What Miller tells us about Christian society in ‘the crucible.’

This is a brief summary of 'The crucible'.

The play takes place in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692. A group of girls from the village were dancing in the woods where they were seen by Rev. Paris who is Abby's uncle. According to the reverend they were circling round a fire and one girl was naked.

When the curtain raises you can see a room where Betty Parris is lying inert on her bed with her father praying by her side. On the other side of town Ruth Putnam is the same. It's all a game to the girls but they don't know just how deadly a game it is. When no cure can be found for the mystery illness that has struck the girls, the village soon comes to the conclusion of witchcraft for the cause. When the reverend Hale arrives many people believe that their suspicions have been proved right and that it is defiantly witchcraft that has taken the girls. As the play progresses Abby becomes the most important person in the village, anyone she accuses they are sent to the court and convicted of witchcraft. As time goes by Abby becomes feared and hated by the people of the village. In the end Abby runs away but still her work continues until at the end of the play you hear the beat of the drum. As they prepare to execute proctor, Martha Corey and Rebecca nurse.

Money is a big issue in the play. Every one wants more and they always try to get things and possessions. Rev. Parris for example used to be a merchant in Barbados where he got his slave, Tituba. He was a rich merchant and it seems he was sad and reluctant to give up his life of splendor. When Hale is talking to proctor and his wife it comes up that Parris wanted golden candle sticks for the church instead of the plain pewter ones that the church had always had. Rev. Parris also wants the deed to the house in which he lives which is very irregular as a reverend only lives in the house it is actually owned by the church or the community in which it is situated. Rev. Parris gets paid £60 a year plus an extra £6 for firewood. Which was a lot of money in that day but still he takes the £6 as part of his wages and then demands that he be given the firewood for free and that he be paid more.

In the courtroom there is another example of money and wealth in the way that people are judged. An example of this is where Giles Corey is introducing Proctor he says ' This is John Proctor he owns 600 cares'

This refers to how much land Proctor owns. In this town you are respected more according to how much land you have and how wealthy you are. This shows when people were being accused. In the beginning when the first people are being accused they pick on the people who are old and have very little money or land. Near the end of the play Abby steals £31 from Parris before she runs away and the guard who is meant to be watching Proctor is willing to accept a bribe for his release, offered by Abby on her way to the docks.

Thomas Putnam wants more land and to get it he makes his daughter accuse all their neighbors so he can buy their land at auction. Ruth Putnam accuses people like Rebecca Nurse's husband who are completely defenseless just so as her father can buy their land and get more money. Rev. Parris wants the deed, he wants a pay-rise, he wants gold and he wants things that he does not need but wants every thing he can get. Abby wants power, and she gets it. She has the power to send people to their death if she wants she also has the power to get the rest of the girls to do as she says and the rest of the time to shut up and not tell any one what is really going on. Every one in the village is greedy they all have a want for something that is not needed and they all want more of it. Abby also wants proctor but that is the one thing she cannot have.

Hypocrisy plays a big part in the crucible. Right from the start you find out that Goody Putnam is using Tituba to talk to her dead babes but all through the rest of the play there is no more mention of Goody Putnam's dealings although her husband goes around accusing other people in the village but not his wife who had actually been practicing witchcraft. The other people who had been playing at witchcraft were the girls who are believed to be the victims and then turn in to the main accusers but even when it comes to light that they were dancing in the woods around a fire they are never accused of any thing. This is strange, as the girls had done more wrong than most of the accused put together. The hypocrisy is not only in the witch-hunt but they go against their own religion as well. The people of Salem and especially Rev. Parris are supposed to be Christians but if they were true to this then they would believe it wrong to have slaves but Rev. Parris has Tituba who he brought with him from Barbados, and he beats her, which must go against what he himself is preaching in church. On Sunday there is a two-man patrol that goes around the village to make sure that the people are in church and not working. This seems to be wrong because if these people were firmly devoted to their religion then they would be in church and they would not have to be forced to go. The men who are on patrol are also not in church but that does not seem to be the same even though it could be seen as work.

The people in Salem have a surpassing lack of reason and logic they go along with any thing. Proctor shows a lot of deductive logic when he asks for the proof of witchcraft when nearly everyone is being accused. When proctor asks for the proof Danforth gives him a long speech about how he sees the situation and how it is best to take action this goes on to eventually say ' In an ordinary crime, how does one defend the accused? One calls up witnesses to prove his innocence. But witchcraft is ipso facto, on it's face an invisible crime, is it not?'

By this he means that no one can see the crime to defend the accused. He then goes on to say ' Therefore, who may possibly be witness to it? The witch and the victim none other. Now we cannot hope that the witch will accuse herself; granted? Therefore, we must rely upon her victims - and they do testify, the children certainly do testify' so he is saying that as no has seen anything the girls must be telling the truth because they are the victims. Hale is the only other man in the village who is looking for the reason and the truth. So when hale can find no reason in what the court is doing he denounces the proceedings and will no longer have anything to do with the judges. By the time hale quits the court there is no stopping them they just keep convicting people until they even arrest Proctor.

When you read the play or watch it being performed you never see any one actually being hanged but at the end of the play there is a drum beat as they prepare to hang Proctor and the others on trial. Abby speaks of some bloody goings on when she speaks of how her parents heads were smashed by Indians while she was in the same bed as them. Abby uses these images to scare and threaten the other girls but it also gives you a window into her past to see why she is the way she is. Abby also drinks a charm of chicken blood to kill Goody Proctor so that she can have her husband. Abby is the center of most of the bloods goings on and she causes the bloodthirsty attitude of the people in Salem to escalate to the extent where if anything happens then the person who is nearest at the time would be accused of witchcraft. This happens even if it is something that could easily happen like some fire wood falling over or a fire burning too brightly. All through the play the people are looking for a scapegoat to blame everything on and that is what they do.

My conclusion of the play is that through the crucible Miller can put forth his views about religion and the communist hunt that was going on. Miller also can make people start to agree with the way he is thinking but he does it subtlety so that you don't notice that you are starting to think slightly differently. The practice of turning people in to scapegoats is used throughout the play and what Miller does is to bring out the worst in people but to also to have some people who rise to the occasion and perform brilliantly even under great pressure. There are also the people like Giles Corey who through their actions remain the heroes until the end.