The Crucible Theme - Reputation

The Crucible

Reputation. Reputation is the general opinion of either a private or public group of people or all people involved in a position of anything relevant to a situation. For example, a great reputation in a sport will get you either paid more or chosen for a better team. Reputation is an important issue in much of everything. It is an important issue within virtual communities, businesses, schools, social status, and more. I find reputation relevant to Arthur Millers screenplay The Crucible. In The Crucible, Miller presents his opinions from facts of the Salem Witch Trials. By doing this he brings a whole new point of view to the readers of his screenplay. In the following paragraphs I will be analyzing quotes directly from The Crucible to help achieve Millers point of Reputation.

From one point to another in The Crucible, there is dialog that lets us understand Miller's point of reputation in a society. "I want to open myself! I want the light of God, I want the sweet love of Jesus! I danced for the Devil; I saw him, I wrote in his book; I go back to Jesus; I kiss His hand. I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!" (50) This quote from Abigail raises her position in society. By Abigail, doing this, the other girls follow. They follow, believing this will raise them also in the social ranking of their society. And why does Abigail start blurting out names? And make false accusations? Well after hearing Tituba confess to witchcraft, she sees this as an opportunity to get herself off the hot spot, even though she was with the other girls in the forest. And after clearing her name, she wanted to move the blame on. She starts accusing falsely the other people of being witches. When this was done, the other girls followed because of the success she had. "I saw Alice Barrow with the Devil," "I saw Goody Bibber with the Devil!" ... and so on from pages 50-51. As you can tell, these girls all cared about their reputation. With their reputation, they believe it is a way out from being trailed as a witch, as everyone else in Salem wishes to do.

"There is either obedience or the church will burn like Hell is burning!" - Parris (31) Parris, father to Betty, uncle to Abigail, owner of Tituba, and minister in Salem, is more worried about his reputation than the life of his daughter or the lives of his parishioners. Parris proven more than once in act 1, "PROCTOR: I have trouble enough without I come five mile to hear him preach only hellfire and bloody damnation. Take it to heart, Mr. Parris. There are many others who stay away from church these days because you hardly ever mention God any more. PARRIS: Why, that's a drastic charge! REBECCA: It's somewhat true; there are many that quail to bring their