What Is The Theme Of Fear In The Crucible

Improved Essays
In Salem Massachusetts, a few girls practicing witchcraft would change the town’s fate forever. One of the towns people, John Proctor, himself distrusted many people in the village, which is why he never confessed his affair with Abigail Williams, one of the girls in the town. In The Crucible, fear of witchcraft in Salem caused characters like Proctor to distrust everyone else, while greed for land and money gives everyone motive to accuse their neighbors.
One person in the town that is scared is Rebecca Nurse. She is scared and fears that Salem has witches. Rebecca says “…I fear it I fear it” (Miller 1249). This shows that Rebecca is fearful for her own s0afety and what the town may turn into. It is becoming a big problem and many other people

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    People get frustrated and decides to leave; ruining appreciation, not being considerate for others, but to benefit one's own need. In a village called Salem, two women are held as suspects towards a witchcraft. Now these two women begin to accuse and taking contempt revenge toward one another. These two women of Salem show traits of hatred, greed, and dramatic life changing. Even though Abigail William and Elizabeth Proctor are like a foil to one another, in the Crucible by Arthur Miller, they both demonstrate selfishness when their own life is being threatened.…

    • 93 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the novel The Crucible by Arthur Miller, The Salem Witch Trials are incited with accusations against some of the known girls of Salem. Due to the greed and deep rooted vengeance that the people of Salem have for one another it turns into hysteria and pure injustice. The people of Salem saw the Witch Trials as a perfect way to get back at each other these "truth seeking” hearings were built entirely of falsehoods, most of which originates from the testimonies of Abigail Williams. Abigail's vengeful feelings spur her into manipulating the girls, lying to the court, and attempting to ruin the relationship of John and Elizabeth Proctor. Abigail never gave up until she couldn’t take it anymore.…

    • 835 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, tells the story about a tangle of lies, misunderstandings, and deaths in the town of Salem during the time of witch trials. In the story, Abigail Williams along with a group of girls who follow her, between they Mary Warren, are responsible for falsely accusing the vast majority of people in the town of alleged relationships with the Devil, an act that the highest authorities believe. In this occasion, Miller treats topics such as integrity, revenge, guilt, and intolerance among others, issues that are related to the context of paranoia because of communism in which the play was written and which in fact can still be seen today. In the play, Mary Warren is one of the girls who follow the fraud of Abigail to end up being an example of how lack of character causes the death of the virtuous and the victory of the liar. Mary Warren “is seventeen, a subservient, naive lonely girl” (Miller 1267).…

    • 828 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Imagine this. You’re paralyzed, unable to do anything the way you want; unable to achieve new goals, to try new things, or to simply live your life the way you want to because you are restricted. Many times we have a similar reaction to fear. Fear can motivate us to an extent, if used correctly and in small amounts. But more often than not we let fear take over and control us, stopping us from doing what we actually want to achieve.…

    • 938 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 brings power to characters in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. The mass hysteria is taking over the town and people are beginning to accuse each other of being witches. The capability of being eligible to accuse someone of being a witch gives a person a copious amount of power. The character, Mary Warren, gains power when she has the option of turning in Abigail as a fraud for creating the mass hysteria. Mary Warren is the servant in the Procter family’s household and is a friend of Abigail Williams, Reverend Parris’ niece.…

    • 1481 Words
    • 6 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

    Between the months of February 1692 and and May 1693 in Massachusetts there was a up bringing of rumors of witchcraft in the small town of Salem. In “ The Crucible “ by Arthur Miller revenge is shown through characters, fear is shown through plot , and hysteria is shown through theme. Fear is shown through plot by the lie that has gone too far and is ruining people's lives on telling the truth. In one instance John Proctor is taking Mary Warren to court to confess she lied about everything and so the girls. “ I cannot lie no more.…

    • 739 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Having had grown up in a household with two sisters each being being two years apart i know what it is like to lie in order to avoid being punished. Growing up my sisters and I would always blame each other to prevent punishment. My mom would eventually grow tired of trying to figure out which of us three actually did it and either be left off the hook or be punished equally. When my sisters would get in trouble for something i did i would feel guilty and was obliged to try and make it up to them by letting them use one of my toys or confessing to my mom.…

    • 1197 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Fear influenced the characters in the play to be careless, or make the wrong decisions in The Crucible. There was many examples of fear. There was when Abigail acted out of fear by making up stories and lying, the time when Tituba confesses and says that she is a witch, so she doesn’t get hung, the time when Cheever becomes afraid of witchcraft over a poppet, and when Elizabeth lies in a courtroom to attempt to save her husband 's life. Fear caused people to accuse others and not solve the real problem. When you are scared of dying, or of saving someone 's life, you might not make the right choice.…

    • 1056 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Crucible portrays the events of the Salem witch trials and the havoc it has created upon a puritanical society. In Arthur Miller’s play, panic and hysteria of witchcraft fall upon the whole community. Within this particular assembly of characters, there are some unforgettable characters whose actions can, in a sense, change the town. These characters — Abigail Williams and Elizabeth Proctor — stand out among the rest. Selfish traits and actions of revenge grow in Abigail’s heart while selflessness and forgiveness lie in Elizabeth’s heart.…

    • 1112 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, is a partially fictionalized account of the Salem witch trials. Miller depicts Salem as a community filled with mass paranoia and fear that leads to the an atmosphere in which everyone was a potential witch. The story is centered on John Proctor and tells the story of the witchcraft accusations that lead to his death. Many people blame his death and the death of many others on Abigail Williams, a young woman whose lies lead to the death of many innocent victims. However, it’s difficult to blame one particular character when so many others are complicit in the abomination of the Salem Witch Trials.…

    • 1136 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Maybe our mistakes are what makes our fate.” -Carrie Bradshaw. Throughout reading The Crucible, flaws within each character, and the actions they made based upon those inner flaws, eventually lead to their “downfall”. John Proctor was a highly respected man in the community of Salem, as well as by himself.…

    • 932 Words
    • 4 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
  • Superior Essays

    Social Conditions in Salem During the Witch Trials The Salem witch trials of 1692 destroyed the quiet town of Salem, Massachusetts in just over a year. Seemingly small events led to the hanging of many innocent people and triggered a wave of hysteria that would leave the Salem witch trials in history books forever. A small spark of unacceptable behavior ignited the small town and destroyed it in flames of fear and blame.…

    • 1894 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Themes In The Crucible

    • 1039 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” is a play that exhibits brutal accusations, human indecency, and a scramble for power. My Chemical Romance’s song, “Teenagers”, is about fitting in, taking a stand, and class struggle. There are numerous parallels between Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” and My Chemical Romance’s “Teenagers” including class struggle, fear, corruption of power, in and out groups, image, and human nature. Arthur Miller wrote “The Crucible” as a result of the fear of communism in the United States. Within the very idea of communism, there is a constant struggle between the classes.…

    • 1039 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays