Examples Of Feminism In The Crucible

Feminism is the philosophy, found in both literature and society, that the Western world is fundamentally patriarchal. Throughout the play, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, there are several examples of women being oppressed, as seen through the feminist critical lens. Miller uses male characters to reference to women objectively to help demonstrate this. This teaches that women are oppressed not just in literature, but in life. The female characters gain power in a male-dominated society through an elaborate plot of accusations and executions. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, the Puritan people of the town of Salem live day-to-day following the word of God. The biblical teachings that are their laws restrict women to be on a social level below the men. The normality of the village is interrupted when several local girls fall ill, claiming to be possessed by the Devil. Little do the townspeople know, the

Corey mistakenly ends up raising suspicion of his wife’s connection to witchcraft, which ends up leading to her sentencing and being hanged. This mistake was a genuine one, but it was still a result of a patriarchal state of mind. A quote from The Crucible, “Martha, my wife. I have waked at night many times and found her in a corner, readin’ a book. Now what do you make of that?” In this quote, resides this patriarchal idea that women aren’t supposed to read. The fact that Corey’s wife is reading books scares him to the point that he is concerned and even contacts the reverend about the action. Corey states, “It discomforts me!” Corey expresses his discomfort about her reading, and shows the readers that at this time, women were not expected to read, and it was a rare occurrence if they did. Corey later “redeems” himself by paying his life to save another man’s name, but in the end, Corey’s aged philosophy of women’s simplicity lead to the couple’s