Reputation in The Crucible Essay

Reputation in the Crucible

One can survive everything nowadays, except death, and live down anything, except a good reputation. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a story based on the Salem witch trials. The characters in the Crucible have many inner and outer conflicts with themselves and each other. Many of the characters in the story show that dying with honor and having a good name is better than living with guilt and a bad name. In the puritans times, a name just was not a name for them, it showed what type of character a person had, it made them who they were, and it held their social status in society.

In a way, the town in The Crucible was like high school, one person lies on another and starts a rumor and other people go alone with it until it destroys some one reputation or name. Just like Abigail, she lies on many people just to protect her name and herself because of her secret affair with John Proctor and the fact that she was dancing in the woods with a group of other girls. Nevertheless, she is caught dancing in the woods, which causes Parris to question her name and she replied angrily, Be no blush about my name"(Miller). Saying that she never did such a thing and she has nothing to lie about. However, when one of the girls causes attention to them because she is afraid they will get in more trouble if they confess, she lies again. When Hale was questioned Abigail about dancing in the woods, Abby defends herself, "I didn't see no Devil" (Miller), and she points to Tituba, taking herself out of the spotlight and trouble, but putting it on Tituba, Which makes Tituba start naming names. In addition, this is how reputations begin to become ruin because of a lie, which shows what type of character they have in the town later on in the play.

Abigails name and reputations was transform and damaged when she lied to the town, accusing people of witchcraft just to protect the lie she started, and to get what...