Why do you think Miller chose the title ‘The Crucible’ for the play?

As English

Why do you think Miller chose the title ‘The Crucible’ for the play?

A crucible is ‘a container in which metals are heated to extract the pure element from dross or impurities.’

When Arthur Miller first started to write The Crucible in was during the Mc Carthy era which was when the house Un-American Activities Committee was existence and had the power to ‘investigate any movement or person who apparently threatened the safety of the state’. Witnesses were brought to the committee to answer charges of that they were communist sympathizers and name those who had also been at the meetings that were held of criticizing the government and their instructions and admission of adherence to communism.

Two centuries before prior to the Mc Carthy era witchcraft trials had been taken place in the town of Salem and linked that the committee public confessions as parallel with the naming of names in Salem. Miller was part of the Mc Carthy era and had been summoned to the committee but had refused to give names of other that were involved in the meeting of communist writers ten years before. He was already interested in witchcraft trials and decided that he needed to write about that period with his own personal experience included in the character John Proctor as well as the real events.

During the course of the play you see that the definition of a crucible has relevance to the plot of the play but in a metaphorical way.

During the course of the play purity and cleansing is seen but not as metals being extracted from impurities but through certain characters and society that they live in.

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During the course of the play you see that the definition of a crucible has relevance to the plot of the play but in a metaphorical way.

During the course of the play purity and cleansing is seen but not as metals being extracted from impurities but through certain characters and society that they live in.

Abigail Williams is a scheming young child who has a lot of power within herself her community and the girls who are also involved in the witchcraft. She knows the trouble she causes and will sacrifice anyone to gain her own advantage or save her own skin. After having an affair with her employer John proctor and then being thrown out of out of the house when the affair was discovered she stills has strong physical desires for him and doesn’t feel no remorse and we could be lead to believe that she would like to take his wife’s Elizabeth’s place and insults him and his wife when he doesn’t want nothing to do with her.

“Oh, I marvel how such a strong young man may let a sickly wife be.”

She even “drank an charm to kill John Proctor’s wife!”

During the trial she knows that she was sending people to their death but little did it matter to her, she enjoyed the power that she had. She fooled the court by her convincing acts of that she was in a genuine trance and that had and effect on the judge.

Her influence and sense of control of the other girls are shown by marry Warren’s retraction, however is discredited by when she runs off with her uncle’s savings. This shows that she had no intentions of purifying herself and cleansing herself of all the misdoings that she has caused she was the one character through the play that did not change or try.

John Proctor is a forthright farmer, who tries to be a decent husband and citizen, but discover during the play that he had once had an affair with Abigail when she was a servant for him and his family. In the trial you see that Proctor’s wife Elizabeth has been one of the accused by Abigail. Before his wife was involved in the trial he didn’t have much to do with the trial, but then more people are accused and he feels that he owes it to his friends to expose that Abigail is a liar while coming to know of his wife becoming pregnant and in no immediate danger of being hanged, this shows of his loyalty towards his friends. He manages to persuade Mary warren to tell the truth but that falls through. He then faces then public shame to confessing adultery with Abigail and shows that he regrets it. However when the judge calls Elizabeth to confess what she knows she lies in order to protect her husband and his good name (this shows Elizabeth of her purity in the form of her devotion to her husband). Proctor is then told to confess by signing a paper in order to live and be able to raise his children. He finally agrees after signing the paper though he refuses to let the paper be hanged on the church with his name on. He is finally at peace with himself when he decides to die rather than give up his good name than admitting to witchcraft. He does this for the consequences of so that his children future reputation and others examples of his wife and their friend Rebecca Nurse who have refused to confess. He is purified in the ‘crucible’ of the stresses and temptations he is subjected to.

Reverend John Hale is like the outsider who has come in and tried to help with the trials. He comes in at first and shows off his skills by Tituba confessing and denouncing others to save themselves. He then talks with the Proctor’s and promises to speak up for them and their friends. Though when John is arrested he denounces the trial and leaves the court.

He tries to undo some harm by trying to get those on the death list to confess to save themselves, but they show him that they are truer to their faith than he is. He tries to do what is he thinks is right but have lead to a few mistakes but he has been able to admit to them so this shows him cleansing through the ‘crucible’ as to admitting to his faults.

Also the people who confessed to witchcraft to save themselves that they don’t have the will to fight for what they believe in but are being cleansed through the crucible of their purities as the pure element has been left to burn. Those who didn’t confess and are sentenced to death are purified in the ‘crucible’ as to they are staying with their faith and will die for their truth ness.

In trial of Salem the society in which they lived in. Society was high on religion and its faith and moral values so communities only had their religion to follow and had no sense of other issues it was all simply to do with everything was either right or wrong. Which lead to it being false in the sense that people judged other people on word of mouth and no hard evidence, which wasn’t a very religious thing to do.

So coming to “Why do you think Miller chose the title ‘The Crucible’ for the play? Is because all the relevance to the play sums up the definition of ‘crucible’ in some of the main characters and the society in which they live in and different forms of how people are cleansed and purified due to the way of how they live in their society and other people’s reaction and opinions. The main character who was purified in the ‘crucible’ is John Proctor because he stands against the most important things in his life his wife and children and still chooses to die for the sake of keeping his and his families name from shame by dieing for what he believed in.