s early settlers are made up of hypocrites. In 1620 the Mayflower brought a group of pilgrims to what would one day be called the US. These pilgrims were called Puritans. They believed that man existed for the glory of god and followed the bible strictly. Unfortunately, it was not long until they fell into moral decay. They slowly began to slip farther and farther away from the teachings in the bible but refused to admit it. Ultimately, these “Puritans” stopped being terribly pure. In the Puritan society of 1962 described in The Crucible that boasts its closeness to God, the sins of wrath, greed, and lust are committed in abundant quantities.
Wrath is described as an extreme
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First of all, when confronted with a warrant for the arrest of his wife, John Proctor, red with anger, reacts in a rash and violent manner: “Proctor, ripping the warrant: Out with you!” (Miller, 72). Even though ripping up the warrant only causes more pain and suffering for him, John cannot think clearly because his fury is controlling him. In addition, John proctor shows wrath when he threw Abigail to the ground, shouting, “You mad, you murderous bitch!” (Miller, 143). This shows, once again, that John Proctor cannot control his anger. He had been attempting to calmly persuade Abigail, but instead only ended up strengthening her resolve with his physical outlash. Furthermore, John, in a display of anger, assaults Abigail on front of other people, while stating some important information: “…Proctor leaps at Abigail and, grabbing her by the hair, pulls her to her feet… Proctor: How do you call Heaven! …show more content…
She lusts after John Proctor, a married man, and makes many attempts to claim John as her own. To set the ball in motion, Abigail and John had an affair which causes the feelings of lust to emerge within Abigail. Abigail admits that she has these feelings of lust caused by this event when she says to John, “I cannot sleep for dreamin’; I cannot dream but I wake and walk about the house as though I’d find you comin’ through some door” (Miller, 22). Furthermore, she casts a spell to kill John Proctor’s wife, Elizabeth, so that she may have John all to herself. She goes as far as drinking raw chicken blood, and possibly getting sick because of it, to get Elizabeth out of picture: “You drank a charm to kill John Proctor’s wife!” (Miller, 18). In addition, when her first attempt to kill Elizabeth doesn’t pan out, Abigail just tries again. Abigail even makes herself think that John will thank her for this twisted deed when she says, “I know you John-you are this moment singing secret hallelujahs that your wife will hang!” (Miller, 143). Moreover, she constantly reminds John of how he can have her anytime he wants: “John-I am waitin’ for you every night” (Miller, 23). These small temptations that she gives John over a period of time is her way of swooning him away from his wife, albeit unsuccessfully. Even though John Proctor is married, Abigail tries again and again, out of pure

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