THE CRUCIBLE- Arthur Miller

This 1953 play has its basis in the 1692 witch trials of Salem, where it focuses on a town gripped with mindless persecution of minority groups and the interference of the state in the conscience of the individual.

The Salem that Miller depicts in The Crucible is one where anything outside of the strict social and religious regimentation is seen as the Devils work. Whilst Miller used the Salem Witch trials to draw parallels to his own context, of 1950's America gripped by McCarthyism, he also demonstrates that humanity continues, and will indefinitely continue to, repeat the same mistakes- Much like Thucydides ideas on history: Human nature being what it is.

'The Salem tragedy...developed from a paradox. It is a paradox whose grip we still live, and there is no prospect yet that we will discover its resolution. Simply it was this: for good purposes, even high purposes, the people of Salem developed a theocracy, a combine of state and religious power whose function was to keep the community together, and to prevent any kind of disunity that might open it to destruction by material or ideological enemies. It was forged for a necessary purpose and accomplished that purpose. But all organization is and must be grounded on the idea of exclusion and prohibitation, just as two objects cannot occupy the same space. Evidently, the time came in New England when the repressions of order were heavier than seemed warranted by the dangers against which the order was organised. The witch-hunt was a perverse manifestation of the panic which set in among all classes when the balance began to turn toward greater individual freedom.

ACT ONE pg 16

For many of the accused in Millers play, it is for the 'victims' own personal gain- such as Abigail Williams accusing Goody Proctor of witchcraft, because she is love with John Procter. Long-held hatreds between neighbours were bought to light, and land-lust could be satisfied with a simple accusation. In The Crucible everything that is to be despised in human nature was bought forward under the guise of religious and patriotic duty to God and to the town.

' Long-held hatreds of neighbours could now be openly expressed, and vengeance taken, despite the Bible's charitable injunctions. Land-lust which had been expressed before by constant bickering over boundaries and deeds, could now be elevated to the arena of morality; one could cry witch on one's neighbour and feel perfectly justified in the bargain. Old scores could be settled on a plane of heavenly combat between Lucifer and Lord; suspicions and the envy of the miserable toward the happy could and did burst out in the general revenge.'

ACT ONE pg 17

The Crucible is an interesting text on the Salem Witch trials. Arthur Miller states that it is not a history of the trials, with several real historical figures morphed into one character- but I don't believe that it is necessarily having all the characters historically correct that is important in this play. It is it's ability to evoke our emotions with its obvious persecution of the innocent, and to make us question how and why we justify crimes. Isn't that what a part of history should be? Showing what happened in the past and warning us against repeating the same mistakes. Miller's text may not be a historical book, nor is he an historian, but he makes interesting points on power, religion, human nature and 'guilty until proven innocent'.