The Crucible Essay, Research Paper

Do Not Pay for More Than You Receive

Martin Luther King Jr. once stated, Freedom has always been an expensive thing. This statement has been a fact of the world before money was invented. In The Crucible , by Arthur Miller, it is shown that one thing in the world that is definitely worth fighting for is one s freedom.

Freedom is like everything else in this world; it must be worked for. The characters in the play must fight to show that they are not witches and keep their freedom. Many people were threatened with the possibility of being put in jail. In this case, I have no choice but to arrest you for contempt of this court, do you know that? ( Miller 868). Once faced with the possible revocation of their freedom, people may say things that are not true to stay out of jail. During the Salem witch trials, many people confessed to being witches to avoid being put to death. Proctor: I want my life Hawthorne: You ll confess? Proctor: I will have my life. (884). The loss of ones natural given freedom is a terrible experience. People become almost lifeless when they have their freedom revoked. He sits like a great bird; you d not know he lives except he will take food from time to time. (880). Many people only learn the value of freedom until they have lost it.

Freedom can be taken away if abused. Anything that is worked for must be protected and valued. In the play The Crucible, John Proctor decides that he would rather die than to sign a piece of paper that would ruin his name. Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! (886). Here, John Proctor realizes the value of the name he has worked his whole life to establish. This is also were he realizes that he will, in truth, not be free if he were to sign the paper of testimony. It is when freedom is abused and revoked that the fight for it becomes an even more expensive battle.

When a citizen of the United States commits a crime, the punishment is the revocation of the citizen s freedom. A person in jail or prison no longer has the privilege of freedom. A person who is sentenced to death will never again have freedom on Earth. Freedom is not given, it is earned, and this has been shown in countries throughout the world. People in the Salem Witch Trials were jailed and hanged for allegedly being accomplices of the Devil.

If someone can keep a people oppressed, they will, until the oppressed are willing to take a stand. If you want freedom you must be willing to fight for it. One must show that he is willing to die for what they believe in. Freedom is not easy to obtain. Hard work and focus are needed but one is usually rewarded for one s trouble. In the play, Mr. Proctor is willing to die for his freedom. He knew that he would never truly be free in the village but that he would be freed by death. When given the choice between signing a paper, which stated that Proctor was a man of the devil, he declined and chose to die instead. Hale: Man, you will hang, you cannot! Proctor: I can. And there s your first marvel, that I can. (886). This is Proctor refusing to sign the paper that can save his life but ruin his name. He understands that he will be free when he dies.

Freedom is one thing in life that is worth fighting for because freedom should be one of the most important things in the world to people. At his speech, The Atlanta Compromise, Booker T. Washington told fellow African Americans that before they should seek total freedom, they should better themselves through knowledge so that they may know how to better utilize it when they receive it. It is important to respect and not misuse freedom because as the play The Crucible has shown, freedom can be taken away and be dangerous if misused.