Question 3

AP Language

Question 3 (The Crucible)

            Actions speak louder than words. Actions, also, speak louder than thoughts. The conviction held by characters can be depicted to the thoughts and actions. Though someone can have certain thoughts, actions are fueled by internal conflicts and concerns. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller shows that every person present in Salem during the Witch Trials, had at least one reason for acting the way they did. They either had a psychological, sexual, financial, theological, or political problem. Inward and outward conflicts clash numerous times allowing delays to cause more conflicts. The more troubling aspect shown in Salem, in which The Crucible was set, is the way their society was founded. "Moral laws and state laws are one and the same: sin and the status of an individual’s soul are matters of public concern."

            Motivation is what moves people to act the way they do. Fictional characters and real people also have an ulterior motive for the actions done. The crucible, by Arthur Miller, was based on the real life witch trials of Salem, Massachusetts, back in 1692, before our founding fathers instituted America. The character, Abigail Williams, has been acting strangely but no medical cause can be found, so they came to the conclusion that she was a witch. This ignited a fire of witch hunting, as other girls also claimed to also be witches. In fact, they were not witches nor insane, they had just taken bad grain infected with rye(which caused illusions). In the crucible, Arthur Miller, shows the lack of ideologies among the characters. Focused on maintaining public reputation, the townsfolk of Salem must fear that the sins of their friends and associates will taint their names. Various characters base their actions on the desire to protect their respective reputations. Abigail Williams was a character who questioned a lot of things and acted quite irrationally. Her reasoning behind her actions were unknown to the other characters, but were limitedly known to the audience.

            "The Salem tragedy, which is about to begin in these pages, developed from a paradox. It is a paradox and who who's grip we still live, and there's no prospects yet that would be discovered it's resolution." The paradox of the statement that appears self-contradictory but reveals a kind of truth. Miller used paradox to portray the complexity of life by showing how opposing ideas can be both contradictory and true. The trials resulted in the executions of twenty people, most of them women. It turned to be "one of the nation's most notorious cases of mass hysteria, and has been used in political rhetoric and popular literature as a vivid cautionary tale about the dangers of isolationism, religious extremism, false accusations and lapses in due process."

            The Crucible, which included imagery to depict the crazy tales of Salem, truly had internal and external conflicts. Not only do the people face problems due to ideology, they face mental and political problems as well. Salem is a small town which intermingled religion with politics. Due to this, many of the political actions taken, had a religious toll on it. During Abigail's trial, they used their political power to enforce laws and ideas, that were influenced by their Puritan ideas. Abigail had internal conflicts with herself, with her morals, and with her beliefs. She in the end, moved her morals aside and used Titumba, the African American women as a scapegoat. Though she was raised a racist, she could've used her basic morals to steer another way, and her external actions only saved herself.

            Throughout the story, different characters were persuaded by their own thoughts to act out in a certain way. Not only were they affected, but so were those that surrounded them. For instance, Titumba was a victim of the irrational thoughts these ''witches'' acted upon. Their actions were fueled by psychological and religious thoughts that led them to the path each girl took. Most were influenced by rye bread but others were putting on a facade to be outside the norm. As the girls wanted to remain out of the public eyes bad side, they decided to claim it was not in their power to control their actions. Clearly, this did not go so well for the accused. Twenty were executed, mostly women. An irrational belief should stay an irrational belief, not an irrational action.