The Crucible Conformity Essay

Conformity represents the tendency for an individual to align their attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors with those of the people around them. It can be a way of social pressure and unconscious influence. The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller shows the negative effects that conformity causes on individuals. The Crucible takes place in 1692 in the town of Salem, Massachusetts. The play follows a storyline where a village gets embroiled in witch hunts, as people in the village grow scared and weary of the practices of the church. Some important characters include Reverend Hale, who questions people suspected of being witches. But as more and more people become accused he starts to question the legitimacy of the whole witch hunt. John Proctor and

In The Crucible Elizabeth Proctor displays signs of conforming to inaccurate statements although they are not what she believes. She says, “Your Honor, I-in that time I were sick. And My husband is a good and righteous man. He is never drunk as some are, nor wastin’ his time at the shovelboard, but at his work. But in my sickness- you see, sir, I were a long time sick after my last baby, and I thought I saw my husband somewhat turning from me…” (Miller 115). Elizabeth wanted to confess, but she conformed to the power of authority and would not tell the truth. The church as an authority causes people to want to tell what people want to hear and not the truth. In an article written and reviewed by Psychology Today Staff, a team of therapists, they state, “At its best, conformity offers a sense of belonging and group identity and can encourage people to adhere to moral standards….it can bring out a person’s darkest impulses and even be used to justify…”. The sense of belonging could be indicated by the way that Elizabeth feels a need to tell the church about the wrongdoings of her husband to inevitably follow the morals that the church sets. But in addition, there are the darkest impulses that emerge in the story as group conformity continues regardless. Abigail spreads lies about witchcraft, accusing others in her community to achieve her

One major is religion. As stated in “The Power of Conformity” it says, "Religion dictates how we should act around others and what principles to abide by.”. Religion in The Crucible is also one of the reasons that people conform. It said, for good purposes, even high purposes, the people of Salem developed a theocracy, a combination of state and religious power whose function was to keep the community together and to prevent any kind of disunity that might open it to destruction by material or ideological enemies.” (Miller 6). Religion is used in both scenarios as a way to keep people together, to conform them to the same beliefs and ways to act, on different severities. In our history, there are, in addition, extremes of group conformity but in our modern society, there are also fewer extremities of group conformity. The Holocaust is an example of conformity. Individuals were blinded by the idea of conformity to realize how inhumane the actions of Hitler were, by being put with an idea of conformity and being right, people will be blinded by what is essentially the truth. As shown in The Crucible, people were so subdued and scared by the suggestion of witchcraft they never questioned how to determine if people were actually guilty or the liability of