The theme of selfishness is mainly presented throughout the actions and speeches of characters, including Abigail, Reverend Parris and Danforth. The theme of selfishness is demonstrated through the character of Abigail. She would carry out absolutely anything to get John Proctor, though he is a married gentleman. This is shown through her determination to get rid of Elizabeth Proctor. She will go as far as accusing Elizabeth of witchery, so that Elizabeth will be hanged and she will then marry David Proctor.
Her selfish desire is definitely rightly summed up in Steve Proctor’s comment, “She feels to boogie with me on my wife’s burial plot. ” This highlights her selfishness as being a ‘grave-dancer’ generally refers to someone who celebrates another person’s misfortunes; however , she is truly even worse than the usual normal grave-dancer, as she is going to happily send out Elizabeth to her death due to the fact she desires her husband.
She also usually put her own passions before anything else. Though she says to like John Proctor, she still puts herself first.
When Jane accuses Proctor of witchery in order to save himself, she says nothing to defend him. Moreover, to be able to stay in electrical power, she gladly sends numerous people to their particular deaths, which include Mary, who had been once her close friend. By the end of the enjoy, she abducts all her uncle’s money, so that the girl can leave Salem in which she cannot survive anymore. This is an extremely selfish work as he features given her a residence and the girl knows that money is his life.
The theme of selfishness is also demonstrated through the personality of Reverend Parris. At the start of the enjoy, Betty, Parris’ daughter can be ill; nevertheless , Parris appears to be more concerned with the unfavorable impacts upon him due to her illness than about her health. When he prays, he says, “God help me! ” The fact that he prays that God help him instead of his daughter shows that he cares about you more about himself than his individual daughter.
To be able to appear to be reliable and o, he would not tell the court everything with the girls’ dance. Even if Hale advised Danforth that, he rejected the fact that he had noticed the girls bare. When he were required to admit that he had viewed them dance, he admitted it ‘unwillingly’, showing his reluctance for this. This displays how selfish he is. Being a minister, he should not rest in the first place, nor should he keep any useful information from the court; the fact that he does show that he cares about you more about himself than God.
He has been working in Salem for a long time, and he must know that people who are executed of witchery are actually innocent, nevertheless throughout the enjoy, he hasn’t shown any strong emotion for their fatalities; however , when he tells Danforth that there is danger for him if Proctor and Rebecca are hanged, he ‘cries out’. The action of ‘crying out’ expresses carry on your workout emotion. The very fact that he cares more about his own safety than harmless people’s lives demonstrate his selfishness.
The theme of selfishness is again demonstrated through the character of Danforth. The moment Hale and Parris plead Danforth to postpone the execution of Proctor and Rebecca, in order that they have more a chance to persuade those to confess, Danforth refuses as they believes that ‘postponement today speaks a floundering on his part’. ‘Flounder’ is a verb referring to producing mistakes. Essentially he is saying that he are not able to postpone the execution since it will show that he is wrong, which makes him look ridiculous.
The fact that he says and so shows that he does not need to lose face, even if it indicates hanging harmless people. Moreover, he says, “I cannot withhold from them the perfection of their punishment. ” The use of the noun ‘perfection’ here shows how adamant he could be, as it identifies the state of staying complete and correct in every approach. This is ironic as he is aware of the truth. This demonstrates his selfishness when he cares even more about his reputation as well as the authority from the court compared to the lives in the innocent people. In realization, the concept of the selfishness is definitely presented extensively through a range of characters and their actions. The characters of Abigail, Parris and Danforth demonstrate selfishness in their very own different ways.
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