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An American Tragedy: Comparing "The Crucible" And "The Scarlet Letter" - Term Papers

An American Tragedy: Comparing "The Crucible" And "The Scarlet Letter"

Two American authors, of two distinctly different time periods had one
very similar task, to turn a piece of American History into a believable tragedy.
Arthur Miller with The Crucible and Nathaniel Hawthorne with The Scarlet Letter.
Perhaps one might wonder which author did a better job in doing so, but with
such different pieces of work, this is hardly a question that can be answered.

Miller's the Crucible was written in the nineteen-fifties, with a
definite purpose, to remind Americans of the horrible witch trials that took
place in Salem, even before the American Revolution was a thought. It served as
a tool to warn against the same thing happening with the Communist ...

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in not only the Scarlet
Letter, but also in The Minister's Black Veil. One might even say that
Hawthorne's ancestry (Hathorne) is what he might consider his own "Pearl", and
this is why he changed his name.

Like Miller's the Crucible, The Scarlet Letter takes place in Puritan
Salem and has a tragic hero, but these are the only similarities between the two
great works.

In Miller's play, the tragic hero is John Proctor, a man whose pride
causes the demise of many women, tried as witches. Had Proctor chosen to reveal
his sin of lechery with Abigail Williams before the problem got out of hand, he
would've saved several women from being hanged. But Proctor, instead chose to
keep quiet about it until it was his own wife's destiny at stake, and then it
was too late.

In Hawthorne's novel, The tragic hero is Dimmesdale, who wouldn't admit
to being the father of Pearl. But Dimmesdale's silence, and that of Hester's
lead only to his own demise. Pearl went on to live ...

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An American Tragedy: Comparing "The Crucible" And "The Scarlet Letter". (2007, November 23). Retrieved January 11, 2026, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/American-Tragedy-Comparing-Crucible-Scarlet-Letter/74772

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 11/23/2007 04:20:13 PM
Category: Book Reports
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 734
Pages: 3

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