 |
Pride and Guilt
|
Below is one of our free research papers on Pride and Guilt. If the term paper below is not exactly what you're looking for, you can search our essay database for other topics.
In Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” the pride of the people of Salem leads to a massacre of innocent lives that leaves many feeling guilty. Pride is a sense of one’s own dignity or value, your own self-respect and guilt is a feeling of responsibility or remorse for something that you did wrong. “The Crucible” is set in Salem, a puritan village, in the late 1600s.
Beginning in act one, the conflict is set as Parris first becomes involved in the impending hysteria. Parris cannot believe that witchcraft had taken place in his house. “Let me know what you done. Abigail, do you understand that I have many enemies.” (Pg 10). Knowing that the townspeople will ruin his reputation, Parris desperately tries to point his guilt in other directions. He believes that every comment towards the case is a mark against the court and God. His concern is directly related to his niece, Abigail Williams, who happens to be the alleged witch. “Parris: You will confess yourself or I will take you out and whip you to your death, Tituba! Putnam: This woman must be hanged! She must be taken and hanged! Tituba: No, no, don’t hang Tituba! I tell him I don’t desire to work for him, sir.” (Pg 42). As the truth begins to emerge; Abigail denies her involvement in the witchcraft and passes the blame to their helpless servant, Tituba who confesses after being threatened for a brutal beating. John Proctor, an honest and admirable man, plays one of the characters. He is in his mid thirties, married to Elizabeth...
|