Gender Roles In The Crucible

The Crucible and Gender Roles

In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, gender roles are very evident throughout the book even when they aren’t immediately noticed. Minor details like women not having jobs and men being the ones doing the physical and hard labor are quite repetitive in the play. In 1692, when the play took place, the main gender roles were that men were laborers and workers while the women stayed home to care for children, cook, clean and keep the house for their husbands. In the Crucible specifically, in the town of Salem during the witch trials that happen there, gender roles can be seen through the judges, reverends and farmers all being men and women being the housewives or servants, they are also evident in the conversations that

John had been out later than normal because he was plowing the fields and while he was doing that Elizabeth was putting their sons to bed. John says “I were planting far out to the forest edge”(49). And then he asks “The boys asleep?”(49) showing one of Elizabeth’s responsibilities along with his own. It’s Elizabeth’s responsibility to get their sons ready for bed. She also prepared a stew for dinner and serves it to John showing another of her responsibilities through her actions. She made dinner because she is the woman of the house and that is what was expected from women at that time and since the Proctors didn’t have a servant or slave to do it for them Elizabeth was the one doing it

All the people who hold major positions of power in the story are men. The jobs like reverends, marshalls, judges and even those who are farmers or laborers in the story are all men. Another thing that women can’t do in the story of The Crucible is to own land, men are the only ones who own land in the story and this also isn’t surprising because the story takes place in 1692. During one of the trials, Giles says “Thomas Putnam is reaching out for land!” (84) Another position that is filled by men are the judges, judge Hathorne is described as so: “He is in his sixties, a bitter, remorseless Salem judge”(85). This part of the book also speaks of John Proctor plowing, Ezekiel Cheever says “He plow on Sunday, sir” (90). This again reveals his role in his family of farming and doing the hard labor along with showing that the men are the ones who do the plowing and the women shouldn’t