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Character Analysis of Giles from The Crucible Essay

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More weight(Miller 1247) , when Giles Corey said this he was being slowly pressed to his death by a giant stone. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a somewhat historically accurate play about the Salem witch trials that he wrote as an extended metaphor to show how he felt after being persecuted during the red scare. The initial outcry of witches happened after a few girls were caught dancing and conducting witchcraft in the woods the girls then blamed other people in order to protect themselves from punishment. From then on anyone who denied being a witch was charged with witchcraft and there were numerous examples where innocent people were killed trying to protect their innocence or family. The plot of the crucible mainly follows John Proctor who is a struggling christian in the puritan society. John had had an affair with Abigail, the leader of the outcry, and he believes that she is trying to have his wife convicted of witchery so that she could step in. Johns wife does get arrested and during his civil attempt to free her he is arrested too. After being put on trial John Proctor is condemned to death unless he confesses; however, he is too strong a christian to lie and after a long internal struggle he allows himself to go to the gallows. Giles Corey in the midst of this dark twisted tale was the character who brightened spirits with his comic relief. Giles is and old farmer who has lots of respect in the town of Salem, he also had his wife arrested and felt like it was his fault. Corey is best known for being on outstanding family man, his vast intelligence of legal knowledge and for having an unbreakable will even in the most difficult of situations.

One of Giles many blessings is that he was a family man. towards the beginning of the story Giles approaches Hale and asks him, What does reading books mean?(Miller 1199) he then reveals that his wife had been reading books and they were distracting him from prayer Hale then replied with, Reading books you say? I will make note of it(Miller 1199). At first Giles thinks nothing of it until his wife is arrested, he feels awful about the whole thing knowing that it was his fault. He felt so bad that he went to the great length of getting ninety-one people to sign a petition saying that his wife was an outstanding christian lady who could never be a witch. He even pleas with the men sent to collect his wife saying, That my wife is a saint you cant take her!(Miller 1114) he defiantly shows his devotion here by trying so desperately to have his wife freed that he degraded himself to begging, and if he didnt want his wife then why even try to free her. Giles bravery was also shown here too. During the witch trials people were being accused left and right for simply standing up for someone else and to go the extreme lengths that he did to save his wife shows how truly devoted a husband and father he is.

Giles also had a great legal knowledge. During the trials having experience of legality would probably be one of the greatest assets one could have. Giles reveals that he has law experience to Danforth stating that, Ive been in court thirty four times and all plaintiff too(Miller 1122). This shows that he has a past of being in court and that he knows most of the rules and regulations of the court room. He feels that sense he has this past skill then anything he says should be true and for the most part he is right. He makes lots of logical arguments on why the judge is wrong for keeping his wife in jail and he even accuses Thomas Putnam of murdering his neighbors and says that someone told him that Putnam told his daughter to make the accusations on old man Jacobs. When he is asked the name of the man who told him this he refuses to name names. At this point the judge says that he will be charged with contempt of the court if he doesnt give names to which giles replies, This is a hearing. You cannot arrest me for contempt of a hearing(Miller 1223) this also solidifies that he knows what he is talking about. He protects himself from imitate arrest by pointing this out to a judge, but sadly he is arrested on contempt charges a few moments later after Danforth begins an impromptu trial.

Finally Giles Corey had a rock hard will. Corey while trying to discredit the girls is asked to give a name of who told him that Thomas Putnams daughter was told to lie about George Jacobs being a wizard, he refused to do this instead he cursed Putnam saying, A fart On Thomas Putnam(Miller 1224. By him doing this he was arrested on charges of contempt and thrown in jail. He could have just as easily said some random persons name and had them arrested then he would be free, but Giles had such a strong will that he accepted his punishment with little to no resistance. He even died to protect his family, after being arrested he was tortured for not answering aye or nay by having stones pressed on him and whenever he was asked his only reply was More weight(Miller 1247) until he died. He answered this to protect his family, by confessing either way his kids and wife would loose land. So the only way to protect his familys rights was to sacrifice himself.

Overall Giles Corey was a loving family man who used his vast legal knowledge to try and help the town and had such a strong will that he died so his children and wife could prosper. Giles played a major part in the story as a friend to John, they worked together to attempt to free their wives. He openly went against the court and in a way argued with the judge and proved him wrong. Then lastly he sacraficed himself for the good of his family and it was because of these heroic acts that he will be remembered in history.

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