What is fear? Fear has a huge influence on the
things we believe and do. This thought was used in both the sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,
and the play, The Crucible. There are
several parts of The Crucible that reflect
the style that the preacher used in Sinners
in the Hands of an Angry God. That style is fear, and in both pieces, it
sends a strong message.
To begin, The
Crucible resembles the fear in Hands
of an Angry God through the tone of some of the characters. Both pieces of
literature center on religion and its importance to the Puritan people. When the
strong religious kick of the Puritans began to decline, the preachers and
priests decided to use fear to convince the people that they needed church.
This kind of convincing is shown very obviously in the sermon, but also more
subtly in The Crucible. In the first
Act, Parris is speaking to Abigail about the night the girls were in the
forest. He uses such a harsh tone; it seems very much identical to the one in
the sermon (Miller 10-12). Parris goes from a scary, angry tone to a more
understanding and desperate tone and back and forth throughout his conversation
with Abigail. This is the exact same tone and pattern shown in the sermon.
Using these kinds of tones make the listener very afraid and interested at the
same time (Fanella). The sermon was used to scare people into getting people to
come to church, and Reverend Parris uses it to attempt to get the truth out of
Abigail (Miller 10-12).
Additionally, The
Crucible resembles the fear of the sermon through its use of embarrassment and
fear itself. In the play, Hathorne and Danforth get Proctor to write down his
confession, and when he asks why they say they are going to hang it on the door
of the church (Miller 139). This use of fear, to scare the people into
confessing or staying away from lies and witchcraft, is the same kind of fear
instilled by the angry sermon to make people attended church (Fanella). They
used this type of fear because the people were not used to this kind of anger
in such a religious place, and made them so afraid to do anything wrong they
did just as they were told. After seeing what this fear can do to a clearly innocent
man, such as Proctor, the other condemned people in the trial confess to their
sin of witchcraft (Miller 142). This reaction is exactly what they wanted; they
got the people so scared they were afraid to do something wrong, because even
an innocent man is deemed guilty.
Overall, the use of fear is very prevalent in both The Crucible and Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. Both
pieces prove that fear can make us do things we may or may not want to do, but
in these cases it got the point across loud and clear. Fear is a dangerous and
powerful thing and both are excellent examples of this.
Fanella, John Jeffery, and
Jonathan Edwards. Sinners in the Hands of an
Angry God. Phillipsburg, NJ:
P&R Pub., 1996. Print.
Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York, NY:
Penguin, 1996. Print.
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