Why Is The Crucible Still Relevant Today

The small town of Salem, Massachusetts faced an onslaught of murderous hysteria in 1692. Accusations of witchcraft abounded, creating an aura of fear encompassing the entire town. Trials, using confessions extracted by torture, sent hundreds to their death. The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, illustrates the suffering of Salem by incorporating people present at the time. Characters in the play capitalize on the social inequality of the small town for their own gain. This tactic festers still within the judicial system, highlighted during a murder inquiry in 2000. In his documentary, Murder on a Sunday Morning, Jean-Xavier de Lestrade depicts a trial in Jacksonville, Florida and the misconduct within proceedings therein. Both Salem and Jacksonville

This provocative taste of power creates a sense of euphoria that the girls fight to maintain, even at the expense of one of their own. Slowly, these scheming adolescents eliminate all who had prevented their selfish desires from coming to fruition, consisting mostly of older, more established women who hold sway over money, men, and property. Similar to Salem in The Crucible, Jacksonville in Murder on a Sunday Morning, features inequality between different groups in society, specifically different races. The case of the State of Florida v. Brenton Leonard Butler highlights these startlingly pervasive disparities. A black man committed a violent armed robbery and murder of a white tourist, Mary Ann Stephens, while she visited a local hotel. Mr. Stephens, the only witness and the husband of the victim, identified Brenton Butler, a young black man “lawfully going about [his] own business, not doing anything wrong [who was] stopped and asked to get in a police car” as the murderer (Murder on a Sunday Morning). During questioning, Officer Martin, the police officer who detained

As such, the accused’s life hangs in the balance of a few words and actions presented by young, vengeful women. Rebecca Nurse, reputed as a woman with “a character so high” that the town would have compunction accusing her, faces charges of “the marvelous and supernatural murder of Goody Putnam’s babies” (24, 67). Salem’s villagers create a petition to save her, but a review of her case later condemns Rebecca to death. John Proctor persuades Mary Warren to attend court and testify against Abigail, but spectral evidence undermines the testimony: “Oh, Mary, this is a black art to change your shape...Her claws, she’s stretching her claws!” (107). The witchcraft trials in Salem relied on evidence not perceivable or otherwise provable. Abigail conjures visions and supernatural circumstances to foster hysteria among the villagers. With immaterial evidence widely accepted by the court, and numerous people already executed, Judge Danforth and Judge Hathorne, who preside over the trials, refuse to believe anything that would overturn previous verdicts. However, in Jacksonville, Florida, unlike, Salem, Massachusetts, physical evidence retains more merit than statements made by those in questioning. The interpretation of this evidence by the jury defines the fate of Brenton Butler. Therefore, the capacity of