Theme of Personal Guilt in the Crucible Essay Sample

“I speak my own sins; I cannot judge another. I have no tongue for it”(Miller 113).  This quote from the novel The Crucible symbolizes the suppression within personal guilt. Sin can be regarded in a variety of ways, such as religious, criminal or scandal. Throughout two novels, The Crucible, along with The Scarlet Letter, characters such as Abigail Williams, John Proctor, Mary Warren, Hester, and Dimmesdale represent variations of sin along with their consequences. Within the diversification of sin, the perception of society and the influence of personal guilt contribute to the punishment for crimes. 

Throughout one's life, it is almost unavoidable to not commit a sin, whether it is as simple as a lie. It comes down to how one person judges the actions of others. In The Crucible, the main character Abigail Williams, along with other characters, is found dancing naked in the woods by Tituba, a slave in the passage. This act is considered by the society to be a sin against religion, engaging in forbidden pleasure. The people of this society were a part of the Puritans religion, known to believe that God has formed a unique style of life by living according to the Scriptures. In addition, God has formed unique and covenant relationships with them. When Tituba comes across the girls in the forest, he believes the girls are participating in superstitious rituals, conjuring with the devil. The society within the story perceives this as a sin of witchcraft against the Puritanism religion. In the novel The Scarlet Letter, the sin of adultery is committed between two of the main characters, Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale. The result of her daughter Pearl will forever be the living proof of her sin. The society turns her grief everlasting for her as they use her as a symbol of constant threat to the community. The Puritan religion that Hester and her husband got married into was banished from her sin of adultery against her religion. This results in her prolonged punishment and grief in addition to the letter “A” she will carry on her gown from now on. Another example of the variety of sins from the novel The Crucible involves one of the characters, Elizabeth Proctor, within the Court after being accused of witchcraft. Abigail accuses Elizabeth of witchcraft due to her wanting to be with Elizabeth’s husband, John Proctor; whom she had an affair with while working as a servant in the Proctor household. Abigail shoves needles in a poppet made by another antagonist in the passage, Mary Warren. She sets it in the Proctors home knowing it would be found and targets the “proof” of Elizabeth’s witchcraft Abigail is accusing her of. The accused is taken to court, with Elizabeth being the victim due to the accusation. In court, Elizabeth lies on John’s behalf in the attempt to create a turning point in their marriage. This lie backfires to deadly consequences for both her and John since he has already admitted to committing adultery with Abigail Williams. This circumstance comes to show that sin can run into lies and not just sin due to religion. The overall theme of the novel The Scarlet Letter represents the sin of dishonesty throughout the entirety of it. Within the novel, two of the main protagonists lie throughout the entire novel, Hester lies about Pearl's father’s identity to protect him, while Dimmesdale Lies to protect himself. Although they would have both dealt with consequences and more judgment from society, admitting the truth would have been beneficial in a way. Concealing their lies has caused them to live with great amounts of guilt, which deeply affects their emotions and lives. Living with the sin of these carried out lies could have been prevented with honesty from both of these characters right from the start.

The effect of the sin one commits and the rule of gender also plays a huge part in the punishment for crimes, along with the guilt that comes with it. In The Crucible, one of the main characters in the story, John Proctor has an affair against his wife with their previous servant, Abigail Williams. Although both genders should get equal punishment for their sin in court, Abigail decides to conceal her secret and lie about the affair. She continues her lies by pretending Mary Warren’s spirits begin to attack her. She ends up avoiding being punished for adultery and witchcraft. John Proctor then confesses the accusations of the affair to the courts in an attempt to prove the evilness and lies of Abigail's character. On top of that, he decides concealing will not only intensify his guilt from his sin, he believes his name has already been damaged in the eyes of God and his wife. After Mary Warren accuses John of witchcraft to protect herself from Abigail, on top of his sin of adultery, John Proctor gets hung. Abigail was able to lie her way out of punishment for the affair all together. This shows that in some situations gender can play big roles in punishments from sin. On the other hand, shown in The Scarlet Letter, adultery was committed between two characters, Hester and Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale played the role of a Puritanism Minister in their community, Hester Prynne has her daughter, Pearl with Dimmesdale, after thinking her husband was dead due to him being lost at sea for over two years with no proof of life. With Pearl being the living proof of Hester's end of the crime, she admits to her sin and serves with her punishment of standing on the scaffold and wearing a letter “A” for the rest of her life that stood for her sin. Dimmesdale, unlike Hester, not having to live with proof of his crime, lies while he believes it will make him serve as a better minister by having a sinful heart rather than a sinful appearance. For both of their sins, Hester ends up having to deal with the punishments and reactions from society due to her having the proof of their sin. Dimmesdale gets away with no punishment other than dealing with a lifetime of guilt. Lastly, yet again demonstrated in The Crucible, the girls of Salem gain and hold a unique power over them. At this time in age, in Salem, Massachusetts, where the novel takes place, men overpower women based on two factors, that being land and money. With women being considered basically powerless when the Salem witch trials began, the women of Salem began to manipulate society along with authority figures. The female characters in this play all gain some power of influence against the people in order to protect themselves from being accused of witchery. Mary Warren, a slave in the play known to have one of the lowest ranks in society, gains power and manipulation over almost everyone within the plot line. All while this is being taken place, people within the community, and people in authority, begin to believe all the women over the men during these trials. To wrap it up, the political sex scandal that involved Monica Lewinksy and former president Bill Clinton exempts gender role changing consequences in sin. Monica Lewinski was a 21-year-old that was working at an internship at the white house during Bill Clinton's presidency. Between the years 1995 and 1997, they performed illegal intercourse with one another. During an interview shortly after Clinton lies about the sin he has committed, after people already had found out the truth. Monica gets bashed from everyone in society, which deepens her personal guilt to a greater extent. While Clinton did not fully get off of the hook of punishment, Monica’s was to an incredibly greater extent and will follow with her for the rest of her life.

Sin is almost unavoidable. Whether it is a transgression against the law, religion or a single lie, most likely consequences will follow. The plot lines and the string of characters in the play, The Crucible, the novel The Scarlet Letter, and the life of Monica Lewinsky, display various kinds of sin. Although the type of sin, the extremeness and even your gender can impact the results of your actions, it will always leave a footprint in your life. Some people face physical consequences such as prison, scaffolding or shame from the surrounding others. Most importantly, the self guilt one then deals with can grow to be enough to last a lifetime.