As a "what do you think" type of question, you can feel free to answer this in a variety of ways. As the question suggests, it is your support that is most important.
I do not believe that this play is only about courage and honesty. Lies, deceit, and power are also a big part of the play. Abigail is the main person that is behind this theme, and she lets audiences and characters know right from the beginning of the play that she has no problems with lying and exerting power over the other girls in order to control a situation.
BETTY: You did, you did! You drank a charm to kill John Proctor's wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor!ABIGAIL, smashes her across the face: Shut it! Now shut it!BETTY, collapsing on the bed: Mama, Mama! (She dissolves into sobs.)ABIGAIL: Now look you. All of you. We danced. And Tituba conjured Ruth Putnam's dead sisters. And that is all. And mark this. Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you. And you know I can do it; I saw Indians smash my dear parents' heads on the pillow next to mine, and I have seen some reddish work done at night, and I can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down! (She goes to Betty and roughly sits her up.) Now, you—sit up and stop this!
Even a character as good and honest as John Proctor isn't immune from lying to people, attempting to deceive them, and forcefully exerting his will. He obviously tried to keep his affair with Abigail a secret, and he wasn't immediately forthcoming to Elizabeth that he had an exchange with Abigail about the trials. It was during that exchange with Abigail that John even threatened to hit Abigail if she kept talking about his wife.
ABIGAIL, with a bitter anger: Oh, I marvel how such a strong man may let such a sickly wife be—PROCTOR, angered at himself as well: You'll speak nothin' of Elizabeth!ABIGAIL: She is blackening my name in the village! She is telling lies about me! She is a cold, sniveling woman, and you bend to her! Let her turn you like a—PROCTOR, shaking her: Do you look for whippin'?
Monday, April 21, 2014
To what extent do you agree that The Crucible is only about courage and honesty?
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