Theme Of Witchcraft In The Crucible

Witchcraft: Child’s Play or Reality? In Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible’, witchcraft is the main conflict of the play. Set in a Puritan Massachusetts Colony in the year 1692, most anything that cannot be solved by the church or a doctor is unnatural. The first thing that comes to mind is witchcraft, which the punishment for is hanging unless you confess. So what this entails is: you either tell the truth and deny that you have anything to do with witchcraft and be hung or tell a lie, which is a sin, and go to jail for an extended period of time. Those accused of witchcraft are put in front of those who have accused them and the judges and do not get to plead a case. But this was not a big problem before a group of girls started to tell

Why was she doing that? And I heard a screeching and gibberish coming from her mouth. She were swaying like a dumb beast over that fire!” (Miller 463). Parris claims that Tituba was speaking spells while Abigail retaliates with “She always sings her Barbados songs, and we dance.” (Miller 463). Abigail pleads with Parris “Uncle, we did dance; let you tell them I confessed it- and I’ll be whipped if I must be. But they’re speakin’ of witchcraft. Betty’s not witched.” (Miller 462). Abigail feels it would be better to confess to dancing and be whipped than be accused of witchcraft. After this, Mary Warren, who is John Proctors maid, very breathlessly tells Abigail “Abby, we’ve got to tell. Witchery’s a hangin’ error, a hangin’ like they done in Boston two years ago! We must tell the truth, Abby! You’ll only be whipped for dancin’, and the other things!” (Miller 467). But, after Mary Warren states “I never done none of it, Abby. I only looked!” (Miller 468), Betty Parris starts to stir and Abigail goes to her bedside. Once Abigail is there, Betty shouts “I want my mama!” (Miller 468) then, after Abigail talks to her about her dead mother, she says “You brank blood, Abby! You didn’t

He does not respect what the accused are saying and only believes the accuser. Once the group of girls starts accusing people in the village, Judge Hathorne does not question them and immediately starts with the trials. The first trials begin with Martha Corey, Judge Hawthorne says to the court and Martha, “Now, Martha Corey, there is abundant evidence in our hands to show that you have given yourself to the reading of fortunes. Do you deny it?” (Miller 505). Of course Martha quickly replies with “I am innocent to a witch. I know not what a witch is.” and Hawthorne states “How do you know, then, that you are not a witch?” (Miller 505). In those lines, Hawthorne quickly turns the questions back to Martha as if he knows that he does not have the evidence to support these claims. This is what adds to the hysteria. The court is convicting people of a crime without the proper evidence and they are basing the verdict solely on the statements of others. And of course the court will not question the people's claims nor will the people question the doings of the court. So people see that the court is not looking very much into and use it to their advantage. Some might say that all Judge Hawthorne was doing was his job and that since the town was very religious, that people's word would be enough evidence because they would not lie because that is a sin.
Arthur Miller wrote “The Crucible” about witchcraft