Importance of Actions in The Crucible Essay Example

Have you ever wondered what drives people to do something? In The Crucible, we have many opportunities to see if actions are more important than the intentions that cause them. For example, Elizabeth lying to keep John safe shows that actions are more important and leave more of an impact. As seen in The Crucible and modern events’ actions are more significant than the intentions that cause them. An example of actions being more important than the intentions that cause them is when John Proctor refused to incriminate other people when he confessed to witchcraft. In The Crucible, Miller writes, “They think to go like saints. I like not to spoil their names.”(Miller, line 251). He is refusing to incriminate others because he feels that he shouldn’t accuse anyone because they want to go to heaven and if he accuses them, they will lose their chance of going to heaven. In The Crucible, John says, “I speak my own sin: I cannot judge another. I have no tongue for it.”(Miller,255). John once again refuses to incriminate others showing that he doesn’t speak for other people to get himself out of trouble. He is showing his loyalty and his kindness. While someone may seem to be evil at first glance, they can show their true good if given the opportunity. This is just one example of someone showing that actions are more important than the intentions that cause them.

Elizabeth lying in an effort to save her husband even though he cheated on her shows how good of a person she is and it shows that her actions are more important than her intentions. In The Crucible Miller writes “My husband-is a goodly man, sir”(Miller, line 414). She knows that John cheated on her and she also knows that liars go to Hell but she lies in order to keep John safe. She risked her own afterlife just to save her husband. In The Crucible Elizabeth says to Danforth, “No, sir” (The Crucible, line 418). Once again she knows that lying is a sin yet she lies to save him. She is just another example of how love overrides everything. Elizabeth shows how love can heavily contribute to the actions a person does. She also shows that actions are more important than her intentions. While The Crucible provides great examples of actions meaning more than intentions, there are examples in real life. 

The ongoing crisis in Ukraine has opened opportunities to show heroism and actions being more important than the intentions that cause them. A Ukrainian soldier by the name of Vitaly Skakun Volodymyrovych blew himself up on a bridge to stop a Russian tank advancement. And when he realized he had no time to get to safety, the brave soldier made the ultimate sacrifice on the bridge, which connected Russian-occupied Crimea and mainland Ukraine. (Steinbuch). This is the definition of actions speaking louder than words. War is where you find who the real heroes of the world are. As a result of his act of valor, the Russian forces were forced to take a longer route into the region, the US Sun reported. (Steinbuch). The fact that he lost his life just to help protect his people is truly inspiring. He shows that just because you don’t have superpowers doesn’t mean you can’t be a hero. The people you learn about in history books are known for their actions, not for their intentions. They save people with what they do, not with what they think. In both The Crucible and in real life, we learn how much more important actions are more important than the intentions that cause them. While we see how much more important actions are than the intentions that cause them in real life, we also see it in The Crucible. In The Crucible, we see a man refusing to incriminate people in court and a woman lying to protect her husband. In real life we see a real hero sacrificing himself to help save his people. In conclusion, the intentions that cause the action are important, but the actions will always be more important because of the impact they can make.