Saturday, January 3, 2015

In The Crucible, what is one shared conflict that multiple charcters have within themselves?

The most fundamental conflict that characters share in the
work is the idea of how the individual can be pitted against society.  This is an
internally focused conflict that different characters feel at different points.  Proctor
feels this with his desire to remain apart from the chaos, but the growing need to take
a stand.  He also feels this when he is forced to confess in front of the court.  Giles
Corey feels this when he is compelled to "name names," but refuses to do so.  Elizabeth
feels this when she has to testify in front of the court, and does not know whether to
lie or tell the truth.  In lying, she capitulates to the community and actually dooms
her husband more.  Mary Warren feels this during her testimony when the power of Abigail
and the girls overcomes her and forces her to recant all she says.  To an extent, even
Tituba endures this struggle between the individual and the community setting in how she
is unable to really articulate the ability to stand up for her own sense of identity and
must cave into that of the group.  In each situation, there is a conflict of the
individual against the larger society and this is felt on an internal
level.

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