Downfall from Arrogance

Downfall from Arrogance The Crucible Is a peculiar name to put for a play. In literal meaning, a crucible Is a special pot In which you put materials In. The pot then goes In the fire, and you end up melting the contents, but not the pot itself. The way Miller named his play as The Crucible is what literary experts call symbolism. Arthur Miller’s basic purpose of writing this play was to signify that people react to situations in many dfferent ways. In that same way, he symbolizes the attributes of each character as well.

In this play, The Crucible, the character Reverend Parris’s consistent arrogance conveys the uthor’s message that before anything else, people will always tend to care for themselves. Reverend Parris’s personality trait can be examined through chronological order ” from Act 1 to Act 4. As described in Act 1, Parris is the head of the church of the town, and he is considered a respectable person. In his mid-forties, he has already lost his wife, and has a daughter named Betty. In Act 1, Reverend Parris plays a dominant role, along with his arrogance and pride.

At the beginning of this act, when Betty is on the bed lying what seems to be nconscious, Reverend Parris tells Thomas Putnam, “leap not to The people wanted to call In Reverend Hale, the towns expert on witchcraft, to examine Betty and find out what had been going on. Parris, through his arrogance, decided that it would not be a good idea to call in Hale because if Betty were to be announced as a witch, it could ruin his name, since she was his daughter. Just to save his name of being the head preacher of the town, he persisted on not calling in Reverend Hale.

Parr’s, along with his undermining arrogance, created a saddening effect on the the town. He Is the main pastor, and so when people hear things from him, they tend to believe him. All that he did was not to keep the people of the ton away from evil. He did what he did so he would hear what he wanted to hear. He wanted to hear that he would not lose his position. Eventually, he did give in and towards the end of Act 1, they do call in Hale. Parris was not at all present in Act 2 directly, although he was in fact mentioned once when they talked about a book in which he kept a record of all the people present on Sabbath Day.

Throughout the whole act, however, there was ot a single Instance where his arrogance took an effect on any of the people. In Act 3, however, his arrogance plays a crucial role. When Danforth is talking to John Proctor and Abigail, he decides to step in and say to Danforth that “this is a trick to blind the court! ” (107). He does this again to protect his own name because he does not want Danforth to believe what Mary Warren is saying. During the trial, he asks Mary Warren to faint in front of all the people, falsely. The reason for his demand is because he Is grasping for evidence to prove that Abigail and the girls are not guilty.

Parris has a convincing effect on Danforth throughout the whole of the trial because he is trying to protect Abigail, and Danforth has come to a point where he cannot go back. Danforth’s own arrogant nature wont let him reconsider his decisions. Since Abigail has already been proven innocent, Danforth literally won’t listen to new evidence unless some creative logic occurs. Once Elizabeth comes to the trial, Parris Is even more Olstraugnt He tnlnKs tnat EllzaDetn wlll agree wit n Proctor aoout tne adultery he committed, and thus ruin his name for sheltering an adulterer. Ironically, that does not happen.

Elizabeth, who Just wanted to save her husband’s name, said that Proctor did not commit adultery. All this while, she knew that he did. At the end of Act 3, we can see that Parris’s arrogance and prideful nature is helping him to get through another round of impulsive evidence put indirectly against him, that could have again hurt his position in Salem. Act 4 is the last act of the play, and in this act, everything changes. Parris comes running to the Jail, where he tells Danforth that Abigail has vanished, along with all of his money. He asked Betty, who told him that they girls were talking about some ships.

Within the lines, we can interpret that Abigail disappeared by riding off on a boat. Parris’s view of the whole situation changes, because he then realizes that he made a grave mistake by blaming innocents. He pleads to Danforth to postpone execution and to free the accused, but Danforth, again with his pride that he never failed to make the right decision, decides that he will not reconsider his decision. When Proctor tears up the paper that could have saved his life, Parris looks unto him in utter astonishment. If Parris was in such a situation, he would probably live with the shame, although his arrogance might ake him suffer.

That happens when he realized that people are turning against him. He “fear[s] that there will be riot here” (127). He completely breaks down in front of Danforth after he recounts the knife incident. In conclusion, Parris signifies many different characteristics, but his most important trait being his arrogance, and it affected him negatively. This essay analyzed this trait through the chronological order of acts, from Act 1 to Act 4. He may have gotten through with his arrogance by directing people to love him and keep him in his position, but when the people