By :Roman Bandiera. The Crucible
To fully understand characters found in The Crucible, one has to use Kollbergs moral precepts to help fully understand their reasoning and motivation for their actions. By using these we see the characters make pre-conventional, conventional and post-conventional decisions.
There are many examples within the literature that explain why the characters act the way they do. Some characters show that they are pre-conventional. This is when you behave in a certain way to obtain a reward or avoid punishment. To begin, Parristhreatens to “whip you to your death” this shows that he is pre-conventional because he is trying to get Tituba to confess. Tituba then, does confess to a crime she didn’t commit to avoid being whipped. Another example of people trying to obtain a reward is Putnam when he says, “it is a lie”. He accuses the people who put spells on his daughter. He gets revenge and the land goes up for sale. Later, he buys their land.
Lastly, Abby shows her selfishness when she tells Mary “This is a black art to change your shape”. Abby claims to be doing God’s work.
However, she is doing the devil’s work. Abby is lying and forcing her friends to agree with her and go against Mary.
The characters in The Crucible all show that they are conventional in one way or another. A perfect example of this is when the girls copy what Abby is saying making it look like she is controlling. When the girls shout out “Abby you musint” they want to fit in with each other because they have power in numbers. Another great example of trying to fit into a group is when Abby pretends to be innocent in front of Parris, Hale and Proctor. She claims she
“wants the light of God”.When in reality she is an evil person who is the reason, many people die in the story. Finally, Mary tries to fit in with the town and she doesn’t want to be ostracized. She shows this when she tells Abby that “they will be calling us witches”. She wants to fit in with the society and not be called a witch.
There are many examples within the literature that illustrate post-conventional characters.
This is when people internalize a sense of values and morals that cannot be altered by punishment. Giles Corey is the best example of this when he is about to die, he still doesn’t give in. He says “more weight” meaning he won’t give up the name so they will have to kill him. Even in his last moments he is post-conventional. Another moment when someone shows they won’t be altered by punishment is Proctor when he says, “how may I live without my name”. He forgives himself. He wanted honoreven if it meant dying. In addition, Hale shows that he is post-conventional when he “quits this court”. He does the right thing by giving up his job and everything that comes with it.
Kollbergs moral precepts help to fully recognize the reasoning and motivation for the characters actions in The Crucible. Throughout the play we see the characters make pre-conventional, conventional and post-conventional decisions.
