The Crucible; Good Intentions
Good Intentions; Unfortunate Results “The path to hell is paved with good intentions,” says an English Proverb. This can also be seen as true about literature set in the 17th century all the way to characters living in the turn of the 19th century. Those were simpler times when people believed in the devil, witches and vampires as explanations because there were so many things they didn’t understand. Characters in these strict moral times would try to do what they thought would be for the best only to have the situations turn out worse than before.
The irony in these works of literature is that a lot of times, good intentions ended badly. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a prime example of how good and pure intentions go wrong and turn into the problems they tried to avoid. Rev. Parris is the epitome of worrying too much about his public image. Parris is first introduced while sitting next to his sick daughter’s bed worrying about her well being, but as Miller states, “he believed he was being persecuted wherever he went…” (3). This paranoia causes him to refuse the doctor’s suggestion that he bring in a priest that specializes in works of the devil.
Parris declines because he fears that if word gets out that there is witchcraft going on in his family, he would lose his position in the church. Because of his worry about his public image, Parris actually loses respect from the town and indirectly sends multiple people to jail and their deaths. His good intentions had unfortunate results on everyone including himself. Judge Danforth is another character who during the witch trials has his intentions turned around. Danforth clearly states his intentions to save innocent souls from the devil and to condemn those that are doing dealings with the devil.
Judge Samuel Sewall has the same intentions as Danforth which he writes down later in his diary. These intentions to keep the people of Salem safe obviously backfired when many innocent lives were taken because of the slightest chance of them being guilty. Judge Sewall realizes that because in his diary he asks for forgiveness when he posted a Bill saying “Samuel Sewall, sensible of the reiterated strokes of God upon himself and family; and being sensible, that as to the Guilt contracted, upon the opening of the late Commission of Oyer and Terminer at Salem (to which the order for this day relates) he is, upon many accounts, more oncerned than any of men, And especially desiring prayers that God who has an Unlimited Authority, would pardon that Sin and all other his Sins; personal and Relative: And according to his infinite Benignity, and Soveraignty, Not Visit the Sin of him , or of any other, upon himself or nay of his, nor upon the Land: But that He would powerfully defend him against all Temptations to Sin, for the Future…” (Sewall 308) This was in regards to those innocent people that he sent to hang in the Salem Witch Trials.
Elizabeth Proctor also had good intentions to help her husband during the trial. In court, her husband had sworn his wife would never lie and when the judge decided to test her, Elizabeth lies only because she thought that she was protecting her husband but ends up incriminating herself. In Bram Stoker’s Dracula, good intentions also go wrong. When Lucy is first starting to show symptoms of sickness and blood loss, one of the first things that the doctors and her family did was open up a window. This was just so Lucy could get some fresh air.
However when this window is left open it makes it much easier for Dracula to fly in through the window, drink her blood, and fly back out without leaving any evidence of him being there. Later in the story when Dr. Van Helsing starts thinking her blood could be taken by a vampire, he puts garlic around her neck and she starts to get better. One night when her mother comes into the room and sees that she has this awful smelling plant around her neck she removes it thinking it will help her breathing, but this ends up allowing Dracula to come into the room and get to her neck so he could drink her blood once again.
In the very beginning of the story, Jonathan Harker is traveling to Dracula’s castle in place of his boss who couldn’t go. His intentions are good so he can help his boss and make some money off of the land he is planning to sell, however his intentions get turned around when Dracula traps him inside the castle and he fears for his life. These are examples of situational irony. Reverend Hale, the specialist in dealings with the devil, has great intentions to save people from sin when he comes to Salem.
In Act One, Miller writes of Hale: “His goal is light, goodness, and its preservation. “(36) His goals and intentions when arriving in Salem are very specifically laid out for him when Miller speaks of him. However after events unfold, Hale ends up inadvertently sending many people to the courts. During the trials, he councils convicted witches to confess, so that they won’t be hanged. Hale knowingly counseled people to lie.
The events that happen to Hale and the twisted way that he ended up saving lives is cosmic irony. Hale came to Salem to save souls from the devil and tell people not to lie, cheat, or sin, but when the play ends Hale has tried to save lives by telling those accused to lie and sin. Therefore, he has actually damned the very souls he came to save. In The Crucible, Reverend Parris’ actions were supposed to keep his good standing in the community but actually caused him to lose the town’s respect.
Reverend Hale came to Salem to save souls, but actually ended up damning them and characters in ‘Dracula’ tried to help Lucy get well but their actions actually helped cause her to become a vampire. In both of these stories, the intentions of the characters were always supposed to be for the good but ended up with the exact opposite result. There were so many things they didn’t understand, but they would have been better off to leave things alone than to try to do something they thought would help.
