The Crucible Critical Lens

Dolly Parton once said †¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain. † In other words you have to go through struggle to see success. I agree with this quote because in my opinion nothing in life is handed to you easily, you have to work through it and overcome many obstacles in order to get pleasing results . This idea is clearly established in the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller. It is shown through the main characters; John Proctor, Abigail Williams and Reverend Hale.The Crucible by Arthur Miller was based on the Salem witch trials that occurred between 1692 and 1693. More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft and 20 were executed. Eventually the colony admitted the trials were a mistake and compensated the families of those who were convicted. Ever since, the story of the trials has become a symbol of injustice and continues to influence more than 300 years later. In the play John Proctor is a married man who pre viously had an affair with Abigail Williams while she was working at his house as a maid.Eventually John’s wife, Elizabeth Proctor, becomes conscious of what was happening and she immediately dismissed Abigail. When the girls started accusing people of witchcraft, Abigail Williams accused Elizabeth Proctor because she wanted John to herself. Little did she know that John would begin defending his wife. He also pointed out his disbelief in the girls, fingers where then pointed at him as well. John Proctor then started challenging the court because of its lack of evidence this led to a petition signed by 32 neighbors in his favor.He was tried and found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging. Proctor was executed on mid-august of 1692. As he stood on the scaffold he recited the Lord ’s Prayer. This shows how John’s actions support the quote because although It didn’t end happily he tried proving he was right and succeed because him praying made a drastic i mpression on the villagers as those convicted of witchcraft were not supposed to be able to perform such act. In The Crucible Abigail Williams is Samuel Parris, the minister’s niece.Her and her cousin Betty where the first two accusers. Williams was 11 years old at the time. Everything started when all the girls were at the woods and Abigail was trying to put a spell on Elizabeth Proctor, since her health was already delicate. Her purpose was to keep John Proctor to herself. She had become obsessed with him after their affair and couldn’t seem to get over him. While doing witchcraft in the woods they get caught. After that they started faking being bewitched. They all start accusing people saying they’ve seen them with the devil.Because of Abigail and Betty’s claims to be possessed, false accusations would soon be made resulting in the death of 20 people and 3 women were arrested, including Tituba, Parris’s slave and two other women who one was han ged and the other died in prison. This demonstrates how Abigail’s cruelty knew no boundaries. She didn’t mind innocent people being killed just to hide the fact that she was the one attempting witchcraft in the woods. Abigail went through all that to keep her reputation and be seen as the victim, and she excelled.Reverend Hale is a young minister who has studied witchcraft in the hope of being able to destroy it in the name of God. Salem’s minister, Samuel Parris, had requested his presence so that he could examine Betty Parris. Reverend Hale is the one in charge of discovering who has marks of the devil for the witch trial. After seeing the horrors of the witch trial and watching the loss of both human and the justice rights he speaks out against them telling Judge Danforth that they are morally wrong. Reverend Hale then leaves the court after hearing Mary Warren accuse John Proctor of witchcraft.