Major Themes of The Crucible and Year of Wonders PDF

Preview

Summary

Year of Wonders and The Crucible Themes explored and summarised ...

Description

Major Themes of The Crucible and Year of Wonders Explored and Explained: Setting: Salem and Eyam are both towns set in the seventeenth century. Each of the towns are confined and restricted, however, their environments differ. While Eyam is a village with an abundance of greenery and pastoral nature, Salem is an American town that is often described as being dark and natural areas such as the "forests" have negative connotations with the devil. Though both towns are isolated, Salem is geographically separated from other towns, whereas Eyam is voluntarily isolated to prevent contagion of the plague to other villages, and this is seen as an act of selflessness from the town. Though the two towns are not closely linked geographically, they both demonstrate the widespread belief of witchcraft and the presence of the devil in their respective towns, while exploring the effect of the accusations made against people. In both the play and the novel the association with the devil leads to the punishment of death. QUOTE

The men of faith: Both the play The Crucible and the novel Year of Wonders involve men of faith, however their faith is expressed in different ways, and the extent to which they follow their own beliefs varies. While Parris is presented early in the play as a man who cares about how others view him and his reputation in the village, Mompellion, who, like Parris is a religious leader, does not focus on others' opinion of himself, and instead assists others during their times of suffering. By creating a sense that Parris is not accepted by everyone in the town because he has "enemies" that can "ruin" him, Miller condemns the reverend of his actions and his priority of bending the "stiff-necked people" of Salem towards him. The author further criticises Parris' behaviour when he worries about his "ministry" being "at stake" over his daughter's life, indicating that Parris places more importance on his reputation in the village rather than his own family, which signifies that he is a self-centred minister. On the contrary, Michael Mompellion in Year of Wonders, is portrayed through the narrator of the novel, Anna as the perfect rector, pledging that "none should die alone" and burying the dead until he was "grey with exhaustion". His seemingly good nature leads readers to trust him and find goodness in him, however, in the latter course of the novel, it is evident that certain unpleasant aspects of Mompellion had been concealed. Mompellion believed that the more he made Elinor love him, the "more her penance might weigh" in the balance to "equal" the sins she committed in the past, to which Anna changes her view of him, from someone who she respected, to someone with an "unnatural coldness" and readers are able to realise that Mompellion, like Parris, is a man of faith who has flaws. Furthermore, both Mompellion and Parris have imperfections, however, they are imperfect in different areas. Mompellion who "never lay with Elinor" punishes his wife for her previous sins, whereas Parris is criticised by the citizens of Salem for his preaching which "hardly ever mention[s] God" but is only based around "hellfire…damnation" and "deeds".

Two Flawed Husbands: Michael Mompellion and John Proctor, the respective husbands in the novel, Year of Wonders and the play, The Crucible, are seemingly righteous and honest individuals, however, they each have their personal flaws and imperfections. Michael Mompellion in Year of Wonders, is portrayed by the narrator of the novel, Anna, as the perfect rector. When the plague was present in the town of Eyam, he sacrifices his time and effort to bury the deceased, and makes a commitment to the villagers that "none should die alone". His generosity and good hearted nature towards his wife, Elinor, leads readers to trust him, however, in the latter course of the novel, it is evident that certain unpleasant aspects of Mompellion had been concealed. Mompellion believes that the more he makes Elinor love him, the "more her penance might weigh" in the balance to "equal" the sins she committed in the past. As he shares his beliefs with Anna, her positive views of Mompellion changes from someone

who she respected, to someone with an "unnatural coldness". Readers are able to realise that Mompellion, who displays the virtues of being a caring husband towards Elinor, is a result of his disciplinary actions towards his wife, thus, demonstrating his flaws of being a husband. John Proctor in The Crucible, similarly has imperfections and is not deemed the perfect husband in the play. Though Miller emphasises that it was largely Elizabeth's fault for her marriage's downfall, {QUOTE} Proctor does contribute to the issue by consistently displaying intimacy with Abigail, whom he had an affair with. Like other characters in the play such as Mary Warren, Proctor also calls Abigail by the nickname "Abby" which exhibits a closeness in relation between the characters and is absent in the relationship Proctor has with his wife. Thus, due to Proctor's unlawful romantic relationship with Abigail, he prompts the ruining of his marriage, and can no longer be viewed by the audience as a husband without any faults. The Effect of Isolation: Isolation recurs consistently throughout Brooks' Year of Wonders and Miller's The Crucible. Both Eyam and Salem are geographically isolated from other communities, however the effect of their isolations differ. It is evident that strangers who arrive in Eyam are vessels of contagion and disease. George Viccars, who although is "modest man" is found to be infected with a "yellow-purple knob" of "pulsing flesh" which is the plague. As a result of the town being isolated, diseases are not able to enter the town, unless an outsider, like Mr Viccars, brings it in, and this is proven to have fatal effects as it contaminates and kills many individuals in the village. On the contrary, the people of Eyam voluntarily segregate their town from other towns, pledging to let "none enter" and "none leave". Their community works as a collective to contain the spread of the plague which is present in their town, to display the selflessness of Eyam and the positive effects of isolation. The isolation in Salem, on the other hand, propels the hysteria in the village. The Puritan beliefs and practices in Salem coupled with their isolated location, distances the town from other communities and deprives the younger generation of having any form of entertainment. Thus, the younger females in the play seek alternatives to "see the great doings" of "the world", in which they meet up to gossip and create stories based around witchcraft, which are not always purely the truth. As a result of Salem being isolated, many innocent villagers such as the "good soul", Rebecca Nurse, are either killed or sentenced to jail due to the fabricating of lies and accusations made by the boredom of the young girls in a secluded village, therefore demonstrating the negative effects of isolation.

Comment on the difference between love and fear in the text Arthur Miller's play The Crucible constantly discusses the detrimental effects of fear in the secluded village of Salem through accusations of witchcraft, whereas love is perceived as the driving force behind ulterior motives. Fear of the devil, Fear of witches, Fear of being accused, Abigail's love for Proctor, Proctor and Giles' love for their wives, Elizabeth's love for Proctor (tries to save his name) Both texts take place in isolated locations - small towns cut off from the rest of the world when strangers come, everyone knows While we see an intensification to isolation in Eyam when they take the voluntary oath, Eyam is already an isolate community -- in the same way, Salem is a small community where the young people are bored and trapped in the smallness of the community --> contributes to the sense that what goes wrong in this community -> the tailor brings the dress and the plague --> strangers bring contagion and disease. Eyam can no longer hold Anna - she leaves England and goes to the Middle East. She can no longer be contained within the geography in Eyam. In Salem, Mr Hale comes in from the outside and Danforth comes in --> various threatening authorities have their impact in Salem and intensify the

Abigail escapes Salem --> she cannot be contained. John doesn’t leave Salem because he dies, Mompellion doesn’t leave Eyam because he doesn't have his horse

The truth of the story lies in the history not in his story He gives history of Putnam --> this story is true, people are like this, you need to be better Putnam - encouraging witchcraft for his own benefit --> he wants witchcraft to be present due to his own greed Mediated through Anna, but the sermon is in direct speech from Mompellion. The play directs our interest In the novel, we only see things through Anna (when she quotes the sermon, it is as if we are involved) Sam - kind and gentle, but naïve so he is limited In the same way that people can lose individual responsibility, Brooks creates the idea that they can work together collectively positively. Brooks doesn't just present negative collective behaviour and the central moment of the text is a positive collective behaviour....