BY ARTHUR MILLER

SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS

Early in the year 1692, in the small Massachusetts village of Salem, a

collection of girls fell ill, falling victim to hallucinations and seizures.
In extremely religious Puritan New England, frightening or surprising
occurrences were often attributed to the devil or his cohorts.
The unfathomable sickness spurred fears of witchcraft, and it was not
long before the girls, and then many other residents of Salem, began to
accuse other villagers of consorting with devils and casting spells. Old
grudges and jealousies spilled out into the open, fueling the atmosphere
of hysteria.
The Massachusetts government and judicial system, heavily influenced
by religion, rolled into action. Within a few weeks, dozens of people
were in jail on charges of witchcraft.
By the time the fever had run its course, in late August 1692, nineteen
people (and two dogs) had been convicted and hanged for witchcraft.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVd8kuufBh
M
Map of Salem Village in 1692, including places of interest and
landowners, adapted from a map created by W. P. Upham in 1866.
 ARTHUR
MILLER https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N35IugBYH04

Miller composed The Crucible in the early 1950s during the brief ascendancy of
Senator Joseph McCarthy, a demagogue whose vitriolic anti-Communism provided the Telegram from Senator Joseph McCarthy to President
spark needed to propel the United States into a dramatic and fractious anti-Communist Harry S. Truman
fervor, during the first tense years of the Cold War.
Led by McCarthy, special congressional committees conducted highly controversial
investigations intended to root out Communist sympathizers in the United States. As
with the alleged witches of Salem, suspected Communists were encouraged to confess
and to identify other Red sympathizers as means of escaping punishment.
The policy resulted in a whirlwind of accusations. As people began to realize that they
might be condemned as Communists regardless of their innocence, many “cooperated,”
attempting to save themselves through false confessions, creating the image that the
United States was overrun with Communists and perpetuating the hysteria.
The liberal entertainment industry, in which Miller worked, was one of the chief targets
of these “witch hunts,” as their opponents termed them. Some cooperated; others, like
Miller, refused to give in to questioning. Those who were revealed, falsely or
legitimately, as Communists, and those who refused to incriminate their friends, saw
their careers suffer, as they were blacklisted from potential jobs for many years
afterward.
 CONTEXT
Visit the following websites and complete the tasks to understand the Witch Trials, and of Arthur Miller’s context.

1. Take notes on the key aspects of the trials, including what occurred, who they affected and the legacy that remains.
https://www.history.com/topics/colonial-america/salem-witch-trials

2. Take notes on the victims of the witch trials, including why they were targeted and what happened to them.
https://historyofmassachusetts.org/salem-witch-trials-victims/

3. Add extra details to your notes on the causes and effects of the witch hunts.
https://www.britannica.com/event/Salem-witch-trials/The-trials

4. Make notes on McCarthyism and Arthur Miller’s experience of the Red Scare.
https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/crucible/context/historical/arthur-miller-and-the-red-scare/

5. Make notes on the reasons Miller gives for writing The Crucible.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1996/10/21/why-i-wrote-the-crucible
 REPUTATION AND INTEGRITY

Reputation is the way that other people perceive you. Integrity is the way you perceive yourself.

Several characters in The Crucible face a tough decision: to protect their reputation or their
integrity. Parris, Abigail, and others choose to protect their reputations, while Rebecca Nurse
and, eventually, John Proctor, choose to protect their integrity.

In rigid communities like Salem, a bad reputation can result in social or even physical
punishment. The Crucible argues that those most concerned with reputation, like Parris, are
dangerous to society: to protect themselves, they're willing to let others be harmed and fuel
hysteria in the process.

In contrast, The Crucible also shows that those who favour integrity by admitting their mistakes
and refusing to lie just to save themselves, help defy hysteria. Their willingness to die for the
truth, puts a stops to the baseless fear that feeds hysteria.
Reverend Samuel Parris
1653 - 1720
 THE DANGER OF A RIGID IDEOLOGY

An ideology is a rigid set of beliefs that defines what an individual or community thinks.
In the Puritan theocracy of Massachusetts, a government run by religious authorities,
the dominant ideology held that the Puritans were a chosen people, that the devil would
do anything to destroy.

Since religious men ran their government, the Puritans considered all government
actions to be necessarily "good," or sanctioned by Heaven. This meant that any attempt
to question, obstruct, or otherwise resist any of the government's actions, no matter
how ludicrous, destructive, or ill-informed, was considered by the government and other
Puritans to be an attempt to overthrow God.

Governments fueled by such rigid and absolute ideological convictions often fall into
corruption and tyranny without even realizing it. In The Crucible, Deputy Governor
Danforth and Judge Hathorne believe that they’re emissaries of God, and therefore that
everything they believe must be true and everything they do must be right. They never
see a reason to reassess their thoughts and actions, which makes them easy targets for
cynical and talented liars like Abigail Williams. Puritan Life in Massachusetts, 1700
 PURITANISM AND INDIVIDUALITY

Puritan society required that its members follow strict guidelines of social order. These rigid rules of
conduct helped the Puritans endure the persecution they faced in Europe and, after they came to
America, created a close-knit community able to withstand the harsh weather and Native American
attacks common to New England in the 17th century. But communities that focus primarily on
social order leave no room for personal freedom. Those who think or act independently are seen as
a threat to the community: they must therefore be swiftly stopped or eliminated.

An excessively strict social order also provides no outlet for personal grievances. Over time,
unvoiced resentments build up among individuals, primed to explode. The witch trials depicted in
The Crucible can be considered an attack against individuality: those accused and convicted of
witchcraft were mostly people who prioritized their private thoughts and integrity above the will of
the community.

The expression of desire, both materialistic and sexual were prohibited, with the church providing a
communal source of morality. A sermon focusing on the fall of Adam and Eve might discuss the
danger of physical gratification and the imminent disobedience resulting from desire. By extension,
the Puritan belief that material and sexual desires were unnatural and evil — the Devil's work —
and a threat to society, justified the punishment of anyone caught pursuing such gratification.
FEAR AND HYSTERIA

In The Crucible, neighbors suddenly turn on each other and accuse people they've known for years of
practicing witchcraft and devil-worship. The town of Salem falls into mass hysteria, a condition in
which community-wide fear overwhelms logic and individual thought and ends up justifying its own
existence.

Fear feeds fear: in order to explain to itself why so many people are afraid, the community begins to
believe that the fear must have legitimate origins. In The Crucible, hysterical fear becomes an
unconscious means of expressing the resentment and anger suppressed by strict Puritan society.

Some citizens of Salem use the charge of witchcraft willfully and for personal gain, but most are
genuinely overcome by the town's collective hysteria: they believe the devil is attacking Salem. And if
the devil is attacking your town, then ensuring that your neighbor is punished for selling you a sick pig
suddenly becomes a religious necessity, a righteous act that protects the God you love and proves that
you're not a witch or a devil-worshipper. The Crucible shows how religious fervor fuels hysteria and
leads to conditions that sacrifice justice and reason.
CONFLICT

There are many different forms of conflict within The Crucible including:
• The spiritual conflict between God and the Devil (good versus evil).
• The impact of spiritual conflict on the rational mind - both Hale and Proctor question the validity of
‘proof’ which cannot be substantiated.
• Community divisions – Proctor and others refuse to comply with the court and challenge authority.
Land disputes are believed to be behind many of the witch-hunts that take place in Salem.
• Domestic conflict – John and Elizabeth’s marriage has been deeply impacted by adultery. Parris’
household is dysfunctional and its inhabitants rebel against Parris and his repressive attitudes.
• Inner conflict – A number of characters face insurmountable pressure to make false confessions
which go against their Christian principles. Hale compromises his conscience and urges others to lie
in order to save themselves. Mary’s fear of Abigail causes her to breakdown in the courtroom.
• John’s psychomachia (battle of the soul) towards the play’s conclusion displays his struggle to
decide whether he should lie and save his life or remain truthful and die.

•
 THE POWER OF WORDS AND LANGUAGE TO
INDICT OTHERS
Miller’s play asserts that every word matters because it can have a tangible
effect in the world.
Examples:
• ‘Goody’ is a shortened form of ‘Goodwife’ – this term is ironic in that they
are ‘good’ women and not witches.
• Archaic, ‘biblical’ language such as ‘you be’ is consistent with the era of the
1600s.
• Hale speaks in Latin when exorcising the Devil from Betty.
• Proctor’s written confession is to be viewed publicly in order to make an
example of him.
• The Proctors are tested on the Ten Commandments to prove their Christian
faith.
• The impact of ‘naming’ and being ‘mentioned somewhat’ can decide the
course of a person’s future regardless of their guilt or innocence.
• Proctor’s impassioned plea of “leave me my name!” reminds that audience
of his wish to reclaim his reputation.
 JUSTICE AND JUDGEMENT

The Bible is the basis of the theocracy that governs Salem. Danforth’s domination and control over the
proceedings of the courtroom ensure that fair trials are impossible. There are many instances of
judgement in the play that are worthy of consideration:
• Rebecca maintains her faith in God’s judgement which denies Danforth the power that he craves.
• John and Elizabeth’s conversation in Act 2 in comparison to Act 4 shows their ability to move away
from judgement towards forgiveness.
• Salem’s justice is both punitive and retributive. Giles remarks “I am thirty-three time in court in my
life” which suggests a limited approach to dispute resolution.
• Miller’s portrayal of Salem’s reductive theocracy mirrors the divisive nature of McCarthyism where
actions are either described as ‘of God or of the Devil.’
• Mary fears the judgement of Abigail and her peers. Danforth and Hathorne badger Mary until she
can no longer continue to answer their questions.
• Proctor’s determination to fight against injustice until the closing scene presents him as a type of
Everyman who strives to restore faith in humanity. Miller reminds his audience that the loss of
human kindness is the likely outcome of such oppressive environments.
 The idea for the vocab chart is to gather examples of the language used The Crucible,

VOCABULARY CHART so that you can emulate it in your own creative response. When you are assigned this
role, you should add around ten examples per act of the kind of language that Miller
used. You may need to find the definition after the reading is complete.

Word  Definition Links to characters or themes Example(s) from the text

 The idea for the character chart is to gather details about the characters in each
scene, so that you can emulate their actions and behaviour in your own response. 
CHARACTER CHART When you are assigned this role, you will be allocated specific characters to focus
on in each scene and should add around 3-4 key examples per character.

Character Key Actions in the Scene Key Quotes Themes Presented

 The idea for the theme chart is to gather examples of the themes in action, so that
you can emulate one or more in your own creative response. When you are

THEME CHART assigned this role, you will be allocated one or more themes to focus on and
should include 3-4 examples for each one.

Theme Examples in the Scene Key Quotes Characters Involved