Salem in 1692 is portrayed to be a bitter place. A place of old grudges between neighbours and untold secrets. Weather this is historically correct is another matter, but the information that Miller gathered when researching the witch trials in 1692 certainly suggests this. Salem is a small town in Massachusetts and records suggest that at a point in that year some girls fell ill. Because of the highly religious background and community often illness and unknown disease was unnatural and often blamed on the devil or supernatural causes. Because the village bore so many grudges and secrets these where used in an angry bombardment of accusation among the people of the village. By the time that the fever and illness had subsided in late 1692 many people where imprisoned and many hanged for witchcraft and the illness of the girls. The theme of hysteria runs throughout this period as it did during the Cold War and the rise against communism. Many people confessed although they where innocent just to save themselves. This in the long run added to the image of a community with many people plotting against the state and so added to the hysteria. In Salem this was partly the case although there was much more sense of religion and morals and people would not confess because it was not the right thing to do in the eyes of their God. Miller has emphasized this maybe as he may have wanted this idea to touch the people of America at the time the play was written.
Miller portrays ‘witches’ in a way of them being like any other person. This gives the ‘witches’ a great sense of innocence. Around that time there where other plays such as Macbeth which illustrates witches as different from other people they have physical features that make them stand out, and their voice and way of movement also reflects them as ‘witches’
The historical accuracy of the play is on the whole pretty accurate. The records of the trials are still kept in Salem today. There is some symbolism in order to not have so many characters, for example there would have been many more judges present in the court but they are symbolised and their points of view are condensed into the judges Danforth, Hale and Hathorne. Abigail’s age has been raised and Johns lowered so that the affair would be a believable addition to the plot. Most of the characters have been developed by Arthur Miller only some information has been gathered through records such as letters and trial descriptions.
Nowadays The Crucible is still told and rein acted in various different forms and methods. It still can be relevant to some of the situations in everyday life. Although McCarthyism and Salem Witch trials are quite big historical events some of the issues and morals in The Crucible can be personal and touching. The idea of false accusation is one that still happens today, although it is something that is not easily downtrodden in court peoples lives are affected by being falsely accused of a crime or situation. This can happen on a large scale for example in a court of law, or on a small scale between friends or relatives. Hysteria is another theme running throughout the crucible. This applies to today and peoples ways of dealing with a situation or accusation. If many people cannot cope or are scared by a situation this can result to false confessions or something that could be regretted in the future.
The crucible is portrayed with mostly historical accuracy onstage, within the language, costume, characterisation, plot and subplot, although it could be conveyed in a much more modernised way, through different uses of costume and different acting techniques.
If I where to re create The Crucible as my own play I would make it very minimalist, with the setting plain and simple, but the acting very thorough and real. Although this would mean the play was not as realistic visually, the acting and dialogue would be noticed much more and some of the ideas and themes would hopefully hit the audience with greater impact. Another approach could be to stick rigidly to what is written and research into the context of the play. The costume and setting would relate to what would have been at the time of the trial, this would add to the genre of realism.