How Jealousy plays a role in The Crucible. Jealousy, also know as "green envy", inflicts mental and emotional pain to those of the least expected. A violent emotion, jealousy allows others to lash out in harsh actions and words, hurting many deemed as innocent. Ultimately, jealousy is caused by particular insecurities by those who are not certain with their own lifestyle. In turn for such thoughts, the individual becomes hasty for the desire of what they do not have, but another does. As shown in the playwright The Crucible by Arthur Miller, each individual in society is in constant worry to be seen as successful. In the end, envy arises to those who see others as a better example of the very success that is deemed desirable.
In the Ted-Talk An Ode to Envy, Parul Sehgal describes the process of jealousy to be "writing your very own story in someone else's place". In saying this, once falling into the abyss of envy, you begin to tell yourself a false story, of which may not even be happening. For instance, Reverend Parris gains a strong sense of jealousy towards John Proctor, due to his good name in the town of Salem. Due to such envy towards the man, Reverend Parris begins to fill his own mind with the thoughts that John Proctor would take his place, and everyone hates Parris because of it. Parris allows his sour thoughts to rot his mind, which brings out violent waves of selfishness and apathy towards the more important situation at hand: his sick daughter. To conclude, the jealousy shown through not only Reverend Parris, but many other characters in The Crucible, is caused simply because of being afraid of the judgments of others in their society. The insecurity caused by the apparent judgement creates such envy to make the individual feel more confident in their own decisions and actions as a citizen. |
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