The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is set in Salem, Massachusetts, in the year 1692. This was a time in which the belief in witchcraft was rife. It follows the story of how a group of girls claim to see the devil, in order to escape prosecution themselves. However this situation snowballs and the girls end up prosecuting a series of innocent people.
Religious attitudes were one of the factors that influenced people’s decision to believe the girls’ accusations. People were expected to follow a strict code of belief, anyone who did not follow this, or expressed an opinion against this, were seen as against the church and therefore, a witch. Hale says “Theology, sir, is a fortress; no crack in a fortress may be accounted small”. The people took a rather literal view of the Old Testament and relied upon it to explain much that was unknown: “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live” (Exodus 22:18).
Land, pride and wealth were a big factor in the time that the play was set. These conflicts created personal differences which often resulted in accusations in real life and within the play. There were many personal differences within the play, the most obvious one being between Abigail and Elizabeth Proctor – Abigail is in love with Elizabeth Proctor’s husband, John, and therefore wants Elizabeth dead so she can have him. Elizabeth resents this and is determined to get Abigail out of their lives.
Another conflict is the Putnam and the Nurse families. The Nurses had established their own township outside Salem, thus splitting the community into factions. Mrs Putnam resents the fact that Rebecca Nurse has a healthy family whereas all of her children died at childbirth.
When the girls were caught dancing and casting spells in the woods, they face prosecution and the death sentence for witchcraft. They decide to invent stories, that they were possessed by another person, to save themselves. This leads to many people dying as a result of this. Reverend Parris is ready to see the hand of the devil in the sickness of his daughter, rather than bring public disgrace on his house through the misbehaviour of his daughter and niece. The girls continue to lie in order to save themselves, the townspeople believe them as they are convincing, it is also because they want to believe them.
Vanity and Pride also plays a major part in this belief. The reverends and ministers refuse to accept that they are wrong, and that the devil plays no part in the wrong doings of the church. The devil was a much easier explanation to all crimes, and was almost impossible to prove yourself innocent. Danforth and Hathorne are an obvious example of this vanity – their pride does not let them believe that they had been manipulated and fooled by a group of girls, therefore they back them and dismiss allegations against them.
Abigail is also overcome by vanity; she convinces herself that if she has Goody Proctor executed, John Proctor will marry her. Proctor notices this and calls her a “lump of vanity.” She also threatens Danforth, saying “Let you beware, Mr Danforth. Think you be so mighty that the power of Hell may not turn your wits?”
To conclude, I believe that the girls are believed because of a combination of all of these factors, leading to one main factor – convenience. Witchery was a convenient way to solve the ‘wrongdoings’ of the townspeople. People would also be accused because they are begrudged by another family. They believed the girls because they wanted to, they were afraid not to, encase they became accused. Once the amount of executions, who were accused by the girls, spiralled out of control, they became trusted and people believed what they said.
Once the executions had begun, it proved difficult for anyone involved to accept that a terrible mistake had been made; thousands of innocent lives were lost because of this.
