The Crucible is a play by Arthur Miller. The play was written hundreds of years after the time period it is set in. The play is about the Salem Witch Trials. The Crucible demonstrates Puritan writing styles to imitate the setting of the play. The characters all talk about God openly and frequently. They also jump to religious conclusions very quickly. The girls involved in the witching are: Betty, Abigail, Mary Warren, Ruth, Mercy Lewis, and a servant named Tituba. Tituba is from Barbados and probably did not know what was going on. She just sung the songs of her native land upon the girls' requests; the rest the girls did themselves (Miller 43-47). The adults trying to figure out what happened are: Reverend Parris, Mr. and Mrs. Putnam, Mr. and Mrs. Proctor, Rebecca Nurse, Giles Corey, and Reverend Hale.
The characters of The Crucible all talk about God very often. God is brought up very often. The character Parris is a reverend in the local parish (Miller 8). Parris talks about how the girls' scandal will ruin his reputation in the church (Miller 10). Another example of Paris alone focusing on God is that the first thing he does is to send for Reverend Hale from Beverly (Miller 9). The focus on God alone without breaching my next topic is difficult, so lets move on.
More noticeable than frequent talk of God, is how quickly they jump to ecclesiastic conclusions. With practically no investigation, it is just assumed the girls were partaking in witchcraft. People not even involved just assumed witchcraft without a second thought (Miller 9-10). The father of the girl who was "witched" also assumes it was witchcraft very quickly; we know this because he asks his niece, Abigail about it (Miller 10) Witchcraft back then was taken to mean devil worship and soul summoning, unlike today's views which have been swayed by other works of literature like Harry Potter and So You Want to be a Wizard and television shows like Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Today witching and witchcraft is just viewed as fantasy and fictional, but back in the 1600s witchcraft was related with associating with Lucifer and Satan; being charged as a witch usually meant the loss of ones life. The girls father, Reverend Parris, is not the only one to assume witchcraft. Other characters assume this too. Such characters include Mrs. Putnam, who accuses the girls of flying (Miller 13). This sounds like a silly accusation, but it used to be thought that heathen wickens would summon the devil to allow them to fly. Another character, Thomas Putnam, husband of Mrs. Putnam, at least puts two and two together. He know that Parris sent for Reverend Hale of Beverly, and this is why he thinks that the scandal may involve witchcraft (Miller 13-14).
For these reasons, frequent talk of God, and the hasty ecclesiastic conclusions, we can determine that The Crucible is good at reflecting the Puritan writing styles in the 1600s.
Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York, New York: Penguin Plays, 1982. Print.
The characters of The Crucible all talk about God very often. God is brought up very often. The character Parris is a reverend in the local parish (Miller 8). Parris talks about how the girls' scandal will ruin his reputation in the church (Miller 10). Another example of Paris alone focusing on God is that the first thing he does is to send for Reverend Hale from Beverly (Miller 9). The focus on God alone without breaching my next topic is difficult, so lets move on.
More noticeable than frequent talk of God, is how quickly they jump to ecclesiastic conclusions. With practically no investigation, it is just assumed the girls were partaking in witchcraft. People not even involved just assumed witchcraft without a second thought (Miller 9-10). The father of the girl who was "witched" also assumes it was witchcraft very quickly; we know this because he asks his niece, Abigail about it (Miller 10) Witchcraft back then was taken to mean devil worship and soul summoning, unlike today's views which have been swayed by other works of literature like Harry Potter and So You Want to be a Wizard and television shows like Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Today witching and witchcraft is just viewed as fantasy and fictional, but back in the 1600s witchcraft was related with associating with Lucifer and Satan; being charged as a witch usually meant the loss of ones life. The girls father, Reverend Parris, is not the only one to assume witchcraft. Other characters assume this too. Such characters include Mrs. Putnam, who accuses the girls of flying (Miller 13). This sounds like a silly accusation, but it used to be thought that heathen wickens would summon the devil to allow them to fly. Another character, Thomas Putnam, husband of Mrs. Putnam, at least puts two and two together. He know that Parris sent for Reverend Hale of Beverly, and this is why he thinks that the scandal may involve witchcraft (Miller 13-14).
For these reasons, frequent talk of God, and the hasty ecclesiastic conclusions, we can determine that The Crucible is good at reflecting the Puritan writing styles in the 1600s.
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