Five Minute Persuasive Speech on Arthur Miller's Play - Essay Example

Five Minute Persuasive Speech on Arthur Millers Play ‘The Crucible’ Greetings people for gracing this wonderful occasion in the history of Salem. I am glad to join you today on this great occasion in order to meditate upon certain critical issues in this society. Before I continue, allow me to mention that the community of Salem has a great history that is regarded across the globe and we as a people should do everything within our capacity to maintain this reputation. Indeed, we should not be overwhelmed by deceit, hysteria, and paranoia to the extent of betraying one another or losing our morals and ethics for that matter. Let the truth be told because even the Good Book clearly states that the truth shall set you free. In this regard, we should all be alive to the fact that before the devil erred, God considered him good in heaven. This specifically means that although we could appear well mannered from the outside, our character and morals dictate who we really are. In this regard, I feel honored to stand before this great multitude to deliver my speech concerning certain issues of great communal and national importance. Primarily, I believe that a society is judged by the manner in which her people behave and the kind of relationship they have towards one another. It is for this reason that I am greatly convinced that even though we could have missed the point on certain critical issues, there is still chance for correction of our past mistakes, no matter how grave they might have been. However, I must mention at this point that there is more than meets the eye in the community of Salem. There have been widespread rumors that this community is slowly deteriorating into a senseless society where the people partake of all forms of vices. Undoubtedly, rumors of witchcraft are afoot in Salem and threaten to break the peace. If we do not guard against such wickedness with all that we have, I tell you rest assured that we will be a community to be proud of in the near future. Perhaps it could be because of a decline in the spiritualism of the people of Salem that there have been rampant cases of intolerance. I still insist that we are all brothers and sisters created by one God so that we can have compassion and humility towards one another irrespective of their personality, religious, political, or social affiliations. As we all know, we live in a theocratic society and therefore we must embrace all the aspects required of such a society. We have seen and made great strides in the attainment of peace through nationhood and religion and therefore it is incumbent upon every one of us that we should not let, for any reason, this great achievement go down the drain. Good people, I honestly understand that in every market place there has to be a mad man. However, we should not let that mad man that exists within our society to destroy all that we pride ourselves in. by this I mean that although each one of us has their own opinion, which they are entitled to, we should never accept a divergent opinion to derail our social and religious norms. Let me go straight to my point of intolerance, which has rocked our society to alarming levels and this could destabilize the peace that we have enjoyed over the years. Indeed, Puritanism dictates that we embrace both the state and moral laws as one thing. Who could have thought that such a great society like ours could have shifted from the norms that we inherited from our ancestors and have been practicing for years? Perhaps it boils down to the accumulation of individual sins of everyone that have turned into a monster, which is gradually eroding our moral and religious standings. As a strong reminder, everything, be it an idea, a perspective, or a deed, belongs to either the devil or God. This categorically means that anyone with a dissenting opinion from what our social norms dictate is acting on behalf of Satan. In this regard, we as the community of Salem are strongly intolerant to any forms of witchcraft. Certainly, any idea that opposes our courts deserves maximum condemnation and hence any person who professes witchcraft will not be tolerated within Salem and beyond. I have a dream that one day people of Salem will not be judged by their perceived activities but actually, for what they stand for. Indeed, everyone needs to be driven by reason and reality rather than hysteria that have rocked our society in the recent past. While it is important for each one of us to be critical of what happens around us, I want to emphasize the fact that fear and frenzy can only lead to destruction rather than development. More importantly, I would like to send a strong message to those who employ hysteria as a tool of achieving their personal ego or accomplishing revenge that the time for change has come. Those who use dishonest means to convict others will actually pay the ultimate price, as our social norms demand a great deal of honesty, humility, and compassion from each one of us. To this extent, I would like to urge every one of us that is gathered for this momentous occasion that those who camouflage in righteousness in order to fix and nail the perceived witchcraft practitioners live in the past. With this in mind, I am a strong subscriber to the school of thought that in as much as certain vices are degenerative in nature, hysteria and the like can be far much devastating if not controlled at an early stage. When it comes to matters pertaining to reputation, I feel obliged to have this opportunity to explore this matter to its fullest depth. Essentially, no one can underestimate the significance of reputation in theocratic Salem particularly considering the fact that both the moralities of the public and that of the private are closely related. This being the case, it is important that we should never associate with any acts of witchcraft or those that partake of it. However, hysteria should not be the deciding factor of discrimination, as this contravenes the very reason as to why we are guided by both state and social morals. Therefore, in an environment that is deeply rooted in religion, we should be able to identify those with retrogressive morals in an honest and fair manner in order to guard our hard-earned reputation jealously. In as much as we would like to keep our reputations clean, we should never compromise those of others by tarnishing their names in order to gain mileage in terms of reputation. I have always said in the past and I will say it again that the reputation of Salem as a society heavily depends on the reputation of every inhabitant of Salem. Therefore, we should condemn any evil acts within our society while at the same time embracing humanity and kindness of perceived outcasts before confirmation. Perhaps empowerment is an idea whose time has come particularly in Salem society. This is majorly because you will find women who are old enough to manage their own homes still working for townsmen even though their own town needs them. While gender parity plays a major role in the development of any given society, I would like to instill a high sense of responsibility especially among the male gender so that the womenfolk can also be accorded equal opportunities within the society. Again, women should not wait for occasions such as the trials of witches in order to gain their societal space but rather participate actively and morally within the society. I have noticed in the recent past that most of the women fix their male counterparts in order to empower themselves but I want to assure you that that is a defeatist idea. Finally, when it comes to matters that appertain to legal proceedings, I would like to caution every one of us to take our courts very seriously and never present any false testimony in the courtroom. Of course, I have seen this rampant behavior in the recent past particularly among the womenfolk. Serious court trials especially the witch trials should never thrive on mere accusations alone but concrete evidence ought to accompany such cases considering the gravity of the matter. Read More