Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is a significant theme in the story, as it is from the belief in witchcraft that the action of the story is fully displayed. The play takes place in 1692 in the Puritan town of Salem, Massachusetts, where the fear of evil, the devil, and witchcraft led to strict rules being enforced. The court, which was already determined that witchcraft existed in Salem, forced false confessions by threatening to hang.
In The Crucible, witchcraft is seen as evidence of communism, similar to how communists were persecuted during the McCarthy era. Many people accused of being witches were persecuted in Salem, Massachusetts. The play also mentions witchcraft, as it represents the farthest the Puritans were.
The play features various characters, including Reverend Parris, who discovers girls dancing naked in the woods, and Tituba, the only person of color in the play. She knows that her status is too low to withstand the accusations, and Parris threatens to whip her to death if she does not confess to witchcraft. Tituba breaks down and falsely claims that the Devil is bewitching her.
The main characters in The Crucible believe in witchcraft, and their religion has taught them that it is possible for a witch to exist in their midst. The play explores themes of hysteria, magic, and the consequences of believing in witchcraft. The Crucible serves as a reminder of the power of belief in the supernatural and the consequences of not acknowledging it.
📹 Ugly History: Witch Hunts – Brian A. Pavlac
Uncover the history of the witch hunts that swept through Europe and the American colonies from the 15th century until the 18th …
Why were people accused of witchcraft in The Crucible?
Abigail, a woman who had engaged in an extramarital relationship with a local resident and her former employer, John Proctor, alleged that she had used witchcraft to cause harm to his wife. She subsequently accused Tituba and other local women of witchcraft, following an intervention by Reverend Hale.
What is the hysteria of witchcraft in The Crucible?
In The Crucible, Salem, a town, is plunged into mass hysteria when neighbors accuse people of practicing witchcraft and devil-worship. This fear leads to the community justifying its existence, as fear feeds fear. The fear becomes an unconscious way to express resentment and anger suppressed by strict Puritan society. Some citizens use the charge of witchcraft for personal gain, but most are overcome by the collective hysteria.
They believe the devil is attacking Salem, and ensuring a neighbor is punished for selling a sick pig becomes a religious necessity to protect God and prove one’s innocence. The Crucible illustrates how religious fervor fuels hysteria and sacrifices justice and reason in the face of societal fervor.
What defines a witch in the Salem witch trials?
In January 1692, young girls in Salem Village reported being afflicted by unseen forces, leading to suspicions of witchcraft. In the 17th century, a witch was someone who agreed to serve the devil in opposition to the Christian church. Four men and four girls traveled to Salem Town to make complaints against three women, including Bridget Bishop, who was accused and acquitted of witchcraft 12 years earlier. Bridget was portrayed as a witty and independent resident of Salem, married to a sawyer named Edward Bishop.
Attorney General Thomas Newton put Bridget on trial first, possibly to set the tone for subsequent hearings. Multiple accusers claimed Bishop’s specter was responsible for damages and afflictions, but no witchcraft was proven by the required testimony of two witnesses. Instead, the court relied on spectral evidence, which set the pattern for the rest of the trials.
What does the witchcraft mean in The Crucible?
In The Crucible, witchcraft is regarded as an expression of communism, a notion that was pervasive during the McCarthy era and was also reflected in Salem, Massachusetts, where numerous individuals were accused of witchcraft.
What is the fear of witchcraft in The Crucible?
The citizens of Salem are gripped by fear at the prospect of the Devil inhabiting the surrounding woods, which gives rise to accusations of innocent individuals, such as Abigail, who accuses Elizabeth Proctor of witchcraft due to her fear of solitude.
Who was called a witch in The Crucible?
Elizabeth Proctor, John Proctor, Mary Warren, and other residents of Salem were apprehended on charges of witchcraft. Elizabeth was subjected to an examination, during which John Proctor was also arrested. Subsequently, Mary Warren levied accusations of witchcraft against Proctor, Parker, and others.
How is witchcraft presented in The Crucible?
In The Crucible, witchcraft is regarded as an expression of communism, a notion that was pervasive during the McCarthy era and was also reflected in Salem, Massachusetts, where numerous individuals were accused of witchcraft.
Why did the girls start accusing people of witchcraft?
The reasons behind the witchcraft accusations among young girls in Puritan society are unclear, but Elizabeth Hubbard was one of the original girls to begin the accusations. She continued to be a leading accuser throughout the summer and fall of 1692. Elizabeth, like most of the other afflicted girls, was detached from her parents and family of birth and lived with her great-aunt Rachel Hubbard Griggs and her husband, town physician Dr. William Griggs.
In 1692, Elizabeth was around 17 years old, making her one of the oldest of the original set of afflicted girls. Along with Elizabeth Parris, Abby Williams, and Anne Putnam, Elizabeth started the accusations with claims of being tortured by specters of certain community members. Carol Karlsen’s research suggests that many of the accusing girls may have behaved as they did due to the uncertainty of their future as orphans. Most of the girls had no monetary or emotional support from direct family members, and the frontier wars had left their father’s estates considerably diminished.
Elizabeth Hubbard, like most of the other accusing girls, was a servant with very dismal prospects for the future. Karlsen suggests that the afflicted used their dramatic possession performances to focus the communities’ concern on their difficulties, which allowed them to gain the respect and attention of the community.
While the exact reasons behind the witchcraft accusations remain unknown, the documents we can read provide insights into the kind of girl Elizabeth Hubbard was.
What were the three major causes of the witchcraft hysteria?
The Salem witch trials in 17th-century Massachusetts were a significant event in public consciousness and popular culture. In 1692, between 144 and 185 women, children, and men were accused of witchcraft, with 19 executed after local courts found them guilty. The witch panic spread throughout the region, involving an increasing number of people as accusers, accused, local government officials, clergymen, and members of the courts.
The five factors that led to the mass hysteria and execution of the witches include the idea of witchcraft as a threat from England, the mainstream Puritan worldview, the lack of usual patterns in accusations, and the ongoing violence that took a toll on the community.
What are the rules of witchcraft?
Witches believe in the universal law of not doing evil and harm, and see the universe as majickal and able to provide for us. They practice science, art, and religion, with roots in early European cultures. Witches act in balance with these three aspects and use their majick in harmony with the universe and nature. They do not worship Satan or the Devil, as they believe that hatred and harm stem from our own choices and actions against the balance of the universe. Witches practice their religion in harmony with the universe and nature.
How does John Proctor know the witchcraft isn’t real?
Abigail Williams discloses to John Proctor that the purported witchcraft is not, in fact, a genuine phenomenon.
📹 History Buffs: The Crucible
Happy Halloween History Buffs! Tried thinking of an appropriate film that would best fit the theme of this classic holiday. But do …
Salem resident here. Thanks for showing the many differences between actual history and Miller’s adaptation. The Crucible was filmed here on the North Shore, in Ipswich for the exteriors and interior sets at what was the old United Shoe Machinery building in Beverly (now developed as the Cummings Center). The production company donated a lot of the props used to Pioneer Village in Salem, a re-created part of old Salem. The opening scenes of Hocus Pocus were filmed there in the fall of 1992.
This article hits close to home, quite literally. Living in Peabody (formerly part of Danvers) on the land that was owned by John proctor and Giles Corey in fact the proctor house is only a few minutes away from my house, it does get very creepy especially in the woods behind my local park. The woods were split between proctors land and Corey’s land and rock walls still stand today (and I’m not 100% sure) that were the property lines of the two neighbors. The Putnams also play a role in Danvers still, many places are named after them. Today there are only a few farms that give a look into the past along with the proctor house, thank you for the great article Nick
I read in my Honors English class in high school, and it should be in mind that there was a major event occurring when Miller wrote the play: the Red Scare. 1950s America was in hysteria over possible Communist spies being among everyday people. There was even a list of suspected Communist spies, and Miller was indeed on it! Some say that this play is an example of what was occurring during the Red Scare.
I remember reading about the Salem trials in a college history class. In the text we read, both the author and our own professor pointed out that if you mapped out the households of people who were accused of witchcraft, it was overwhelmingly single women and widows who had never remarried. In other words, it was women not conforming to the strict gender roles of their society who were disproportionately accused.
When discussing this movie in high school, there was one point that I felt was another reason the trials got so out of control. As Puritans, there were no celebrations, no parties, dances, just every day drudgery no matter the time of the year. It is a natural human impulse to want to experience joy or fun, both of which were strictly denied due to religious fervor, especially to women who were generally little more than property themselves. Hanging a witch was probably the closest any of them could come to a party due to celebrating ‘yay, we got rid of a witch!’, plus the power likely went to the girls’ heads after being little more than servants and child-bearers. The witch trials was the most exciting thing that happened to them whether they liked it or not, and I’ve wondered more than once if it still would have happened if some joy and fun had been permitted in Salem.
Some historians also consider the contamination of the rye crop with what is essentially naturally forming LSD with some of the hysteria around that time. Very easy to believe the town has witches when everyone is getting severe food poisoning and tripping on hallucinagetics. Unless I’m remembering a different set of witch trials.
One really bizzare movie I would adore to hear the fact from fiction of is “The Men Who Stare at Goats.” It’s a sort of dark comedy that tells a story of one of the strangest times in the US military history. I would adore hearing your insight and deep dive into how far that rabbit hole went. Thanks for reviewing “The Terror” btw I really enjoyed that series and was hoping you would of covered it. Man bear pig did not disappoint.
This one’s funny to me, as in High School I was in our performance of the Crucible and was taking AP World History at the time and studying the early colonization of the US in New England, so know quite a bit about the accuracies and inaccuracies of the play as a result of those two things happening at basically the same time. And yeah, the play and the film aren’t super concerned with accuracy in terms of events, as Miller was much more concerned with creating a good drama and trying to get his message across than anything else. But one thing the film does do a VERY good job of that isn’t really brought up here is nail the look of the time and place. While it isn’t the same as in the movie, you can visit the actual courtroom the trials were held in in Salem, MA today and the overall layout is correct between the actual building and the one in the film, with the large rafter areas above the central pews. Same with the exterior shots of homes seen in the film, as they were either filmed at, or used one of the several colonial recreation villages you can find in New England as reference for the sets that were built for the film. The buildings are REALLY accurate to the time from what I can tell. The costuming too is very good, as one thing they get accurate is that even though they were pilgrims, and were known for wearing black and white most famously, plenty of people did wear dyed clothes of many colors in actual fact. So though the content of the play/movie is definitely geared toward drama and not history, it didn’t mean that at least some decent detail wasn’t paid to the history of the setting and time through the costuming and set designs.
I love the history of the (Salem) Witch Trails and this era in New England. Also loved the movie, and in high school I played Abigail – which only made my ADHD obsessions in these subjects stronger. The ergot hallucination theories have pretty much been disproven in regards to this event. I pretty much agree with the ideas that the girls were frightened/had nothing better to do/were exercising the only kind of power they had stumbled onto.
The Crucible may be centered around the Salem Witch Trials, but that’s not what inspired Arthur Miller to write it. The crucible was inspired by the hearings and trials and the ‘witch hunts’ during the red scare of the 1950s. When we read the Crucible in high school I remember reading an article about this.
I recall seeing part of this in High School. The English teacher did not send permission or notice about it so the half naked dancing scene did not go down well with the parents of the overwhelmingly mormon population, and we never got to finish it. Honestly surprised she didn’t get in more trouble for it thinking back.