Human nature and
the Puritan beliefs often contradict each other. Human nature is what people do automatically
without thinking about what they are doing.
The Puritan rules, on the other hand, force the Puritans to be conscious
of and careful about everything they do otherwise it could be counted against
them. The contradictions between human
nature and the Puritan rules become evident in the third act of The Crucible. Many elements of the dark side of human
nature are reflected in The Crucible
including selfishness, rumor feeding, and blaming others for mistakes.
Selfishness
is a common element of human nature portrayed by the characters in The
Crucible. Many of the characters in this
play were only acting on their own selfish ambitions instead of the good of the
community. Proctor accused Mr. Putman of
this by saying that he was calling people out in order to buy their land after
they were sentenced. (Miller 96). Religion had become a cover up instead of a
way of life for these Puritans. Abigail
is another example of this selfish ambition.
She wanted to win back Proctor’s love and tried to call out his wife as
a witch in order to win him over. (Miller
23). This purely selfish motive had many
more consequences than Abigail could have originally expected including sending
both the Proctors to prison.
Another
element of human nature displayed in this play is the spread of fear and
rumors. Human’s basic instinct is to
shun the unknown and follow the crowd. In The Crucible, the trouble started
when a few girls lay “sick” in bed and the rumor of witchcraft involvement
began to spread. This fear brought forth
a fast string of events where impulse held more power than wisdom. The townspeople fed on the fear, and some
used it to their advantage. Abigail used
her new found power to manipulate the court into arresting her
adversaries. She used the human natural
instinct of panic to get her own way even when it was morally wrong. The judges Danforth and Hathorne were also controlled
by these widespread rumors and fear in the town. They tried to retaliate harshly by punishing
unconfessed “witches” with death all in the name of Christianity. (Miller
88). The human emotion of fear had driven this town
past the point of logical choices to social chaos.
A
final element of human nature seen throughout The Crucible is humans’ reaction
to blame others and not themselves. The
Puritans were thrown into jail and hung because their neighbor blamed them of
being a witch. When certain people in
the community realized that their society was breaking down, they became angry
at the leaders of the court and were thrown in jail as well for breaking the
rules and challenging authority. Puritan
religion said that Mary should tell the truth, but her, and all the children,
lied to escape punishment. Mary wanted
to do the right thing, but her fear of taking the blame for the conflict was
too strong. (Miller 118). All the girls experienced this. They had the choice to repent and ask for
forgiveness, but chose to continue in their “witch hunt” because they did not
want to be blamed and punished for their actions.
Human nature is
not always pretty, and these less boastful qualities like selfishness, fear,
and blame are reflected in The Crucible.
Often times it was very difficult to be a proper Puritan because the
religious rules conflicted with human nature.
It is only in the darkest trials that the true qualities of human nature
are put against the moral integrity of the human spirit. At this point, it is apparent which quality
the Puritan character is truly living for, themselves or their religion.
Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York, NY: Penguin, 1996. Print.
No comments:
Post a Comment