The Crucible - Critical Essay Sample

Introduction

The crucible is a play that entails trial of witches in the Puritan town of Salem in Massachusetts. The play comprises various characters who display varied characteristics. As the play proceeds, we find out that some people are brave to unveil the truth and stand with honesty and integrity while others are cowards trying to cover up the truth which they already know. The following are the major characters and the evaluation of their confidence in various acts.

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In act, I, the characters are seen include Tituba, Abigail, Betty, and other girls, Mary, Rebecca, and Abby. Rebecca stands out to be a brave character among the ladies and the crowd at Parris's house. Rebecca is an amazing character who sticks to her beliefs. She does not believe in witches and therefore, does not want to get involved in the battle.

Three characters prove to be coward. They include mary, Abby, and Tituba. Mary can be proved to be coward because despite knowing the truth concerning what the other girls were doing in the forest, she refuses to tell the truth of what secret thing they did. She was afraid to reveal the secret and therefore, falls under the category of cowards in this play. Another notable coward is Abby who does not want to accept to be responsible for her actions. Instead, she heaps blame on Tituba to trying to make her guilty and come out of the situation as an innocent person. Tituba, on the other hand, is afraid of losing her life so she opts to tell the truth that she may obtain mercy. Due to her freight, Tituba confesses that she practiced witchcraft.

The three cowards could have agreed to tell the truth of what they did without mincing any word. This would have brought an easy way of dealing with the only persons that are found guilty instead of wasting time blaming each other. The blame game initiated by Abby was a notable sign of being extremely afraid of the uncertainty. Standing for the truth would have made a difference in the way in which the court handled the issue.

In act II, Elizabeth converses with her husband, john wrangling about the issue of witches in the village. Bravery is noted among two characters namely Elizabeth and Mary. Elizabeth stands strong and demands that John should tell the truth about Abby claiming that she is a fraud despite feeling that John might still have some feelings for her. By confronting him on his face, Elizabeth proves to be brave. Mary is also another outstanding brave character. Mary can stand up and accuse those whom she knows to be witches in the village. She does not have fear for them but reveals them to the public, and this is what she is known for.

John and hale are cowards in this plot. John knows the truth, and he is willing to come out and reveal it. However, he is afraid of revealing even his secrets. As a result, he tries to cover up the truth. John could have just revealed the truth without fear. If he did this, he would have saved time for the court in investigating the truth. Hale on the other hand while investigating the proctor's family finds the evidence bt does not want to use it. Instead, he believes that the court will be fair. Hale could have better used the evidence he got at proctor's family to be used for attaining justice for all the witches.

In Act III, John is seen as a brave character when he confesses that he had a love affair with Abigail in an attempt to save Elizabeth from the witchcraft scandal. This is a sign of bravery, especially before his wife. Giles is another brave character evident in this act. Giles bravely brings evidence against Putnam to protect the witness.

Hale also behaves like a coward in this plot. When he realizes that the court is corrupt too, he becomes furious, dumps the court and leaves. It would have been better if Hale could have just remained till the end of the court proceedings. If he could have done that, then he would have proved his bravery.

In act IV, Hale now is a brave character. He returns to the jail to save lives. He gives them counsel to tell lies as a way of leading them to freedom. Proctor is also a brave character. Here, he accepts boldly to sacrifice his life for the sake of his family. He realizes that it is worthy of sticking to morals instead of making up lies to create confusion.

Danforth is a coward character in this act. Despite having all the evidence he needed, he refuses to use the evidence to change the convictions due to the fear that he would look weak. He was also afraid of being questioned by authority. For that reason, he chooses to ignore the evidences he found that could have been essential for this case. In this manner, he proves to be a coward.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Crucible is a very interesting play that unveils the actions during the trial od the witches in Salem, the Puritan town. The play unveils various characters that show varied traits of confidence. The brave in this play stand for the moral truth while the coward characters heap blames on others in an attempt to make themselves innocent yet they are all caught up with their lies and proved guilty.