Focusing on Act 3, to what extent is 'The Crucible' by Arthur Miller an attack on elements of society?

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Focusing on Act 3, to what extent is ‘The Crucible’ by

Arthur Miller an attack on elements of society?

        Arthur Miller wrote a play called ‘The Crucible’ in the early 50s. Even though the text in the play tells the story of some of The Salem Witch Trials, there is evidence which shows that Miller clearly connects his own communist trial by McCarthy to the outrageous trials of the witches. Due to this disgraceful act towards him from the powers within society, Miller decided to write a play to show his own perspective of 1950s society to the people of America.  

        The setting of Act 3 can be interpreted as an attack on the severity of the authorities in Salem and 1950s America. Firstly, at the beginning of Act Three, the stage direction says ‘two high windows’. This stage direction is really used just for directors to have a good impression of what the stage should look like from Miller’s point of view. However, if you examine the whole stage directions carefully, it says that besides the sunlight, the whole room is dark and that the trials are being held in that room. This symbolises that the authorities of Salem are unjust because they believe that what they is doing is holy and just; but they are secretly hiding away from God. The darkness symbolised by the dark room and the light given off by the window, shows that God is present and that they cannot hide from him. The windows being high suggests that God and justice are very hard to reach. This shows that for authority in society to truly reach the holy and just state of existence that they desire, they still have a long way to go. This relates to Miller’s experience because he was trying to say that America in 1950s was just as corrupt as the witch trials in 1692, therefore saying that since 1692 until 1950 society hasn’t moved on to be more fair or more just. Miller’s attack suggests that there is still a long way to go until society can be truly called fair.

        Secondly, the way Miller has set out some of the characters such as their language or their tone of voice is also an attack on society. I think this is due to the impressions given off by the characters that most people would usually interpret them as being good people, but Miller shows that they are not. One example is Judge Hathorne. On page sixty-seven he asks Martha how she knows that she is ‘not a witch’ , this shows that he is trying to trick her in saying the things he wants her to. This shows us that for Hathorne to get what he wants he has to stoop down to a level of trickery, which is very low for a person of his status. This symbolises the fact that the authority are being hypocritical because they do what they are trying to rid society from doing - sinful deeds. This point connects with the McCarthy trials of Miller because Judge McCarthy also had to stoop so low, by using threats. Miller had the choice of either naming names or get ruined.

        Thirdly, I believe that the way some of the people dress also shows how Miller attacks society.  This is because Miller wanted us to know how power can corrupt us so he indicated all the sinful people by the clothes they wore and also their clothes showed us how much power they had. One example is again Judge Hathorne. I say this because in the courtroom Hathorne acts as he please due to his awareness that nobody in the court could overthrow him. Miller uses this to try and show the audience how power can cause people to act and abuse it, and even more so if it is supported by everyone in society agreeing with everything Hathorne had to say. Thus showing us that power can be used inefficiently if given to the wrong people. This is a link to Arthur Miller’s personal experience in the McCarthy trial because he believed that Judge McCarthy let his power get in the way of fairness and justice. The people of America supported McCarthy just like the people of Salem. In the play Miller exposes society’s role in helping to condemn people by showing Parris supporting Hathorne. Miller shows that this fed Hathorne’s ego even more, and therefore Miller seemed to believe that McCarthy was an incompetent person because he abused his power just like Judge Hathorne. This is an attack on society because Miller is saying that society should be even more careful about giving so much power to someone who didn’t deserve it. Also he encourages society to consider what they were doing before giving support to someone unworthy and boosting their ego.

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        This courtroom scene presents innocent characters risking their lives in order to tell the truth seems to be an attack on the injustice of Salem as well as of 1950s America. We know this because there is much evidence in this scene to back the point up. One piece of evidence is the statement made by Hale on page seventy-eight where he says there is a ‘prestigious fear’ in the court. This shows that Hale can see that some injustice is going on and is scared of it. Then when Hale tells Danforth that he is afraid, Danforth replies that ...

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