The Crucible: Essay Topic—A major theme in the play is that although evil is present, goodness triumphs. This theme is evident in the characters personalities and the actions resulting from their personalities. For the essay, you will prove the theme of the characters John Proctor, Reverend Parris, and contrasting them.
Introduction
The Crucible represents a play that illustrates intersection of the private sins, religious intolerance, hysteria, and paranoia. The author of the play focuses on illustrating the differences of the characters through the themes. This indicates the differences between John Proctor and Reverend Parris. The two characters possess two different aspects of traits displaying them as either evil or upright in the context of the society. It is ideal for the author to differentiate the moral aspect of the characters in order to develop the plot of the play effectively and efficiently. John comes out of the play as a morally upright man held by secrets in relation to the previous life interactions or relationship with Abigail. Reverend Parris comes out as an evil act in the society with reference to the need to hang on to power and execution of paranoid behaviors within the play. John Proctor is honest and morally upright while Reverend Parris is paranoid and power-hungry within the play even through eminent deeds by John overcome the evil deeds at the end of the plot development.
Discussion/Analysis
John Proctor proves to be a righteous man during the play with reference to his honesty character trait. His attempts to remain perfect individual within the society suffer massive challenge in failing to confront the fears of relationship with Abigail in the previous events before the development of the plot. This is crucial to the development of effective and efficient plot thus enabling the author and readers to grasp the content of the themes and context of the play. The honesty aspect of John Proctor comes out precisely in attempts to save his religious, cultural, and social life by confessing on the hidden secret between him and Abigail as an act of adultery. This is the onset of the redemption process thus offering the opportunity for John Proctor to adopt new dimension to his social and religious life. An example is evident in the confession to Elizabeth, his wife, in the last act (Act 4) of the play where John Proctor says, “I cannot mount the gibbet like a saint. It is a fraud. I am not that man. My honesty is broke, Elizabeth; I am no good man. Nothing’s spoiled by giving them this lie that was not rotten long before.” This is an expression of honesty in trying to avoid the false life John Proctor had lived in trying to protect his social and religious life within the society. Another element of honesty is evident in the first act of the play when John Proctor decides to offer his piece of mind to Abigail in relation to their perceived relationship and what exactly took place during the encounters. John Proctor illustrates in the act, “Abby, I may think of you softly from time to time. But, I will cut of my hand before I ever reach for you again. Wipe it out of mind. We never touched, Abby” (p. 18). The honesty aspect of John Proctor makes him to be impatient with foolishness in other individuals.
Reverend Parris experiences thirst or hunger for power, money, and land within the society thus the increase in his unpopularity aspect of religious beliefs and practices. This trait makes many families including John Proctor’s family to limit their church attendances. Within the play, Reverend Parris is the current minister serving in Salem. His thirst for power makes him anxious to keep hold of his post within the religious structure thus the ability to achieve his objectives at all costs. Reverend Parris plans effectively and effectively on how to evade dismissal thus decides to integrate appropriately with individuals who possess the power within the society. This reflects a negative character trait of the minister since he has the ability of condoning immorality such as witchcraft within the society with the aim of remaining in power as long as he can, thus influencing religious practices in Salem. The Reverend fails to illustrate clearly on the developments in relation to the girls as he saw in the woods hence with holding vital information. The main reason for behind holding vital information is the thirst or hunger for power and insecurity reasons. This aspect of character trait leads to endangering of the innocent lives in the community. The thirst for power also ensures that the Reverend has no opportunity to exercise quality decision thus limiting the right of the society members in question to defending themselves against allegations from the girls.
John Proctor is morally upright in the sense that he tries to uphold the ideologies of Christian life. This is still evident in deciding to unveil the act of adultery in relation to the relationship with Abigail in the past developments of the plot. The moral nature of his character trait lands him in prison and subjection to severe criticism from the religious aspect of the society. John Proctor’s moral upright nature is evident in the fact that he cannot withstand the fact that Abigail focuses on associating with heaven, yet she is a ‘whore’. In the third act of the play, John Proctor makes two allegations to illustrate his morally upright nature. The first allegation aims at Abigail and the Reverend Parris who hangs on to power by holding some vital information. “They’re pretending!” This is an illustration of morally upright individual within the society. The second aspect of the allegation relates to Abigail and her association with heaven despite the aspect of immorality surrounding her. “How do you call upon Heaven? Whore! Whore!”
Reverend Parris is paranoid in his interaction within the society in relation to how he treats the issue of witchcraft within the society. This negative trait enables the Reverend to develop distrust by fearing for his position within the society as the minister in the community. Reverend Parris decides to lie to the court while referring to the issue of witchcraft concerning the girls in the woods. Reverend Parris allows the witchcraft scenario to affect his value judgment thus the adoption of clouded decisions such as extreme punishment and forced confessions. “There is either obedience or the church will burn like Hell is burning” (p. 30). This is an expression of paranoid nature of Reverend Parris with the aim of protecting his position in the church. He stresses on the deed to his house and preaches fire and brimstone concerning everything he wants. This discussion unfolds in the first act of the play.
Conclusion
Despite the presence of evil acts such as hunger for power and insecurity in relation to the position of the Reverend in the Church, virtuous deeds prevail in the play. John Proctor decides to apply his honest and moral, upright character traits to confess on the evil deeds within the society. He uncovers the hidden truth that relates to the alleged relationship with Abigail before the developments in the first act of the play. This confession aims at providing new directives towards religious practices within the society hence an act against witchcrafts. The Reverend tires in vain to persuade John Proctor from confessing the hidden truth thus illustrating the prevailing force (good acts) in the Salem community.
Work Cited
Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. Harlow: Pearson Education, 1992. Print.
