Analysis Of The Crucible

Improved Essays
he Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a crucible as, “a vessel of a very refractory material used for melting and calcining a substance that requires a high degree of heat.” Other interpretations of the word mean, “a severe test,” and “a place or situation in which concentrated forces interact to cause or influence change or development.” The Crucible by Arthur Miller and today’s society are very much like the inside of a crucible because they have social pressures, private pressures, and pressure from fear. Everyone is changed by being inside a crucible one way or another. In both The Crucible and society today, everyone feels as if they are in crucible of social pressure. “You will confess yourself or I will take you out and whip you to …show more content…
“God help me, I lusted, and there is a promise in such sweat” (98). He is constantly scrutinizing his own failures. He looks for any little sin as a good Puritan will do, hoping to make himself a better person for his own standards and before God. “The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the Lord tests hearts” (Proverbs 17:3 ESV Bible). This is to say that the good hearts and souls will be refined and made better in a crucible like silver, but the people made of weak materials such as hay will burn. Proctor inspected himself to see whether he would burn or be glorified. People in the 21st century do this too. Humans still look to purify themselves of their immoral behavior, but they also look at themselves as being successful or failing. They aspire to become great beings of wealth, fame, and power. Happiness to them is determined by things such as this. Mortals put so much pressure on themselves to do great things that they can’t be happy with a mundane life. People are also galvanized into feeling pressured from …show more content…
Death is not a stranger to fear “There is prodigious danger in the seeking of loose spirits. I fear it, I fear it” (33). Nineteen people were hanged and one man pressed to death in The Crucible due to the fear of witches. The community of Salem had very little knowledge of witches, and the fear of the unknown grasped them. They melted in the flames of the crucible they were in. They responded by taking people’s lives instead of reacting rationally. In the United States, we have also have the fear of being attacked by North Korea. The citizens of the USA are very suspicious of the North Koreans as the people in The Crucible were suspicious of the witches. Many people in the United States would attack North Korea right now if they had the opportunity, but the wisdom of the government prevails. The USA will not attack countries on merely speculation as the courts of Salem did in the novel. The whole Cold War was fought over fear of the Russians. Fear is just another thing that can cause a person to change into a different being as a crucible changes the precious metals inside

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Nicholas Hytner may have chosen to open the film with the scene of Tituba and the girls dancing in the forest to provide context for the coming events in the story. By showing this scene, the audience can infer that Betty decides to fake her illness in order to evade punishment from her father, Reverend Parris, who walks in on the girls’ nighttime activity in the forest. This opening scene also provides a clue about Abigail’s infatuation with John Proctor, since the other girls in the scene make requests concerning boys to Tituba, and also say to her, “Get her [Abigail] John Proctor, Tituba!”. Additionally, the inclusion of this scene in the movie provides a visual for proof of later references, such as when whether Parris saw someone naked…

    • 1760 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Its human nature to break out of the mold that has been set by society and others around us, and for the residents of the Puritan town of Salem, Massachusetts, this was seen in various circumstances and in different ways. As one young girl, the antagonist, broke the mold, the Puritan community was thrown into turmoil. The events to follow the spark she lit would lead to the blinded killing of innocent people. The events in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible show firsthand the way the actions out of the ordinary can affect others and the future history of generations to come. How could a young girl, a respectable man, and a slave break out of the mold and show their true selves?…

    • 1102 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Irony In The Crucible

    • 677 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Crucible Essay The word crucible has three different meanings that each contributes its own metaphorical meaning to the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller. A crucible is a piece of equipment for melting substances in a laboratory, a severe test, or a situation in which concentrated forces cause change. Arthur Miller chose During the Salem witch trials in the late 1600’s, people were brought to the court, accused of witchcraft, and then were either sentenced to death or forced to sell out other women who were “witches,” turning the town into a crucible for the “melting” community. Theses trials begin in the play when Abigail and the other girls lie about dancing naked in the woods to avoid getting in trouble themselves.…

    • 677 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Kieran Press-Reynolds AP English Language August 20, 2015 Novel Analysis Assignment The Crucible by Arthur Miller Plot and Conflict The Crucible is a story about the power of theocracy and how hysteria corrupts it. It takes place during the seventeenth century in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts.…

    • 1490 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Epilogue To The Crucible

    • 440 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The smell of smoke enters the cave and I'm instantly woken up by it. The sound of the kookaburra rings throughout the bush land. My first thought was that Uncle Bardy was starting a fire for a smoking ceremony and I raced outside to join. I'm surprised when I see a burnt out fire and birds scavenging around looking for food. In the distance I see where the smell of smoke is coming from.…

    • 440 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Literary Analysis “God damns our kind especially, and we will burn, we will burn together!” said Arthur Miller. John Proctor learned the toll sinning takes on a person the hard way in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. Although John is an honest man and has a personal code of conduct he is human and makes mistakes. Throughout the play John goes through his own personal crucible and in the end is judged for his actions. In the Crucible, Arthur Miller suggests that when people sin, they sometimes hurt themselves more than others.…

    • 481 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, society lives in suppression from respected officials, who believe that they are justified under God. Sin is looked perceived as an unjustifiable offense with major repercussions, and in some cases, includes death. These actions demonstrate the unforgiving and stern nature of strict puritanism which is present throughout the novel. However, certain characters in the play are able to use sin to their own advantage. Miller employs the literary device of connotation to express feeling and emotion beyond the literal meaning of the text.…

    • 1127 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Crucible: A Play About A Twisted Lie The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a play regarding the Salem witch trial, a grim period of time in the United States’ history. The play talks about a group of young girls that create a lie that affects an entire community of people and leads to what we know as the Salem witch trials. Throughout the story Abigail manipulates the girls into not telling the truth while Reverend Hale tries to control the situation. Throughout the story as people begin to be accused and the situation worsens the characters are brought to show their real selves. Abigail and Reverend Hale grow and devolve in moral stature as a result of new information and selfish acts.…

    • 721 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Pointing Fingers Facing The Invisible Audience During the 1950s, the United States evolved from a stable country to a nation filled with terror and suspicion. This unfortunate event took place, by the cause of a senator named Joseph McCarthy. He, who had the power to express a convincing speech, convincingly shared accusatory confessions to the public relating to people, in the government, following communism beliefs. This lead to Arthur Miller writing the play The Crucible, because many people, including his friends, were accused of following communism.…

    • 1103 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Crucible in an allegory that ultimately addresses human behaviour. Death is a common denominator when societies are left to their own demise, as seen with the useless killings of the “witches” of Salem, Massachusetts to include our protagonist, John Proctor. Through the hysterics of the Salem villagers we see people struck with the fear of being accused of witchcraft; despite witchcraft being somewhat of a grey phenomenon, it was solidly used to indict and kill villagers to the benefit of others. When you look at two specific characters within the Crucible i.e. John Proctor and Reverend Hale you notice opposite reactions in response to their respective regret thus analyzing their actions, you notice threads of human action that continues…

    • 123 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Change In The Crucible

    • 639 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The definition of crucible is a ceramic or metal container in which metals or other substances may be melted or subjected to very high temperatures. This definition can relate to the play The Crucible, by Arthur Miller because the court can be thought of as the heat in which is melting the metal, but for the play it means that the court is causing tension in the town of Salem. Like the change of the metal, going from solid to liquid, many people either go through changes or try to make others change in the play; some of the most remembered for the changes are John Proctor, Elizabeth Proctor, and Abigail Williams. John and Elizabeth both change themselves through the play, but Williams tries to change those around her.…

    • 639 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Society trusts those that conform, and distrusts those that that don’t. By conforming to society's expectation, you gain trust from the society. A disadvantage to conforming to society is when you join the group, you’re technically no longer your own individual. George S. Patton once said, “If everyone is thinking alike, then sobody isn’t thinking.” It’s like you’re a sheep, and when you conform to society's beliefs, you join the rest of the herd.…

    • 482 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Truth In The Crucible

    • 881 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Crucible is centered around the truth and its consequences. When it comes to the truth, what it reveals brings up some and takes down others. The truth took or would have taken trust from these people because it showed or would have shown who they were. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, truth is the factor that people cannot control; therefore, it is what makes the fate of the prosecuted and the people around them.…

    • 881 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Literature is a wonderful thing; it explores the relationships between humans and their nature, historical events, and can be used to express one’s creativity. It can also be used to give moral guidance; this was Arthur Miller’s reasoning behind writing The Crucible. In this dramatic retelling of the Salem trials, Miller ensnares his reader with stories of adultery, betrayal, and material greed. His intention, however, is not to entertain with operatic drama. This play is a cautionary tale about finger pointing and its potentially fatal consequences.…

    • 799 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    American Crucible Analysis

    • 1671 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Gary Gerstle’s “American Crucible: Race and Nation in the Twentieth Century” thrive upon the ideals of race and civic nationalism definitively shaping the American twentieth century (Gerstle 5). Racial divides impacted most conceivable aspects of daily life: economic status, social divides, laws, and even military practices. Civic nationalism is synonymous with patriotism, and a loyalty to one’s country of citizenship, an aspect constantly under question with an unsure government. Along-side race and nation-key American figures like Martin Luther King Jr., Malcom X, and the prominent Roosevelt cousins, Franklin and Theodore shaped America’s policies and cultural attitudes for over half a century.…

    • 1671 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays