The+Crucible

​The Crucible was written to satirize "The Red Scare" and McCarthyism. Joe McCarthy was blacklisting people on suspicion that they were part of the Communist party, which is relevant to Danforth sentancing people because he thought they were practicing witchcraft. The Crucible also relates to problems in the twenty first century and will continue to do so because this play is based off of the outcomes of human instinct. Fear and guilt will always have a hand in the actions played out by people, especially when they are over dramatic about certain problems.

__CHARACTER ANYALYSIS__

 * John Proctor** - is a protagonist in this play. He is not like the other men of Salem who have run along with the accusations.He had a brief affair with Abigail Williams and now is making it his goal to stop the ridiculousness of the witch hunts that are going in his town, which his wife has now also gotten mixed up in. He is popular within the town and is trying to be an eye opener to show the townspeople that there is no witchcraft, just lies and accusations. He becomes openly hated by Parris, and Parris accuses him because he works on sundays and does not always go to church. He then redeems himself of being a lecher and getting Elizabeth caught up in the witch hunt by taking the blame, not confessing (lying) and saving all the others who had not confessed either.


 * Elizabeth Proctor** - is the wife of John Proctor. She was very inaffectionate towards John, which drove him into the arms of another woman, Abigail Williams. John soon realizes the error of his ways and discontinues the relationship with her. He then tries to fix his relationship with his wife, Elizabeth. Because of this, Elizabeth then becomes one of the man targets when Abigail starts accusing people of practicing witchcraft. Elizabeth has love for John, and shows this throughout the play as she stands by his side, forgives him for cheating on her, admiting it was her fault by saying "It needs a cold wife to prompt lechery.". Then she even lies to the court after he confesses to being a lecher to save him. She is a very loyal and devoted wife to John, and you can see this at the end when he saves himself and others, and she says 'He have his goodness now. God forbid I take it away from him!" she let him do as he needed.


 * Abigail Williams** - is the force behind the witch hunts. She is a teenage girl who has had a brief affair with John Proctor. She becomes very spiteful when he refuses to leave his wife, Elizabeth, for her. She then realizes she has an opportunity to get revenge on the people who she thinks have done her wrong. The opportunity arises when she finds out they can use the suggestion that witchcraft holds a hand in her cousin Betty's illness. She then pretends to be possed as they go through the town trying to "find the witches". She then becomes the figure with the most force behind the accusations, making her the lead power of all the innocent people being jailed and sentanced to hang. It is very prominent that she would do anything to get revenge and stops at nothing. Towards the end she fears ridicule and flees to Barbados, showing the human instinct that people always try to find a scapegoat so they don't have to deal with their own problems.


 * Reverend Parris** - is the current reverend in Salem. He has been with the church a few years and has made many changes regarding the church despite the townspeople not wanting it. Parris is not liked by many because of his decisions to stray away from the strict Puritain lifestyle. An example of this being that he wanted to own the house he lives in, and he asked for a higher salary even though all of his yearly expenses are already included. He seems vain and has a large ego and seems to care more about his own reputation rather than the illness of Betty. The way he acts causes many to turn away from him and his church which then affect their fate during the witch trials.


 * Reverend Hale** - was brought into Salem to conduct the witchhunt. Once he comes into town, it intiates a large outbreak of people being accused. He goes along with the accusations for most of the play. Mid-play he has his eyes opened. He then tries desperately to undo what has been done. He keeps trying to spare the lives of the innocent victims. Then goes on to try and expose the liars.


 * Judge Danforth** - is a stern but, practical man. He is more interested in upholding the court rather than serving justice, though. With him, once a person is accused it means conviction in witchery. He denounces any form of rationality when going through the cases. He believes that you cannot prove innocence, unless the victim of the witch confesses lies. So, all the people accused either have to confess to practicing witchcraft, or are sentanced to be hanged. Towards the end he shows he is there to preserve the reputation of the court when he asks Proctor to sign a written confession, which Proctor refuses leading to his execution.


 * Mrs.Putnam -** is the wife of Thomas Putnam.She is depicted as a bitter woman. She has had several stillborn children and needs to find a reason for it. She blames it on the supernatural saying that someone has cursed her using witchcraft. She does not listen to reason and uses Rebecca Nurse as a scapegoat for her children's deaths. She is a reactive character because she jumps to conclusions and goes with the flow without asking any questions. Her accusations also links as an aid to land desputes her husband was having.


 * Giles Corey -** is a comical character in Salem. He doesn't always think before he speaks and gets himself into trouble this way. Things go awry when he says about the "strange books" his wife reads at night. This comment then ends up getting his wife accused of practicing witchcraft. He stands by Proctor in court while they challenge the girls' accusations and is afraid that Mr.Putnam is using the accusations to acquire land because he had been battling for it in previous lawsuits.When he refuses to name the person who claimed they heard Mr.Putnam say this, he is sentenced to be weighted for a confession. He ends up dying under the weight of the rocks, refusing to give a confession. By this it is clear that Giles was strong willed and didn't give up on what he believed was right.


 * Rebecca Nurse** - is definitely the martyr in the play. She is a kind and gentle woman, modest as well. She deduces Betty's sickness is just from being out in the cold too late at night. But she is then accused of witchcraft because she was the midwife in all of Mrs.Putnam's births and all seven were all stillborn. They accuse her of having a hand in all of the deaths supernaturally, through witchcraft. Although it is clear that she has not had a hand in the children's death she is sentanced to be hanged. She is the most sane and pure of all the victims to be hanged.

Act1 Quiz Act1 Writing Prompt Act2 Quiz Act3 Quiz Act4 Quiz Character Analysis Final Writing Prompt