Analysis Of Corey In The Crucible

The Man of Honor and Courage “More weight!” (Miller 1269). This statement made by Giles Corey shows how his character is already defined. Arthur Miller introduced many characters in the play The Crucible. The one character who really stood out was Giles Corey. In the play he is portrayed as a silly old man at first, but later he changes into a man who cares for his family’s wellbeing and he would die for his family’s honor. In Act 1, Giles was introduced as a silly old man who didn’t know any better. Giles did what any citizen would do in Salem, go to church and play his role in society. He would say what was on his mind and sometimes it could be outrageous and very drastic. In the text Giles states, “Giles: It suggests …show more content…
In Act 1, when Hale came to Salem, Giles heard that he knew a lot about witchcraft. Giles had a problem at his home with his wife. She started to read books and it distracted Giles from finishing his prayer. In The Crucible Giles states,” GILES: I never said my wife were a witch, Mr. Hale; I only said she were reading books! HALE: Mr. Corey, exactly what complaint were made on your wife? GILES: That bloody mongrel Walcott charge her. Y’see, he buy a pig of my wife four or five year ago, and the pig died soon after. So, he come dancin’ in for his money back. So, my Martha, she says to him, “Walcott, if you haven’t the wit to feed a pig properly, you’ll not live to own many,” she says. Now he goes to court and claims that from that day to this he cannot keep a pig alive for more than four weeks because my Martha bewitch them with her books!” (The Crucible). In the play, Giles regrets that he told Hale that his wife that she reads books because she gets put in jail and sentenced to be hung. So, when he realizes that he put his wife in a very life-threatening situation, he does all that he can to set her and his friends free. The Overview states,” He blames his wife's reading of books other than the Bible for his own difficulty in praying. He later comes to regret his words when Martha is arrested as a witch. Corey says they have evidence to prove the girls are frauds and …show more content…
Arthur Miller has done a great job portraying Giles Corey and sadly in his final moments he did the one thing that stood out from any other character. He protected his family’s honor. In the play during trial and court with this massive hysteria going on, Giles had evidence to prove that Thomas Putnam made his daughter accuse George Jacobs of witch craft so that Putnam could buy up his land. This information was given to Giles by some person we don’t know of. Danfoth had asked him multiple times to give up the name of who gave him this information, but Giles Corey refused to give up this person’s name to protect him and in hopes that the evidence could fix it all. Sadly, the evidence wasn’t enough since Giles refused to give up the name of the person who gave him the evidence he was killed by stones crushing him. The Crucible states, “He says that someone told him he heard Thomas Putnam praising his daughter Ruth for accusing George Jacobs of witchery, an accusation that allowed Putnam to buy up Jacobs's land. However, Corey refuses to name the man who told him this, and he is therefore held in contempt of court and pressed to death under a heap of stones. “(Overview). In the overview it tells that how Giles refused to give them what they wanted until they stopped this madness. “I will not give you no name. I mentioned my wife’s name once and I’ll burn in hell long enough for that. I stand mute.” (Overview). This