Essay on The Crucible: Motivations for the Trials :: Essay on The Crucible

Motivations for the Trials in The Crucible  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚   In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the madness of the Salem witch trials is explored in great detail. There are many theories as to why the witch trials came about, the most popular of which is the girls' suppressed childhoods. However, there were other factors as well, such as Abigail Williams' affair with John Proctor, the secret grudges that neighbors held against each other, and the physical and economic differences between the citizens of Salem Village. From a historical viewpoint, it is known that young girls in colonial Massachusetts were given little or no freedom to act like children. They were expected to walk straight, arms by their sides, eyes slightly downcast, and their mouths were to be shut unless otherwise asked to speak. It is not surprising that the girls would find this type of lifestyle very constricting. To rebel against it, they played pranks, such as dancing in the woods, listening to slaves' magic stories and pretending that other villagers were bewitching them. The Crucible starts after the girls in the village have been caught dancing in the woods. As one of them falls sick, rumors start to fly that there is witchcraft going on in the woods, and that the sick girl is bewitched. Once the girls talk to each other, they become more and more frightened of being accused as witches, so Abigail starts accusing others of practicing witchcraft. The other girls all join in so that the blame will not be placed on them. In the novel, Abigail starts the accusations by saying, "I go back to Jesus; I kiss his hand. I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!" Another girl, Betty, continues the cry with, "I saw George Jacobs with the Devil! I saw Goody Howe with the Devil!" From here on, the accusations grow and grow until the jails overflow with accused witches. It must have given them an incredible sense of power when the whole town of Salem listened to their words and believed each and every accusation. After all, children were to be seen and not heard in Puritan society, and the newfound attention was probably overwhelming. In Act Three of The Crucible, the girls were called before the judges to defend themselves against the claims that they were only acting.

Life is full of challenges Essay

Life is full of challenges. In the stories, â€Å"Breaking Through Uncertainty-Welcoming Adversity† and â€Å"Neighbours,† written by Jim McCormick and Lien Chao, the main characters illustrate benefits derived from taking risks. Even though both people in these texts undergo personal challenges, in â€Å"Neighbours† the character, Sally, receives greater benefits from taking risks than McCormick in â€Å"Breaking Through Uncertainty-Welcoming Adversity†. Fear is a part of life, however, how we face it is what makes each of us unique. In the story, â€Å"Breaking Through Uncertainty-Welcoming Adversity†, McCormick faces a fear of death. Although he is a very experienced jumper, one day, the lines of his parachute twisted and caused him to spiral down out of control. As he explains, â€Å"The twists in the lines caused my parachute to take on an asymmetrical shape [†¦] The problem occurred when the turn quickly became a rapid, diving downward s piral that was spinning me a full 360 degrees about once every second† (7). On the other hand, the fear that Sally experiences in â€Å"Neighbours,† is not a physical fear of death, but rather a fear of another culture. Sally is a Chinese immigrant who fears not understanding Canadian culture and not fitting in. Read more: Essays About Challenges in Life For example, â€Å"Sally is not a Canadian, but she hopes one day she will be [†¦]† (1). In addition, at the time, she feels â€Å"inadequate† (4) and â€Å"disorientated† (8) due to a lack of understanding. McCormick and Chao also present other situations that involve mental and emotional challenges. When McCormick realizes that his expertise would not be able to solve the problem, he has the challenge of accepting this fact, â€Å"Having successfully completed over 2100 jumps without having to resort to my second parachute, it was hard for me to believe I had really encountered a problem I could not solve† (7). Sometimes, being overconfident is harmful because it interferes with our ability to make the correct decision. In the end, McCormick faces his â€Å"dragon† and overcomes his adversity, â€Å"The real dragon is the self-doubt we carry within us† (19). While McCormick’s success is admirable, he overcome his self-doubt and solves his problem, Sally receives greater advantages from taking the risk of being honest about her personal situation. Sally takes a big risk immigrating to Canada. She leaves her relatives, culture, and language behind in China. Sally meets a kind elderly couple, Elizabeth and Joe who invite her to their apartment for a cup of tea and watch the fireworks. They are generous and even offer her a free refurbished vacuum.

Kantian Philosophy Kantian Duty Ethics Essay - 1309 Words

2. Define and describe Kantian Duty Ethics, with reference to the Principle of Universalizability and the Principle of Humanity. Do you find this theory plausible? Why or why not? Kantian Duty Ethics is named after its creator Immanuel Kant. The way the Kantian approaches morality is by Deontological ethical theory. The word deontology comes from the Greek word deon, which translates to duty. (thefreedictionary) In deontological ethics it’s believed that morality is primarily a matter of rights and obligations. To Kant, morality isn’t based on hypothetical imperatives, instead it’s based on a categorical imperative, which in essence you should act only on maxims that you’re okay with everyone else also acting on. Kant was trying to identify the ultimate principle of morality, in which he thought he found in the principle of universalizability. In the principle of universalizability, it says that an act is morally acceptable if, and only if, its maxim is universalizable. (TFOE pg. 162) Kant believed that every action has a maxim. We don’t always clearly have a maxim, but whenever we act we do naturally have an intention of doi ng something, and we have a reasoning for doing whether it’s subconsciously or not. Also, Kant believed that to judge an action’s rightness you have to look at its maxim, and our morality of our actions has nothing to do with the outcome. To sort out the good maxims from the bad we have to apply universalizability. Another formulation of Kant’s is theShow MoreRelatedA Critique of the Categorical Imperative1689 Words   |  7 PagesPhilosophers of his time. He was born in Koinsberg, Prussia on the 22nd of April 1724, and died on the 12th of February 1804 at the age of 79. Throughout his life Kant contributed his ideas to many major fields of Philosophy; however his biggest contribution was to the realm of ethics, when he developed the concept of the categorical imperative. 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