Sunday, November 23, 2014

In The Crucible, besides from political and relgious intolerance, what is another type of intolerance?

I think that one of the most intense types of intolerance
that is shown in Miller's work is the idea of personal intolerance.  This is not
motivated from a particular agenda or set of ideas that need to be endorsed.  In the
end, some of the intolerance that is shown is simply a reflection of personal antipathy
towards another.  Goody Putnam is distraught over the death of her children and envious
of Goody Nurse's success at child rearing.  This is not political or religious.  It is a
reflection of a mean spirit towards another.  Abigail and the girls initially target
those who are the town drunks or those who are on the outskirts of the social scheme of
Salem.  They do so out of personal dislike, and a sense of individual intolerance.  When
Thomas Putnam launches accusations of witchcraft, Corey correctly points out that his
motivation is not religious or even political, as much as it is economic.  Putnam's
desire to eliminate his competition is personally driven.  In the end, it is this
personal intolerance that also helps to bring out how Abigail and her friends torment
Mary Warren while she is on the stand.  The meanness and personal intolerance that
citizens of Salem possessed in their hearts and directed towards their
neighbors.

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