Crucible Essay

The Crucible Essay

The Crucible was a very emotional book in terms of plot. The plot was about a girl named Abigail who accuses many people of witchcraft. She also accuses Elizabeth Proctor, wife of John Proctor. Abigail uses her power of the court to get to her obsession, John Proctor, by trying to eliminate Elizabeth. She is unsuccessful in getting this done and ends up executing over twelve people including John Proctor. It is great to see all the different kinds of characterization and themes. This story really gets you thinking about many things, such as, lying and telling the truth, or most importantly, standing up for your beliefs even if you have to die for them. It also shows how envy, greed, hate, and jealousy can impact so many lives.

A good theme in the crucible is the hunger for power because it shows you can get it in the town of Salem. All the power went to Abigail Williams. She then abused the power for the use of evil to get revenge on Elizabeth Proctor for having John. "Life, is God's most precious gift; no principle, however glorious may justify the taking of it" - Reverend Hale. This is one of the best quotes I have heard in a while. This quote mostly points to Danforth. It points to him because he was the one who sentenced John Proctor to hang, even though he knew he was innocent. He couldn't stop the sentencing because he thought it was too late to go back. "Now hear me, and beguile yourselves no more. I will not receive a single plea for pardon or postponement...Twelve are already executed; the names of the seven are given out, and the village expects to see them die this morning...Postponement means a floundering on my part..." This is the quote that proves my point because it shows that he was more concerned with what the village was expecting to see; to make sure everything goes according to plan.

John Proctor is the bravest character in the book. Despite his affair with Abigail Williams, he tries hard to redeem himself everyway possible but realizes that some stuff just cannot be forgiven no matter how hard you try. "You dragging down Heaven, and raising up a WHORE!" In this quote John gets frustrated and tells the court how they would trust Abigail more than God, he also then mentions his case of lechery. Another quote I would like to use to support John's bravery is, "She looked to dance with me on my wife's grave. God help me, I lusted!" The reason I chose this out of the rest was because it shows how far John will go, even if it means to soil his reputation, just to get Abigail out of control. "Because it is my NAME! Because I may not have another in my life!" This is when John is completely forgiven for all his sins. He has gone through so much that he feels he should at least keep his name. He realizes that if he signs this confession given to him to be posted on the church door, he would never be able to get his life back. After his decision to go