Morals In The Crucible

The Crucible written by Arthur Miller is a play that expresses the life of the Puritans within Salem, Massachusetts around 1692. The Puritans had a very strict sort of lifestyle that was influenced by their religious views. This caused a theocracy-based town that had no tolerance for witches or God’s enemy -- Satan. When people were accused of being a witch, hysteria would plague the town; many innocent lives would be taken in attempts to ‘cleanse’ the town of any sign of the Devil. Arthur Miller had the Puritan way of life (and their belief system) extremely accurately; the play connects extremely well to what actually happens. More specifically, how horribly the children were treated, yet how much they were trusted, their moral beliefs,

They could not speak unless spoken to; they were treated like young adults. “[Paris], like the rest of Salem, never conceived that the children were anything but thankful for being permitted to walk straight, eyes slightly lowered, arms at the sides, and mouths shut until bidden to speak” (4). Children had a lot a responsibilities to attend to, and were forced to ‘bottle up’ their emotions; they would obviously take the chance to show their emotions, or exact their (or their parent’s) revenge. The children of the town, led by Abigail Williams would ‘unbottle’ their emotions, and would exact revenge upon anyone they choose at a whim. Many of the real-life children were represented by Mary Warren, Mercy Lewis, Susanna Walcott, and Betty Parris; the ‘ringleader’ was obviously Abigail Williams, who wanted to indict Proctor’s (the main character’s) wife with retaliation in mind; the ‘co-ringleader’ can be considered as Ruth Putnam, who (when listening to her parents) accused their neighbor George Jacobs with the hopes in mind their family can receive more land. Puritan children certainly had a large amount of responsibilities, and expectations to attend to; they used (as shown in The Crucible) the Salem Witch Trials as a way to let go of their emotions. Unfortunately, they had to end many lives to do