Examples Of Historical Accuracy Of The Crucible

The Crucible: Historical Accuracy
The Crucible is a 1996 film (originally written as a play) based on the Salem Witch Trials of the 1690s. The story is based on actual events and takes place in Salem in the year 1692, opening with a group of young girls who are caught dancing around a fire in the woods. To keep out of trouble, the girls then accuse other townspeople of forcing them to dance. This begins the witch hysteria and leads to wild accusations, trials, and executions of many innocent people.
Early morning in 1692 Salem, Massachusetts, some young village girls meet in the woods with a Barbadian slave named Tituba. One of the girls, Abigail Williams, kills a chicken and drinks the blood, wishing for John Proctor's wife to die. They are

This strikes Mrs. Putnam hard as she has had seven other children before Ruth who died at childbirth. (In real life, Thomas and Ann Putnam, who both died in 1699, were survived by ten of their twelve children.) The Parris household is also visited by Giles Corey, who suspects that the children are just acting out, and John Proctor, with whom Abigail had an affair and whose wife she wants dead. Abigail still loves Proctor, but Proctor realizes his mistake and leaves her. The Putnams and Reverend Parris believe that Betty and Ruth are demonically possessed, so they call Reverend John Hale from Beverly, to examine Betty. To save herself and the other girls from punishment, Abigail claims that Tituba was working with the devil. After a brutal whipping, Tituba confesses to being a witch. Struck by their new power, the other girls begin naming other women whom they "saw" with the devil. One of these is Elizabeth Proctor, John Proctor's

Burns reports that some of the significant inaccuracies in The Crucible include the following:
First, Miller portrays Abigail as a young woman of 17 or 18 years of age. In reality, Abigail Williams was only 11 or 12 years old at the time of the trials. This detail could significantly alter the plot and the events of the drama.
Second, Arthur Miller characterizes Tituba as a slave of African heritage. However, the documented facts show that Tituba was an Indian from the Caribbean island of Barbados. Miller seemed to use an American stereotype in this case.
Third, Miller chose to omit certain key characters from his play. One of the main characters who does not appear in the drama is Cotton Mather.
Miller does choose to name many of his characters after real people who participated in the Salem witch trials, but he uses his artistic freedom in assigning motivation to his