Hypocrisy in The Crucible

Hypocrisy in The Crucible

Hypocrisy: A Human Flaw
In the play The Crucible, Arthur Miller repeatedly portrays that duplicity and deceit are a natural part of human lives. Miller accomplishes this through almost, if not every character in the story. Revered Parris claims to be a godly minister, yet he is always clamoring for more: golden candlesticks, property rights, more money. Thomas Putnam claims to be a holy, church-going man, yet his priority in life is to acquire land. Even Judge Danforth, supposedly a reliable source of justice and solidity, goes against what he knows to be true by forcing those arrested to either confess to crimes they did not commit or face the gallows, all to save his name and prevent it from looking like he had hanged innocent people. Miller depicts through characters such as these that humans cannot exist without the flaw of hypocrisy.
Reverend Parris, the paranoid widower and heaven-ordained minister of the town of Salem, was, simply put, a hypocrite. The narrator tells the audience that “there is very little good to be said of him” (Miller 1100), yet as a minister the people of the town look to him to be a pious religious leader. Miller carries the theme of hypocrisy through Parris by giving the reverend a very greedy nature. Instead of living a simple life and managing his duties in the town, he is always complaining that he either does not have enough material items or someone is attacking him, all thoughts that a priest should not be concerning himself with. One such example would be the scene in which Proctor and Parris are discussing Parris’ style of sermon, when Parris randomly exclaims that he is not being provided with as much wood as his contract spells out, as well as arguing for an extra six pounds per year. In addition to grubbing for a few extra pounds every year, Parris makes a show out of needing golden candlesticks for the altar to replace the pewter ones that have served the church since it was built. Miller also delineates how ingrained...

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