Thought Of God's Terrible Vengeance example essay topic

Commonly, God is thought of as our protector, somebody who looks down upon us and protects his people from the horrors of life. If this is true, however, then why do things such as the Holocaust, slavery, war, and even the Salem witch trials happen? In the case of the Jews, some believed that they were the "chosen ones", and were suffering through the Holocaust in order to deepen their faith, or so that they would realize how precious life can be. For others, however, a terrible event such as this can destroy their faith in God altogether. Throughout The Crucible, erroneous statements about God, his will, and what he does to those who are not perfect Christians, are made. Although the people who make these statements believe that they are correct, they actually discredit themselves and the name of God.

In The Crucible, it seems as though God is nonexistent because of all the unnecessary death that occurs throughout the story; death he is supposed to provide protection from. As Reverend Hale is introduced into the story, he is made out to be the savior of the town of Salem. Parris invites him to come and find the devil that is supposedly present in the town, and rid the people of any evil they may have been cursed with. He is especially hopeful that Hale will cure the inflicted girls of their, "illness".

When Hale arrives, he believes himself to be almighty and powerful: almost Godly. His unbelievable confidence leads him to believe that he is helping the people of the town by naming people who have been affected by Satin. Referring to the devil, Hale says, "Have no fear now- we shall find him out if he has come among us, and I mean to crush him utterly if he has shown his face" (39). This overconfident attitude of Reverend Hale leads him to make more conclusions than he should, resulting in the mass hysteria throughout Salem.

As a reverend, Hale is a messenger of God on earth, and he certainly does not do a good job. Over time, however, Hale realizes his terrible mistake and does his best to fix what he had destroyed; but it was beyond repair. Abigail is the dirtiest and most sinful person in The Crucible without a doubt. She has had relations with a much older man, Proctor, and calls herself a messenger of God as she condemns many innocent men and women to their own death or humiliation. Certainly, Abigail knows that she is not being a good Christian by doing the terrible things she does. She has, however, an undeniable confidence in her that never falters.

It even makes the reader consider the fact that she may actually be the devil in the flesh: certainly no teenager living in Salem in the late sixteen hundreds can be so evil and feel no remorse. For Abigail, however, this is not the case. She states, "I never knew what pretense Salem was, I never knew the lying lessons I was taught by all these Christian women and their covenanted men" (24). Here, she is talking to Proctor about how he opened her eyes to the real world. The whole town of Salem and the values taught to the children had been based around Christian ideals, and when Abigail states that the town is phony, she is also stating that the Christian values are phony as well. This new realization of hers leads her to believe that there is no God, and more importantly, that there will be no consequences for her terrible actions.

Abigail actually tells the court that, "I cannot stop my mouth; it's God's work I do" (115). As it turns out, Abigail is never found to be a liar, and before there can be any repercussions, she has left the town of Salem and disappeared entirely. In the case of Abigail, God plays no role, he does not stop her from ruining the lives of the people of Salem, and he does not protect the people from her terrible wrath: she is successful in her sinister machination. Danforth strongly believes that he is doing God's work and protecting the law, however, despite this, he finds himself in a tough situation. As the story progresses, Danforth arrests any person who the "inflicted girls", name. They are then put on trial, and when they are found guilty, they have the choice of admitting to being a witch, or being hanged.

Either way, the guilty are in an extremely tough situation because of Danforth. As time passes, Danforth sends more and more men and women to their death by hanging. Each new person he hangs gives him even more incentive to uphold the law with the next person. Tension rises, however, and the remaining people of Salem begin to question whether Abigail and her fellow "inflicted", are actually messengers of God, or whether they are lying to the whole town. As Danforth eventually begins to question the validity of the girls' words, he suppresses these thoughts because he is in a very tough situation. If he acknowledges that Abigail and the other inflicted girls were lying the whole time, he would be acknowledging that the law had failed and he had not done his one and only job: upholding the law.

However, if he never says anything, he will be denying the truth that the people who have been hanged are innocent and this could possibly lead to more unreasonable hangings. In his desperation to find the truth, Danforth begs to Abigail: "Abigail. I beg you now, search your heart and tell me this- and beware of it, child, to God every soul is precious and His vengeance is terrible on them that take life without cause" (108). Danforth's statement is a very ironic statement for a couple reasons. He is a strong believer in the vengeance of the lord and states so, however, he does not realize that he is the one who is taking lives without just cause. Even more ironic than the fact that Danforth is the one who is taking lives without cause is the idea that he is not punished in the way he says people like him would be punished.

According to Danforth", [God's] vengeance is terrible on them that take life without cause" (108). However, as we have seen throughout history, terrible things such as slavery and the Holocaust have happened under God's watchful eye, and it seems as though He has done little to stop them. Therefore, does God really exist? Is there really somebody looking down upon us and protecting us from everything bad in the world? To the Puritans in Salem, God's existence was undeniably true, but to the reader, this may not have been the case.

God's existence in The Crucible seems like more of an idea than a reality. To the Puritans, just the thought of God's terrible vengeance serves as a deterrent to keep them from doing anything evil. In the case of Abigail, however, she believes that there really is no true God. Once she believes this, she feels that she is uninhibited in her life and that she can do whatever she wants without facing the wrath of God. In the last scene of the book, Proctor is fighting between himself whether or not to hand the signed paper, that acknowledges that he was guilty of conspiring with the devil, to Danforth. He says to Danforth and Parris and all the others in the room at the time, "I confess to God and God has seen my name on this!

It is enough!" (142). To Proctor, God is not simply a man looking down from heaven upon him. Instead, God rests inside Proctor, in the deepest and most inward place in his conscience. In this place, Proctor can make peace with himself and the decisions he makes.

When he says he is confessing to God, he is actually convincing himself that what he has done is enough and that he need not do anymore to prove his innocence. Certainly, Proctor is not guilty of scheming with the devil, however, there is no way he can prove this. Admitting to himself that he is guilty of conspiring with the devil becomes extremely hard for Proctor to do because he knows the truth, yet he must convince himself that he was blameworthy of the crime. However, he must admit to his "crime", in order to save his life. This is why he is so torn up by the fact that Danforth wants him to do even more and admit to the rest of the town what he has supposedly done wrong.

Throughout The Crucible, God's role is played in the minds of the characters: he only exists in those who believe in him. However, the idea of God is very important to the story. The different characters' outlooks on who God is, sculpts the way they act and behave throughout the story. Whether they believed in God or not, his influence on the characters of The Crucible was profound enough to shape the direction of the story of the Salem witch trials.