Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is a play that focuses on several major themes, one of which being the idea of how thoughts and ideas can become a weapon against others. This idea develops throughout Acts I and II, emerging through the characters within the play. One such character who uses ideas as a weapon happens to be Ann Putnam. Throughout Act I, Mrs. Putnam is a grief stricken mother as her only surviving child has been “bewitched”. By using the idea of witchery and the devil, Mrs. Putnam puts the blame of the death of her children onto others. While explaining why she let Ruth seek Tituba to conjure the dead, she states to Parris, “they were murdered, Mr. Parris! And mark this proof! Mark It! Last night my Ruth were ever so close to their
…show more content…
Within political debates, like the current presidential race, one can see how the idea of America as a global power is one that both candidates use against each other to both gain support for themselves and garner opposition for the opponent - all of this in front of the camera for the whole world to see and take a side. The idea of how racist and brutal police are is the driving factor in the Black Lives Matter movement, a movement that seems to focus only on the negatives of police and rarely the positives. Even on the Internet, through social media and other forms of online expressions of one’s self, one can see how ideas are used against others; whether it be Isis spreading their own ideas on the Internet to gain support for their terroristic cause and put fear into the world, or some teenager using the idea of anonymity on the Internet to gain the courage to put down others on social media, the Internet is a primary source of using ideas as weapons. In all of these examples, these individuals, communities, and societies are impacted by this theme as they use ideas to gain leverage over others (in the example of the presidential debate), to support their own causes by putting down others, or to find strength in attacking others. The 21st century is riddled with much ideological violence, as it is a time in which societies and individuals can easily spread their weaponized
Within political debates, like the current presidential race, one can see how the idea of America as a global power is one that both candidates use against each other to both gain support for themselves and garner opposition for the opponent - all of this in front of the camera for the whole world to see and take a side. The idea of how racist and brutal police are is the driving factor in the Black Lives Matter movement, a movement that seems to focus only on the negatives of police and rarely the positives. Even on the Internet, through social media and other forms of online expressions of one’s self, one can see how ideas are used against others; whether it be Isis spreading their own ideas on the Internet to gain support for their terroristic cause and put fear into the world, or some teenager using the idea of anonymity on the Internet to gain the courage to put down others on social media, the Internet is a primary source of using ideas as weapons. In all of these examples, these individuals, communities, and societies are impacted by this theme as they use ideas to gain leverage over others (in the example of the presidential debate), to support their own causes by putting down others, or to find strength in attacking others. The 21st century is riddled with much ideological violence, as it is a time in which societies and individuals can easily spread their weaponized