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The text of Arthur Miller’s Crucible’ is a four-act production that follows the Puritan community of Salem, Massachusetts. The play articulates the dangers a group of girls undergo as they start a witch hunt to cover, their own wrongdoing whilst creating mass hysteria. The Salem Witch Trials were a part of American History that epitomized the lack of trust in the goodness of others. The Crucible showed that in this situation the continued accusations were based on vengeance within a society for land lust, lost love, and jealousy. This behavior led to the death of numerous innocent citizens. The story is told through the protagonist’s point of view, John Proctor, a victim of the cupidity during the witch hunt. To further entice the reader elements of the good, the bad, and the ugly are depicted throughout the story through allusions, figurative language, and symbolism.
The Crucible delineates the historical Puritans’ perception of women who differ from expectations, all while unraveling, through the characterization of Tituba, the harsh truth of how women were viewed as lesser than men and feared if deviating.
In the play, the actions of the accusers on those accused of witchcraft unveil the conspicuous beliefs that buttress all actions regarding witchcraft. The accusers in the Salem court feign hysteria as they are aware of the potency of Sarah Good, Tituba, and many of the other accused witches. The display of pain is an attempt to create the impression that Sarah and Tituba are infecting the “normal” girl. Such hysteria allows Abigail to avoid allegations when she accuses Tituba and others of serving the Devil. In the seventeenth century, the women accused of witchcraft were those who deviated from their gender roles. Such women included Sarah Good, an adulterer, and Tituba, a conductor of spiritual proceedings. Witchcraft accusations were also based on the belief that women were carnal and, thus likely to engender malicious deeds.
Such an extreme belief that deviation equals sin leads to the accused being thoroughly beleaguered by the court in an attempt to break the Devil out of the accused. The judge warns Proctor that if he does not provide a tangible confession, Danforth will not be able to prevent Proctor’s hanging. However, Proctor refuses to cooperate ‘Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name.
The Crucible depicts the protagonist as having to come to terms with the community to understand themselves and their position within it. Miller uses the motif of social pressures and religious laws to set up the basis for the play, with the Salem citizens entrenched in a society that relies on strict social norms to maintain order in the community. An almost exact definition of the tyranny of conformity. Individuality, here, is the ability to retreat into families and homes. In 1692, however, Salem was shaken at its foundations by greed for land from neighbors and insecurity in the property. Furthermore, the Reverend Parris, head of the theocracy, is materialistic and is focused on his own needs over the communities. The struggle for the community’s survival is what brings about the witch hunts. The main character, John Proctor, wishes to remain neutral in the events occurring, though he recognizes the faults in the hunt, ‘There are them that will swear to anything before they’ll hang; have you thought of that?’ His previous affair with Abigail, however, leads to his wife being accused and himself being prosecuted when attempting to free her.’ Although Proctor may perceive himself as an individual who can retreat into his own family sphere, the protagonist finds that society will not let him escape. Proctor then must consider that he is living ‘by customs, laws, and expectations for which he shares responsibility.’ He cannot approach his wife’s persecution without taking into regard how he must face not only his family and self but also his neighbors and the village that he lives in. This troubles Proctor as he does not deign himself to be pure without fault, a result of his affair with Abigail. Furthermore, he does not want to risk his good reputation and he admits that by facing Salem to stop his wife from hanging he will have ‘rung the doom of his good name.’ Proctor is not only confronting the community but is also sacrificing his comfortable reputation in the community in order to prevent the death of his wrongly accused friends and wife.
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