The Salem Witch Trials In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

Witchcraft is all fun and games until it is the reason for your death trial. The Salem witch trials was illustrated by author Arthur Miller in the play The Crucible. As John Hopwood states,

Miller’s stories and plays reflected his view of the American culture. Even though all the characters seem as if they are American, each character reflects struggles that everyday people go through. Hopwood goes on to state,

“Miller's characters suffer from anxiety, depression, and guilt, and it was the genius of

Miller to portray their pain and sorrow realistically, creating works that were familiar, yet uncanny in their power to move an audience.”

He used the historic milestone of the Red Scare to teach the following generations about the mistakes of the

In The

Crucible, Miller wrote in Act two scene seven: “For Murder, [Rebecca is] charged! For the marvelous and supernatural murder of Goody Putnam’s babies. What am I [Francis] to do, Mr.

Hale”? This reflects that during the witch trials, Putnam accused Rebecca, who delivered all of his babies, as the one who killed all four of them through magic. Putnam wanted her to be trialed in court and try to fight for her innocence.This concept of accusation is related to the Red Scare, because there were people who would try to find any excuse to be able to see the ones whom they accused to be put on trial for their lives and to find others to blame for their problems

(History.com). A second example from The Crucible is from Act two scene 5:

“I [Elizabeth] am accused? I somewhat mentioned. But [Mary Warren] said I never see no sign you ever sent your spirit out to hurt no one, and seeing I do live so closely with you, they dismissed it”.

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Within this scene, Abigail accused Elizabeth of being a witch out of retaliation because of her love interest in Elizabeth’s husband. For that reason, Elizabeth was dragged from her house to

John Proctor and the rest of the inmates were able to convince the town of Salem that witches are not real, and they would not give up their confessions so that Abigail and her

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In conclusion, Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is a play reflecting on a historic milestone.

His usage of allegory, authority, and pathos was able to persuade the audience that history could be repeated if we do not do what is needed to get done. Within this play, he also used the cycle of blame. The cycle of blame is when no matter if you accuse someone, the cycle would end up coming back to haunt you as it creeps you closer to your death. This ultimately led to the town’s downfall with something that was never proven to be correct, but was believed by many of the townspeople. The Crucible is not just a play about witchcraft, but can be used to give the later generations the courage to challenge the beliefs of themselves and of the society around them.

When everything around you is bleak, do not keep turning around in circles hoping for the best.

Turn to the situation and face it in a sense of change and hopeful not by anger and