The Crucible By Arthur Miller

Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is widely known for its depiction of Marxist regimes using the story of the Salem witch trials. The play accurately portrays class differences, and the power dynamics of all the characters. Each character in the play has a specific role that represents the socioeconomic classes with Abigail Williams being the one that holds all the power. Abigail is one of the main characters in the play, after being found with other women dancing in the woods by her uncle Reverend Parris, the scare of witchcraft blew throughout Salem. All of Salem feared the idea of witchcraft, and Abigail’s name was spread with all the talk. Everyone in the town saw her as a witch, and while some may see Abigail as the victim of the story, she

Social status had a lot to do with choosing the victims of the witchcraft accusations. Blaming those of lower social status was easier than blaming those higher up because they weren’t as respected. In the beginning of the play, Abigail accuses Tituba, a slave, of being a witch. This accusation forces Tituba to accept it and claim that she’s a witch, or die. This theme continues throughout the whole story, most of the accused are chosen as the victims because they are of a low social status. The theme of social status ties in greatly to the themes of reputation because those of low social status usually don’t have much of a reputation to keep clean. This is also the reason why so many people who were accused would confess to witchcraft, because they didn’t have a known reputation. So many people of low social status were accused that Miller had said that “the investigation itself is either mistaken or a fraud” (Why I Wrote “The Crucible,” 19). This goes to show that Miller understood who was being targeted, as well as proves how the witch hunt is related to Marxism. There were so many trials and accusations that they couldn’t all be true, but the accused didn’t have a way to defend

Previously stated, most of those who had greater power were those very closely related to the church. Reverend Hale and Parris were well respected, and many did not want to argue with them or go against them. Judge Danforth also used religion to hold power. Around the end of the play, Hale starts to question all of the accusations in Salem because of the growing amount of hangings. Danforth is adamant about the hangings occurring to rid Salem of the Devil’s presence, and “the implementation of religion… is what keeps the mass from revolting or doubting;” the fear of the Devil was a lot stronger than human morality (Ayman, 5). Religious justification allowed Salem to go through with the hangings because no Christian wanted to argue or go against God, leading to many morals being left behind. This criminalizes those who were not fulfilling their ‘Christian duties,’ leading to them being among the accused. John Proctor is an example of this, because of his loose dedication to the church, as well as other things, he was accused of witchcraft. He was tried for being involved in witchcraft, and Danforth used religion to justify the accusations against Proctor. Among other similar instances, this is how religious belief ties in to Marxism to target certain people and justify their