CRUCIBLE ESSAY
The Crucible is a historical, dramatic play which explores that relate to many
modern-day issues. The Crucible was written in 1952 by American playwright Arthur
Miller. It is a dramatized play which tells a fictionalised story of the Salem witch trials
in 1692. The play is set in Salem, a city in Massachusetts, USA, and is based around
the Salem witch trials. The witch trials were a series of prosecutions against people
accused of witchcraft in Colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May
1693. The crucible explores many social issues, those including sexism, religious
fanaticism, abuse and conformity. Puritanism is a religion that is strongly followed
throughout the Salem community. In Salem, everything and everyone belongs to
either a God or a Devil. The city of Salem was forced to follow a strict religion which
conforms with the rules of the puritan community. The Crucible shows many issues
in relation to the struggle of conformity in religion which also relates the modern-day
issues we see in today’s religious society.
The Crucible presents a religion that is overly strict and controlling. In Salem, one
must conform to the rules, practices and beliefs of the Puritan religion. The people of
Salem have strong beliefs and values towards how they live their lives. The Puritans
believed that they had to live by the scriptures and set a good example. The towns
people of Salem followed rules such as ‘go to church every Sunday’, ‘don’t work on
the sabbath day’, ‘believe in the gospel’ and so on. In Salem, people believe that you
go straight to hell after a sin has been made. Arthur Miller presented these strong
religious values throughout the text. In Act I, Abigail says “I want the light of God; I
want the sweet love of Jesus! I danced for the devil; I saw him; I wrote in his book; I
go back to Jesus; I kiss his hand. I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody
Osburn with the Devil!” This quote shows the guilt Abigail held for disobeying her
religion and is searching for forgiveness so she can find her way back to Jesus. The
quote shows how Abigail sets herself free from the guilt she felt after dancing with
the devil. Because Abigail disobeyed her religion and due to their strong spiritual
beliefs, she was convinced that she would go to hell for dancing with the Devil. Miller
has used quotes and descriptive speech as seen through Abigail to represent the
strong religious views and rules that the community of Salem withholds. Miller has
also constructed characters with a strong sense of conformity which allows them to.
represent modern issues such as abuse through religion in modern-day society.
Arthur Miller created a strong, powerful religion with harsh rules, practices and
beliefs. The people of Salem were convinced that Puritanism was the only religion
they were allowed to support. Miller portrayed this thought through multiple
conventions such as through the conflict of the play where proctor has an affair with
Abigail. This strongly goes against their beliefs which explains why it was such a big
focus throughout the play. The affair is the main reason why the witch hunt began.
However, girls were to remain pure. In Salem, adultery was forbidden because it
goes against God’s word, but for a young girl to have an affair with a married man
would have been the worst sin of all. Arthur Miller’s use of characterisation through
the play shows how John Proctor is ashamed of what he’s done and will constantly
look for forgiveness from God. Proctor believes that his affair with Abigail strongly
damaged him in the eyes of God, Elizabeth, and himself. Proctor did give in to sin
and commit adultery, but he lacks the capacity to forgive himself. Proctors
relationship with Elizabeth remains difficult throughout the majority of the play. The
people of Salem were brainwashed into believing and preaching certain things that
followed the role of Puritanism. This concept relates to many modern-day issues with
reference to freedom of choice of religion. “We have dozens of religious faiths being
practised in this country, some with significant differences to others, when it comes
to fundamental beliefs and customs. It is both impractical and unwise to try and
accommodate all of these in full. We should also remember we have thousands who
are “faithless” — they too need to be accommodated in any legislation.” (George, 2019,
The Weekend Australia). In modern-day society one of our biggest issues is religion and
the treatment of those of a different religion. The crucible has created this strong
sense of only being allowed to follow one set religion and having beliefs told to you
rather than having the freedom to choose what you believe. Today, we have freedom
to do that and most of the media strongly supports that. This quote from the
Weekend Australia shows the fairness and freedom we have to choose our religion
and that every religion should be accepted by everyone, even the people who don’t
support any type of religious faith. Through the process of trying to find your religion
and express it in modern day society, there comes the abuse directed towards those
who disagree with one’s religion which is not only presented the crucible, but todays
world too.
The crucible explores a religion where if it is betrayed, punishment is necessary. In
the older times, Puritans faced strong consequences for going against their religious
beliefs. These include whipping, the ducking stool and other punishments. There is a
range of violence that occurs to people of religion in todays society. Abuse of power
is a common theme throughout the crucible. Abigail’s abuse of power comes from
her desire to get Elizabeth hung so that she can marry John Proctor as she believes
that John Proctor has feelings for her, from their affair. Arthur Miller presents this
issue through the conflict of the play that proceeds through the whole play. This
relates to multiple issues we have nowadays with abuse of power and abuse
towards those of a particular religion. “The trafficking of hate has simply become
easier. It’s everywhere online, at everyone’s fingertips, prompting many of us to
question the value of unfettered connectivity.” (Damien Cave, The New York Times). This
quote from The New York Times explains how easy and simple it is to send out hate
to someone. Because of today’s technology we can easily make statuses and posts
directed at those of a different religion and cause people to feel attacked. There is
also the issue of physical abuse through religion with the Christchurch attack, this
sets stereotypes for certain religions and makes people fear the, or presents their
name badly through social media and can make religious violence a stronger issues
The crucible presents modern day issues to the readers through certain conventions
such as conflict, point of view, descriptive language and characterisation. Playwright
Arthur Miller has used multiple conventions throughout the play in order to tell the
story of the Salem Witch Trials which occurred in Massachusetts in 1692. The play
also has relevance to modern day issues such as violence in religion, abuse of
power and strict religious practices. Religious violence is common in today’s society
due to social media representation and abuse of power is a strong conflict these
days because of the wide range of religions we now have. Arthur Miller’s, the
crucible, makes strong relevance to these aspects of today’s society
Word count: 1253
References
Cave, D. (2019). Examining Religion and Violence. New York Times. Available at:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/25/world/australia/christchurch-sri-lanka-religion-violence.html
George, J. (2019). Religious freedom legislation is on the right track. The Weekend Australian.
Available at: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/letters/religious-freedom-legislation-is-onthe-right-track/news-story/1367eeeee9f73c6920541c4c9cf8a3ee