the crucible literature essay

The Crucible

Arthur miller, ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Arthur Miller's The Crucible . Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

The Crucible: Introduction

The crucible: plot summary, the crucible: detailed summary & analysis, the crucible: themes, the crucible: quotes, the crucible: characters, the crucible: symbols, the crucible: theme wheel, brief biography of arthur miller.

Historical Context of The Crucible

Other books related to the crucible.

• Full Title: The Crucible
• When Written: 1950-52
• When Published: 1953
• Literary Period: Realist Drama
• Genre: Tragic Drama
• Setting: Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, when it was a Puritan colony
• Climax: The Crucible has an odd structure, in which each of the four acts ends on a climax. Act I: the girls scream out the names of witches. Act II: Proctor vows he will confront Abigail. Act III: Proctor reveals his adultery with Abigail, and Elizabeth Proctor lies. Act IV: Proctor rips up his confession.
• Antagonist: Abigail Williams

Extra Credit for The Crucible

The Real Salem Witch Trials. In his depiction of the witch trials, Miller took many major departures from fact. For instance, John Proctor was nearly 60 and Abigail Williams only 11 at the time of the witch trials. Any affair between the two is highly unlikely, to say the least. Miller was always open about the liberties he took with history, saying that he was writing "a fictional story about an important theme."

Some Like it Hot. Arthur Miller was not a star the way writers are stars today. He was much, much bigger than that. After he wrote Death of a Salesman , he was a tremendous national sensation. In fact, he was such a big star that he married Marilyn Monroe. The couple married in 1956, and stayed together until 1961.

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"The Crucible" Literary Analysis

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The Crucible

By arthur miller, the crucible essay questions.

The Crucible is famous as a political allegory, but what exactly is Miller trying to say? Who do you think is being most criticized in the contemporary analogy?

Miller was particularly offended by those who "named names" before HUAC, and he himself refused to do so. While the Crucible indeed villainized the prosecutors and Court – those in the parallel positions of Joe McCarthy and HUAC – the play martyrs Corey and Proctor for refusing to do so. At the expense of their own lives, Corey and Proctor refused to condemn others, and in Miller's eyes this is the only truly moral decision.

The Crucible features a significant reversal of social roles in the Salem community. Choose a character whose position of power is upended and analyze the development of their role in the town and in the narrative. Can you make any observations about gender in this process?

The witch trials greatly increased the power and agency of otherwise lowly women like Tituba and Abigail, while bringing down more respected community members like Rebecca Nurse and Elizabeth. The position of men remained more stable – they were always in charge, and even if some of them were executed for witchcraft they would always control the positions of highest authority.

What is the role of gossip in the trials? How does Miller use gossip to implicate the whole town in the events of the witch trials?

Clearly the trials are begun by the wagging of tongues after the girls are found in the woods, but gossip certainly has a more enduring role. Reputations in Salem are made or broken based on slander and rumor, and reputation was a man's only defense against accusation – and even that often failed to correct aspersions. But gossip also proves to be a destructive force even in the hands of the good and unwitting, taking on a life of its own – Giles Corey, for instance, condemns his own wife simply by a slip of the tongue.

Miller makes some significant changes to the historical events for the play – most noticeably, he raises Abigail's age from 11 to 19, and invents an affair between her and Proctor. What purpose does this serve?

The affair is a dramatic device. It provides motive for Abigail's accusation of Elizabeth, and complicates the relationship between the Proctors. By raising Abigail's age and giving her motives of revenge, Miller can complicate the characterization of what would otherwise be a tale-telling little girl, without compromising her villainy.

Clearly, Proctor is the protagonist of the play, dominating three of the four acts. What begins as an ensemble rendering of the town's drama ends in an examination of a decision by one man, the focus gradually narrowed over the course of the play. How does Miller make this 17th century farmer into a character capable of holding our interest and sympathies for two hours?

Proctor is developed as a "modern" figure in the play. He is resistant to authority, rebelling against both the church and the state. He sees through humbug and shouts it down. Moreover, he has a complicated relationship with his wife, and is flawed but in an understandable way. He is independent minded, and struggles against the conformity of Salem that is so like 1950s America. In short, he's like every other hero rebel – the same man in so many movies in stories, just realized this time in 17th century Salem.

What started the Salem witch trials? In their contemporary parallel of the red scare, we know that there really were Communists. But in 17th century Salem, there was no true witchcraft. So how did this thing start, and what does Miller have to say about its origins?

A major point of the play is that the witch trials were not truly started by any event or scandal – the discovery of the girls dancing in the woods was merely a tipping point, not the true origin. Miller is steadfast in his belief that the social structure of Salem is what caused the witch hunt and allowed it to accelerate. If it hadn't been Betty Paris falling sick after dancing in the woods, it would have been something else.

Act One is punctuated by prose passages in which Miller details the background of Salem and the characters. However, this background mixes facts from the historical record with the changes Miller made for dramatic reasons. What do you think of this?

Because the prose passages are contained within a fictionalized dramatic work, a reader should be aware that the passages are subject to the limitations of the form. However, Miller speaks with the voice of a historian in these passages, not with the voice of a playwright, and gives no indication that what he says is less than historical fact. Indeed, it is a slightly worrisome idea – a play about a man who died for the truth is so free with its own truths.

What is the function of Reverend Hale in the narrative?

Reverend Hale is an interesting and well-developed minor character. He serves the dramatic function of an outsider, aiding in exposition in the first act even as his presence catalyzes the witch trials. But in the third act, he begins to question the trials, and by the fourth act has renounced them completely and is actively working against them. Hale shows that the ministry and the courts need not all be evil, but that it is possible to realize the error of one's own ways and work to fix their effects.

Mary Warren is a bit of a cipher – we see her only as a pawn of Abigail, and then of Proctor, and then again of Abigail. Do we learn anything about the "real" Mary Warren?

Mary Warren is a particularly undeveloped character in the narrative, who functions largely as a plot device. We know that she is a weak-willed and terrified girl, who is easily manipulated by people stronger than herself. Abigail and Proctor are the ones who manipulate her, both threatening her with violence and vengeance, which draws a lucid connection between those two. Mary wants to be good, but she lacks the ability to see clearly where this good choice lies.

Are the judges evil? Be sure to define what you mean by "evil" in your answer.

This is a deceptively simple question. Miller believed that the judges in the witch trials were purely evil, and has stated that if he were to rewrite the play, he would make them less human and more obviously and thoroughly evil. But is evil a function of the will, or a failure of reason? These men did not set out to do evil – they legitimately saw themselves as doing God's work. Is it evil to be wrong? Arguably, the Putnams are the most evil characters in Miller's interpretation of the events, as they both support the trials and clearly are aware of the falsity of the charges.

The Crucible Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The Crucible is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

The Crucible, Act 2

1) Proctor believe the girls to be liars and tells Hale how Abigail said Parris discovered the girls sporting in the woods. Hale claims that it is nonsense, as so many have confessed, but Proctor says that anyone would confess if they will be...

As the act opens, who is being interrogated, and on what charge?

In the beginning of Act III, Martha Corey is being interrogated on charges of witchcraft.

why does reverend parris send for reverend hale?

Because Reverend Hale is an intelligent man who has studied witchcraft extensively.

Study Guide for The Crucible

The Crucible is a play by Arthur Miller. The Crucible study guide contains a biography of Arthur Miller, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About The Crucible
• The Crucible Summary
• Character List

Essays for The Crucible

The Crucible essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Crucible by Arthur Miller.

• Conformity, Imbalance of Power, and Social Injustice
• Sins and Ambitions
• The Stream of Conscience in Arthur Miller's The Crucible
• The Crucible as an Allegory
• Contemporary Events Leading to The Crucible

Lesson Plan for The Crucible

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to The Crucible
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• The Crucible Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for The Crucible

• Introduction
• Characters (in order of appearance)
• Originality

87 The Crucible Essay Topics & Examples

Looking for The Crucible essay examples? Arthur Miller’s play is worth writing about!

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📌 interesting essay topics for the crucible, 🔝 best the crucible essay topics, 👍 most catchy the crucible essay titles, ❓ the crucible essay questions.

The Crucible is a play by famous American playwright Arthur Miller that premiered in 1953 in NYC. It is based on a true story of the Salem witch trials that took place in the late 17th century.

In your The Crucible essay, you might want to make a literary analysis of the play. Another option is to focus on one of the themes or symbols used by Miller. Whether you need to write a short 5-paragraph essay or a longer argumentative paper on the play, this article will be helpful. It contains catchy titles, research questions, and essay topics for The Crucible by Arthur Miller. Free essay examples are added to inspire you even more.

• A. Miller’s “The Crucible” Play: Who Is to Blame? The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller in 1953, is a play focusing on the topic of the Salem witch of the last decade of the 1600s in Massachusetts.
• Analysis of the Movie The Crucible Arthur Miller’s play and movie was a reflection of what used to happen in the United States of America. It was a situation where reason was not used in the judicial system and people were […]
• Salem’s Puritans in “The Crucible” Play by Arthur Miller Parris is described as a man in his forties and the author adds that there is “very little good to be said for him”. The land is not very fertile and the town is surrounded […]
• Goodness as a Central Theme of “The Crucible” In the play “The Crucible”, Artur Miller raises the topic of Salem witch accusations taking place in Massachusetts during the end of the seventeenth century.
• Shakespeare’s “Othello” and Miller’s “The Crucible” The villains in both “Othello” and “The Crucible” are unique in their proficiency in the use of language for manipulating others and their ability to use the current setting for achieving their goals; Abigail is […]
• Witches Against Corruption in Miller’s The Crucible Play Through their portrayal in the play, the accused witches have become powerful symbols of strength and resistance for women who want to take a stand against corruption and injustice.
• “The Crucible” by Arthur Williams John may be considered the protagonist of the play, however, the interrelation of the two main female characters of the play are, certainly, of great use for the development of the action and realization of […]
• Arthur Miller: Hypocrisy, Guilt, Authority, and Hysteria in “The Crucible” The cruel persecution of minorities and the interference of the state in the individual’s conscience became the key concerns of Miller’s criticism of this people’s actions and beliefs.
• “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller Answer: Hale comes to Salem with the intention of finding concrete proof of witchcraft and using it to condemn the people guilty of the crime.
• John Hale’s Image in “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller The book is concerned with the topic of witch trials taking place in the city of Salem, the Province of Massachusetts Bay, 1692-1693; it features a number of characters, some of whom depict the real […]
• “The Crucible” a Play by Arthur Miller In both cases, it can clearly be seen that it is fear that allows unreasonable and unlawful actions to continue under the guise of lawful actions that are for the common good.
• Literature as a Protest: The Lottery and The Crucible Thus, in the case of “the lottery” it can be seen that it is a form of protest against the practice of blindly following “tradition” without taking into consideration the full logic of the actions […]
• The Salem Witch Trials in “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller Though Miller has made a range of changes to the original, the alterations did not prevent from understanding the case better; instead, these changes allowed for updating the story so that it would be interesting […]
• “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller: Play Analysis The scenario calls for the need to investigate the villagers on issues pertaining to witchcraft, a take that finds many of them victims of the evil doing ready to be judged. First, the plot of […]
• The Crucible (1996) by Nicholas Hytner Although Miller has never consented to the historical accuracy of the story, most of the events in the story match up with the occurrences in Salem, Massachusetts during the seventeenth century.
• The Crucible by Arthur Miller The plays interweaves Christ’s crucifixion with the picture of a bubbling crucible in it a man and a society: the predicament of arriving to the right choice of morality and the inevitability of attaining redemption […]
• Informative Synthesis on Movie: The Crucible The writer of the play version of the film, Arthur Miller, takes charge of the screenplay while Nicholas Hytner is the director.
• The Madness of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 in “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller
• The Theme of Sacrifice in “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller and “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorn
• The Society and the Individual in Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible”
• The Social Breakdown That Allowed the Witch Hunt Paranoia in Salem in Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible”
• The Victory of Morality Over Cowardice in “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller
• Values and Morality in “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller
• The Valuable Reasons of Abigail Williams in “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller
• The Significance and Role of Abigail Williams and Tituba in “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller
• The Witch Hearings in “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller
• The Influence of the McCarthy Hearings of the 1950’s in “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller
• The Use of Rhetorical Devices to Reveal Negative Correlation Between Power Truth, Justice, and Emotions in “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller
• The Traits and Characteristics of John Proctor in “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller
• The Unfair and Unkind Treatment of Women in Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible”
• The Internal Battles of Mary Warren, John Proctor and Reverend Hale in “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller
• The Symbolism of the Crucible as a Test for Salem in “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller
• The True Meaning of Tragedy in “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller
• The Presentation of Abigail Williams in Act I of “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller
• The Tragic Fate of John Proctor in “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller
• The Reasons Why People Stand Up for Justice in “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller and “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson
• The Sinful Confessions in Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible”
• The Motivation of Abigail Williams to Protect Her Image and Interest in “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller
• The Unreasonable Discrimination in “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller
• The Theme of Justice Versus Retribution and Revenge in “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller
• The Responibility of the Salem Community for the Tragedy in “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller
• Weakness, Jealousy, and Manipulation in “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller
• Vengeance and Malevolent Intent in a Corrupt World in “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller
• The Materialistic and Controlling Characteristics of Reverend Parris in “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller
• The Themes of Fear, Revenge and Greed, and Courage in “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller
• The Sacrifices and Actions of Abigail for Love in “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller
• What Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” Has to Offer to Modern Readers Globally
• The Historical Meaning and Universal Themes of the Love Triangle, Mass Hysteria, and the Judicial System in “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller
• The Salem Witch Trials as an Outlet for Revenge in Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible”
• The Three Stages of John Proctor’s Transformation in “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller
• The Transformation of Abigail Williams in “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller
• The Themes of Intolerance, Reputation, and Injustice in “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller
• The Theme of Courage in “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller and “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne
• John Proctor as a Fair and Noble Character in “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller
• The Strength of Elizabeth as Shown Through Her Trials in “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller
• The Key Aspects of a Witch-Hunt in “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller and Paradise Lost
• An Analysis of Social Status as a Significant Theme in Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible”
• How Does Fear Motivate the Main Characters in “The Crucible”?
• What Was the Critical and Public Reaction to “The Crucible”?
• What Is the Main Story of “The Crucible”?
• What Were the Changes in John Proctor’s Character Throughout the Play “The Crucible”?
• Why Is “The Crucible” So Famous?
• How Does Arthur Miller Create Tension in the Trial Scene of “The Crucible”?
• What Is the True Meaning of “The Crucible”?
• How Does Miller Present the Character of John Proctor in “The Crucible”?
• How Does John Proctor Contribute to the Effectiveness of Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible”?
• What Are Some Examples of Mob Mentality in “The Crucible”?
• How Does Miller Create Dramatic Tension in the Four Acts of “The Crucible”?
• Does John Proctor Die in “The Crucible”?
• When Did the Witch Trials Take Place in “The Crucible”?
• How Does Miller Convey His Message Through “The Crucible”?
• Was Jon Proctor From Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” a Good Man?
• How Did Arthur Miller Portray the Relationship Between John and Elizabeth Proctor in “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller?
• How Are Women Portrayed in Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible”?
• How Does Arthur Miller Show Abigail’s Character in “The Crucible”?
• Does Arthur Miller’s Play “The Crucible” End in Hope?
• How Easily People Can Be Fooled as Portrayed in Arthur Miller’s Play “The Crucible”?
• How Does Miller Present Social Status in “The Crucible”?
• Why Was John Proctor Convicted of Witchcraft in Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible”?
• How Miller Creates Conflict in “The Crucible”?
• How Does Arthur Miller Explore Social Injustice in His Play “The Crucible”?
• How Arthur Miller Effectively Illustrates the Strength of John Proctor in His Play “The Crucible”?
• How Arthur Miller Makes Act Three of “The Crucible” a Dramatic Scene?
• Why “The Crucible” Remains Important Today?
• What Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” Has to Offer to Modern Readers Globally?
• How Does Miller Present the Character of Abigail in “The Crucible”?
• How Does Miller Use Reverend Hale in “The Crucible”?
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• The Crucible

Arthur Miller

• Literature Notes
• Essay Questions
• Play Summary
• About The Crucible
• Character List
• Summary and Analysis
• Act I: Scene 1
• Act I: Scene 2
• Act I: Scene 3
• Act I: Scene 4
• Act I: Scene 5
• Act II: Scene 1
• Act II: Scene 2
• Act II: Scene 3
• Act II: Scene 4
• Act III: Scene 1
• Act III: Scene 2
• Act III: Scene 3
• Act IV: Scene 1
• Act IV: Scene 2
• Act IV: Scene 3
• Act IV: Scene 4
• Character Analysis
• Abigail Williams
• John Proctor
• Reverend Hale
• Character Map
• Arthur Miller Biography
• Critical Essays
• Arthur Miller's Narrative Technique in The Crucible
• Historical Period: Puritans in Salem
• Full Glossary for The Crucible
• Practice Projects
• Cite this Literature Note

Study Help Essay Questions

1. A crucible is defined as a severe test. Write an essay discussing the significance of the title. What is "the crucible" within the play and how does it bring about change or reveal an individual's true character?

2. As a minister, Reverend Parris is supposed to devote himself to the spiritual welfare of the inhabitants of Salem. Write an essay discussing Parris' concerns and motivations. Is he an effective minister?

3. Write an essay discussing Proctor's relationship with Abigail. Why did Proctor have an affair, and what prompted him to end his affair with Abigail?

4. Compare and contrast Elizabeth Proctor and Abigail Williams. What are their individual positive character traits? Negative character traits? How do they feel about Proctor?

5. Elizabeth despises deception. She is a moral woman, devoted to upholding the truth. Discuss Elizabeth's behavior in the court. What prompts her to lie?

6. Write an essay discussing Abigail's plan to get rid of Elizabeth. Is the play a fulfillment of the spell she cast in the woods with Tituba?

7. Write an essay discussing the effects of the witch trials on Salem. How do the trials affect the community? Government and authority? The church? Individuals?

8. In Act IV, Scene 4, Proctor agrees to falsely confess in order to avoid death. He later changes his mind. Explain why he refuses to confess. What is the "shred of goodness" he discovers?

Previous Full Glossary for The Crucible

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Literature: Essay on 'The Crucible'

The Crucible Essay

The Crucible is a play written by Arthur Miller, one of the leading American playwrights of the twentieth century, in 1952.  It is based on the events surrounding the 1692 witch trials of Salem.  Arthur Miller wrote the play to show the similarities between the unfair witch trials in Salem and the Second Red Scare that took place during the 1950’s.  Like the witches on trial in Salem, Communists were viewed as a danger to the society.  This then lead to the naming of names where accusations were made without the basis of proof.  In the play, Miller shows people accusing each other falsely to save themselves from the high court of Salem.  To him, only those who refused to help even to the point of death hold onto their honour and sense to die as a martyr.

The play’s main themes are truth, justice, hysteria and reputation and the key characters that represent these themes are John Proctor, Elizabeth Proctor, Judge Danforth, Reverend Hale and Reverend Parris.  In this essay, I will be focusing on how the different characters all have different views of truth and justice.  

As The Crucible is a tragedy, John Proctor is considered to be the play’s tragic hero.  This gives the idea that he might have his bad side but he is also better than the others because he stands up for the truth and that makes him the hero of the play.  He is an honest character that is willing to speak up to give his views and that makes him dangerous according to Judge Danforth and Reverend Parris.  ‘’Excellency, since I came to Salem this man is blackening my name.’’(Parris, Act III).  This also shows how much Parris is concerned about his reputation rather than the witch hunt as was previously believed.  

Proctor is a good man but he has a dark secret.  He has once shared an affair with Abigail Williams, who then worked for him and his wife.  Suspicion concerning the matter caused Elizabeth Proctor to dismiss Abigail from the household and created a jealousy that sets the whole hysteria in process.  

This is a preview of the whole essay

John Proctor’s character is driven by the truth even if he has committed the sin of adultery which makes him feel like a fraud and he finds it difficult to live with himself.  That is why he is prepared to admit his sin to save the others from their terrible fate that awaits.  In Act 4, Proctor is confused about what the truth is.  ‘’It is evil. Good, then – it is evil, and I do it!’’.  In this act, Miller shows how Proctor is battling with his inner self.  But Miller also uses his character to represent the struggle of the individual against an unjust authority.

Should he confess to being a witch and get his life back or should he die to prove his innocence?

He chooses to lie and sign the piece of paper to have his life back but then realises that his personal integrity and his name are worth more than that.  He would rather die than tell a lie.  He also feels like he has let down his friends.  His beliefs morally strengthen him to preserve the honesty of Rebecca Nurse and put an end the lies created by the Puritan child. ‘’Beguile me not! I blacken all of them when this is nailed to the church the very day they hang for silence!’’  He then sacrifices himself for his beliefs and for the truth and Miller uses this act of goodness to show the audience that Proctor is a good man after all.  ‘’Whatever you will do, it is a good man does it.’’  Elizabeth says that to Proctor to show how deep her love for him is.  She supported him all the time and still believes he is a good man even after finding the truth about John’s affair.

Elizabeth Proctor is the wife of John Proctor and they are both devoted to justice and principles.  She is a character that changes dramatically in the audience’s perception from a cold bitter woman to a tender loving wife throughout the play.  Elizabeth is a model Christian and stays by John even after knowing about his affair with Abigail.  She is considered to be one of the most religious person in the play but she lies in the court to protect her husband’s reputation and her family.  This instantly shows to the audience that she loves her husband very dearly but she also feels that she was the one to push him to infidelity. ‘’I never knew how I should say my love.  It were a cold house I kept!’’  She feels guilty about what had happen.  

Her love and understanding for John is very clear in the last act when she leaves him to make his own decision over whether or not he should confess. She certainly recognises that he will not be able to live with the decision to confess, but she allows him to come to his own realisation of this.

Elizabeth’s character is driven by the truth because even when John decided that he will not lie to save himself, she supported him even though she knew that she would lose her husband.  She feels that if he must redeem himself in this way, she cannot take that away from him.  ‘’He have his goodness now.  God forbid I take it from him!’’

Thomas Danforth is the presiding Judge at the witch trials in Salem.  He represents both the authority of the law and the church within the community.  He is very religious and believes to have the holy duty to wipe out witches in Salem. Danforth is a stern but fair judge who is not looking for blood just for the sake of it.  He seeks for truth and justice and is not in the least worried about his reputation unlike Reverend Parris.  But, he would never allow the work of the court to be questioned.  

Despite this, he also seems very willing to work with the accused and genuinely wants them to confess and save their souls.  His character does not change much during the play but he is sometimes blinded by justice and his belief in God that he thinks he cannot go wrong.  ‘’The pure in heart need no lawyers.’’  Judge Danforth is not the villain; he is just desperate for justice to be done and for the witch trials to be over.  ‘’It is not just’’ suggests that he is a fair person looking for justice.  ‘’I am not empowered to trade your life for a lie’’, ‘’ I will not deal in lies, Mister!’’ These tell us that Danforth lives his life by the theocracy.  Miller uses these lines as dramatic irony as it is exactly what Judge Danforth is doing; punishing the innocent for a lie that has been told by the girls.

Reverend John Hale is a young minister who is known to be an expert on witchcraft.  He is very naïve and is driven by justice although he later regrets it and attempts to save the lives of the accused.  Hale was the one to put the hysteria into motion as he arrived with his books ready to find the presence of witchcraft in Salem.

Hale experiences a transformation more remarkable than any other character over the course of the play.  As he listens to John Proctor and Mary Warren, he is convinced that they are telling the truth and that Abigail is lying.  But then he realises that the trials are no longer in his hands but rather in those of the theocracy.  He then comes to accept the horror of what he actually started and face the consequences.  

Towards the end of the play, he returns back to Salem a desperate man.  He pleads with the accused asking them to lie to save their lives as he feels guilty and responsible for their fates.  ‘’There is blood on my head!’’  He has seen the truth but too late and he has also lost faith in the law.  He works tirelessly to try and out things right but it is an impossible task.  

Miller uses Reverend Hale as a dramatic device to portray the tragedy.  Hale does not really gets the audience’s respect as he insists upon surrender rather than standing up for what you believe in.

Rebecca Nurse is used in the play to influence the characters.  She was the one that changed John’s decision as she stands up for what she believes in.  She is one of Salem’s most noble and respected person and a true representation of the truth.  Rebecca Nurse is the clear martyr in the play as she was the purest character hanged for witchery.

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• Subject English

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Maryse Condé, ‘Grande Dame’ of Francophone Literature, Dies at 90

She explored the history and culture of Africa, the West Indies and Europe in work that made her a perennial favorite for the Nobel Prize.

By Clay Risen

Maryse Condé, a writer from the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe whose explorations of race, gender and colonialism across the Francophone world made her a perennial favorite for the Nobel Prize in Literature, died on Tuesday in Apt, a town in southern France. She was 90.

Her death, at a hospital, was confirmed by her husband, Richard Philcox, who translated many of her works into English.

Ms. Condé’s work, beginning with her first novel, “Hérémakhonon” (1976), came at a pivotal time, as the notion of French literature, centered on the canonical works of French writers, began to give way to the multifarious notion of Francophone literature, drawing from all parts of the French-speaking world.

Having lived in Guadeloupe, France, West Africa and the United States, Ms. Condé was able to imbue her work with a kaleidoscopic cosmopolitanism; she was equally at home with memoirs, novels set in 18th-century Mali and 17th-century Massachusetts, and even a book of food writing . Her sure-handedness won her acclaim as the “grande dame” of Francophone literature.

She was twice shortlisted for the International Booker Prize, given to novelists writing in languages other than English. After the 2018 Nobel Prize for Literature was canceled in the wake of a sexual abuse scandal among the award committee, she received the New Academy Prize , created by a group of Swedish cultural figures as a temporary replacement — the first and last person to receive the award.

Like other writers grappling with the legacy of colonialism, Ms. Condé centered her work on broadly political themes, examining the formation of different individual and collective identities. But she stood apart in her adamant nonconformity.

She supported African independence, but she was critical of the leaders who came after it, accusing them of corruption and empty promises. She was proud to call herself a Black writer, but she lashed out at movements like Negritude and Pan-Africanism, which she said replicated white racism by reducing all Black people to a single identity.

Much of her work was historical. Her breakout novel, “Segu” (1984), which sold more than 200,000 copies in France, traces the life of a royal adviser in the Bambara Empire of West Africa, which flourished in the 18th and 19th centuries but collapsed under pressure from European and Islamic forces.

Among her favorite books as a child was “Wuthering Heights,” and in 1995 she offered a retelling of Emily Brontë’s classic tale of obsession and revenge with “Windward Heights,” set in Cuba and Guadeloupe.

She had already done something similar with Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel “The Scarlet Letter” and Arthur Miller’s play “The Crucible,” drawing on elements of both works to tell the story of an enslaved woman caught up in the Salem witch trials in “I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem” (1986), which won the Grand Prix Littéraire de la Femme.

Since then she was said to be a frequent contender for the Nobel Prize, though she professed a lack of interest in the results — or in the trappings of success generally.

“I am drawn to people ready to disobey the law and who refuse to accept orders from anybody — people who, like me, don’t believe in material wealth, for whom money is nothing, owning a home is nothing, a car is nothing,” she said in a 1989 interview with the journal Callaloo. “Those kinds of people tend to be my friends.”

Maryse Boucolon was born on Feb. 11, 1934, in Pointe-à-Pitre, a city in Guadeloupe, an overseas department of France. Her parents were both affluent educators: Her mother, Jeanne Quidal, ran a girls’ school, and her father, Auguste Boucolon, taught school before founding a bank.

The youngest of eight siblings, Maryse grew up protected, and isolated, by her parents’ relative wealth. Her parents did not allow her to attend the island’s ubiquitous street festivals or mix with people they considered beneath them socially, which she said also kept her ignorant of the worst impacts of colonialism and racism.

She began writing at an early age. When she was about 12 she wrote a one-act play as a gift for her mother on her birthday. But her political awakening came more gradually.

As a teenager she read “Black Shack Alley” (1950), a semi-autobiographical novel by Joseph Zobel about a poor Black boy in Martinique, another French Caribbean department. That book revealed to her the sort of experiences that most Black Caribbean people endured under colonialism.

When she was 16, her parents sent her to Paris to complete her education. They had told her the city was the center of reason and justice, but instead she found herself the object of racism and sexism.

She went on to study at the Sorbonne, and to mix with Paris’s Black intellectual circles. In 1959 she met a Guinean actor, Mamadou Condé, and they married a year later. But the relationship soon soured, and in 1960 she moved to Africa to teach.

Over the next 13 years she lived for long stints in Guinea, Ghana and Senegal. The region was in the throes of independence and decolonization, and it attracted thinkers and activists from around the Black diaspora.

As she moved among them, Ms. Condé imbibed their heady mix of Marxism and Black Power, and she began to put those ideas into writing, first as a playwright and then, in 1976, in “Hérémakhonon,” which means “Waiting for Happiness” in the West African language Malinke.

Though she insisted it was not autobiographical, “Hérémakhonon” tells the story of a Black woman from Guadeloupe who lives for a time in Paris before going to Africa in hopes of finding herself — only to realize, in the end, that geography does not hold the key to one’s identity.

By then she had returned to Paris, where in 1975 she received a doctorate in literature from the Sorbonne. Long estranged from her husband, she had begun a relationship with Mr. Philcox. She finally divorced Mr. Condé in 1981, and she and Mr. Philcox married a year later.

Along with her husband, Ms. Condé is survived by three daughters from her first marriage, Sylvie, Aïcha and Leïla Condé; five grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

She held a professorship at Columbia University, and she also taught at the University of Virginia, the University of Maryland and the University of California, Los Angeles.

Ms. Condé and Mr. Philcox returned to Guadeloupe in 1986 and lived there until a few years ago, when they returned to France so she could be closer to treatment for a neurological disease.

The disease left her unable to see. She wrote her last three books, all published since 2020, by dictating them, chapter by chapter, to her husband.

She was first shortlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2015 for the body of her work. She was shortlisted again in 2023, when she was 89, for her final book , “The Gospel According to the New World,” about a dark-skinned boy in Martinique who may or may not be the son of God.

Though she did not win the prize — it went to Georgi Gospodinov for his book “Time Shelter” — she did achieve the distinction of being the oldest person ever shortlisted for a Booker.

Clay Risen is a Times reporter on the Obituaries desk. More about Clay Risen