Term Papers on English - The Crucible By Arthur Miller

Term Paper Title	English - The Crucible By Arthur Miller
# of Words	2546
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	10.18

English - The Crucible by Arthur Miller

                    The True Devils in Salem

                    In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the madness of the
                    Salem witch trials is explored in great detail. There are
                    many theories as to why the witch trials came about, the
                    most popular of which is the girls' suppressed childhoods.
                    However, there were other factors as well, such as
                    Abigail Williams' affair with John Proctor, the secret
                    grudges that neighbors held against each other, and the
                    physical and economic differences between the citizens of
                    Salem Village.

                    From a historical viewpoint, it is known that young girls in
                    colonial Massachusetts were given little or no freedom to
                    act like children. They were expected to walk straight,
                    arms by their sides, eyes slightly downcast, and their
                    mouths were to be shut unless otherwise asked to speak.
                    It is not surprising that the girls would find this type of
                    lifestyle very constricting. To rebel against it, they played
                    pranks, such as dancing in the woods, listening to slaves'
                    magic stories and pretending that other villagers were
                    bewitching them. The Crucible starts after the girls in the
                    village have been caught dancing in the woods. As one of
                    them falls sick, rumors start to fly that there is witchcraft
                    going on in the woods, and that the sick girl is bewitched.
                    Once the girls talk to each other, they become more and
                    more frightened of being accused as witches, so Abigail
                    starts accusing others of practicing witchcraft. The other
                    girls all join in so that the blame will not be placed on
                    them. In The Crucible, Abigail starts the accusations by
                    saying, "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!" Another girl,
                    Betty, continues the cry with, "I saw George Jacobs with
                    the Devil! I saw Goody Howe with the Devil!" >From
                    here on, the accusations grow and grow until the jails
                    overflow with accused witches. It must have given them
                    an incredible sense of power when the whole town of
                    Salem listened to their words and believed each and
                    every accusation. After all, children were to be seen and
                    not heard in Puritan society, and the newfound attention
                    was probably overwhelming. In Act Three of The
                    Crucible, the girls were called before the judges to
                    defend themselves against the claims that they were only
                    acting. To prove their innocence, Abigail led the other
                    girls in a chilling scene. Abby acted as if Mary Warren
                    sent her spirit up to the rafters and began to talk to the
                    spirit. "Oh Mary, this is a black art to change your shape.
                    No, I cannot, I cannot stop my mouth; it's God's work I
                    do." The other girls all stared at the rafters in horror and
                    began to repeat everything they heard. Finally, the girls'
                    hysterics caused Mary Warren to accuse John Proctor of
                    witchcraft. Once the scam started, it was too late to stop,
                    and the snowballing effect of wild accusations soon
                    resulted in the hanging of many innocents.

                    ...

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