The Salvation of a Name: Analysis of Reputation in 'The Crucible' and 'Molly's Game' Anonymous 10th Grade

“Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies!...I have given you my soul; leave me my name!” (Miller 143)

This quotation is found both in Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible and in Aaron Sorkin’s film Molly’s Game. The Crucible is a play involving the Salem Witch Trials and demonstrates the lengths people will go to protect their reputation. Molly’s Game is a film about the delicacy of protecting your own name while saving others from harm. These two combine to demonstrate the importance of protecting your reputation while accepting the consequences for your own actions. Molly Bloom from Molly’s Game and John Proctor from The Crucibleboth manage to keep their names clean, but Abigail Williams from The Crucible fails to keep her name from tarnish.

Molly Bloom from Molly’s Game protects her name by refusing to name any names that weren’t revealed and accepting responsibility for her actions. To begin, Bloom’s lawyer is discussing with her the need she has to protect innocent people and the effect it could have on her sentencing: “I think your psychotic need for redemption is making you bad—They were already in the tabloids because of Brad Marion!” (Sorkin) Molly is...