The Power of Courage

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In my English class, we have been studying the Salem Witch Trials, along with the literary works that were produced based on those events.  We read The Crucible, the play written by Arthur Miller that depicts the story of the trials.  We also watched the movie that was made in 1996 after we read the play.  We did both just to compare and contrast and also to really get to feel the emotion that is hard to get while reading.  Courage means doing something even though it can be difficult and fearsome.  The reason I believe this is true is because in many cases people can be cowardly and just go along with the crowd and stay "safe", but it takes courage to stand out and fight against what is wrong.  An example of this would be when Nazi Germany took power, most Germans wanted nothing to do with being Nazi but did not protest or let outside countries know what was going on in fear of being killed.  This idea of being courageous and going against evil when everybody else is comfortable, is very prevalent in the story of The Crucible.  In many cases the protagonist, John Proctor, goes against judges, fellow townsmen, even officers and other officials to fight for what he believes is right.  Everybody else in the village was comfortable remaining voiceless and so was he for a while.  But, then he was compelled to testify against the court of law along with a few others.  Another case of being courageous against other people would be when another character in the play, Reverend Hale who played a pivotal part in this story, stood up against the court after siding with them earlier.  At first, he made the witch accusations and got people in prison, but then he realized what he was being a part of was false and that he was wrong.  He admitted this and attempted to save the lives of the condemned.  This theme of being courageous in a dark time is pretty powerful, you can stand out and possibly save lives or save people punishment, or you could just be comfortable, hide, and save yourself.