Free Essays on Themes Of The Crucible

Themes Reputation - Reputation is tremendously important in theocratic Salem, where public and private moralities are one and the same. In an environment where reputation plays such an important role, the fear of guilt by association becomes particularly pernicious. Focused on maintaining public reputation, the townsfolk of Salem must fear that the sins of their friends and associates will taint their names. Various characters base their actions on the desire to protect their respective reputations. As the play begins, Parris fears that Abigail's increasingly questionable actions, and the hints of witchcraft surrounding his daughter's coma, will threaten his reputation and force him from the pulpit. Meanwhile, the protagonist, John Proctor, also seeks to keep his good name from being tarnished. Early in the play, he has a chance to put a stop to the girls' accusations, but his desire to preserve his reputation keeps him from testifying against Abigail. At the end of the play, however, Proct or's desire to keep his good name leads him to make the heroic choice not to make a false confession and to go to his death without signing his name to an untrue statement. "I have given you my soul; for God’s sakes, leave me my name!" he cries to Danforth in Act IV. By refusing to relinquish his name, he redeems himself for his earlier failure and dies, unfortunately but with integrity. Hysteria - Another critical theme in The Crucible is the role that hysteria can play in tearing apart a community. Hysteria supplants logic and enables people to believe that their neighbors, whom they have always considered upstanding people, are committing absurd and unbelievable crimes–communing with the devil, killing babies, and so on. In The Crucible, the townsfolk accept and become active in the hysterical climate not only out of genuine religious piety but also because it gives them a chance to express repressed sentiments and to act on long-held g... Free Essays on Themes Of The Crucible Free Essays on Themes Of The Crucible Themes Reputation - Reputation is tremendously important in theocratic Salem, where public and private moralities are one and the same. In an environment where reputation plays such an important role, the fear of guilt by association becomes particularly pernicious. Focused on maintaining public reputation, the townsfolk of Salem must fear that the sins of their friends and associates will taint their names. Various characters base their actions on the desire to protect their respective reputations. As the play begins, Parris fears that Abigail's increasingly questionable actions, and the hints of witchcraft surrounding his daughter's coma, will threaten his reputation and force him from the pulpit. Meanwhile, the protagonist, John Proctor, also seeks to keep his good name from being tarnished. Early in the play, he has a chance to put a stop to the girls' accusations, but his desire to preserve his reputation keeps him from testifying against Abigail. At the end of the play, however, Proct or's desire to keep his good name leads him to make the heroic choice not to make a false confession and to go to his death without signing his name to an untrue statement. "I have given you my soul; for God’s sakes, leave me my name!" he cries to Danforth in Act IV. By refusing to relinquish his name, he redeems himself for his earlier failure and dies, unfortunately but with integrity. Hysteria - Another critical theme in The Crucible is the role that hysteria can play in tearing apart a community. Hysteria supplants logic and enables people to believe that their neighbors, whom they have always considered upstanding people, are committing absurd and unbelievable crimes–communing with the devil, killing babies, and so on. In The Crucible, the townsfolk accept and become active in the hysterical climate not only out of genuine religious piety but also because it gives them a chance to express repressed sentiments and to act on long-held g...

Longisquama - Facts and Figures

Longisquama - Facts and Figures Name: Longisquama (Greek for long scales); pronounced LONG-ih-SKWA-mah Habitat: Woodlands of central Asia Historical Period: Middle Triassic (230-225 million years ago) Size and Weight: About six inches long and a few ounces Diet: Probably insects Distinguishing Characteristics: Small size; feather-like plumes on pack About Longisquama To judge by its single, incomplete fossil specimen, Longisquama was closely related to other small, gliding reptiles of the Triassic period like Kuehneosaurus and Icarosaurus. The difference is that these latter reptiles possessed flat, butterfly-like wings of skin, whereas Longisquama had thin, narrow plumes jutting out from its vertebrae, the exact orientation of which is a continuing mystery. Its possible that these quill-like structures extended from side to side and gave Longisquama some lift when it jumped from branch to branch of high trees, or they may have stuck straight up and served a strictly decorative function, probably related to sexual selection. Of course, it hasnt escaped the notice of scientists that Longisquamas frills seem to have stopped just short of being genuine feathers. A small handful of paleontologists have seized on this resemblance to propose that Longisquama may have been ancestral to birdswhich would either cause this creature (which is tentatively classified as a diapsid reptile) to be reclassified as an early dinosaur or archosaur, or upend established thought entirely and trace modern birds back to an obscure family of gliding lizards. Until more fossil evidence is found, though, the current theory (that birds evolved from feathered theropod dinosaurs) appears to be safe!