‘The Crucible’ attacks the poor balance of power we are surrounded by in society today. We are shown how much affect a single entity can have on a society, if they define what beliefs people live by. During the Salem witch trials, religion was the answer to everything that people didn’t understand. Therefore ministers and priests were the only ones who were “qualified” to interpret the rules of religion and God. Nobody could have been more powerful than them in Salem, as nobody would dare question the voice of God. To this very day, many people are afraid to question the views of there religion. For example the Catholic Churches views on abortion.
The story illustrates how peoples react to mass hysteria, as people did in the McCarthy hearings during the 1950’s. Many Americans were wrongly accused of being communist or communist sympathisers just as the early English settlers were accused of being witches or being involved with witchcraft.
Throughout the play it is evident that the society is becoming increasingly more divided, with the ‘social outcasts’ being picked off first, and then individuals getting revenge: Abigail trying to get John Proctor back and arguments over land between villagers. They start to use it as a personal form of disposing of people they don’t like, shrouded under the excuse of performing Gods work. After living in a society with such high religious beliefs and rigid rules it is a vent for lots of pent up anger collected over the years that cant, under normal circumstances, be show. Lots of the characters under go personal development: for example Reverend Hale, who at first is all to eager to ‘shout witch’ but in the end is very disbelieving. My personal belief is that the events are a testament of how people shouldn’t live in a social structure that is overly tight.
A crucible is a metal container in which metals are melted to extract their pure element from the impurities. This can easily be linked to the play: first witches supposedly boil potions in cauldrons and a synonym for cauldron is crucible. Secondly, it has a metaphorical meaning: the society of Salem is being heated and stirred in an attempt to remove the impurities and leave only the pure members of the society. An artificial Noah’s Ark, as it were, however this plan backfires some.
Act 1 mainly revolves around Abigail and the girls being caught dancing in the woods. The drinking of blood is supposedly a charm to kill Elizabeth Proctor. Abigail wants to be with Proctor after Elizabeth kicked her out for having an affair with Proctor:
“I know that you clutched my back out side your house and sweated like a stallion when ever I come near, or did I dream that? It is she put me out, you cannot pretend it were you. I saw your face when she put me out. You loved me then and you do now!” - Abigail
Proctor is fighting an internal conflict; we know that on one side he wants to be with Abigail because:
“[Looking at Abigail now, the faintest suggestion of a knowing smile on his face]” - Stage direction
But we also know that he feels very guilty about Elizabeth:
“I mean to please you Elizabeth” - Proctor
However, he does tell Abigail that he wants nothing more to do with her:
“Abby, I may have thought of you softly from time to time. But I will cut off my hand before I reach for you again. Wipe it out of mind. We never touched Abby.” - Proctor
All the time this encounter has been in occurrence, sexual tension is building in the audience. They are also learning about Proctors and anti-hero characteristics. We learn that his name is not entirely white. He is not perfect, and the same applies to most of the characters, they all have good and bad points. I think there are two important points here. One is that Abigail is trying to seduce Proctor with seductive language, and two: Betty is only pretending to be inert. She would have heard all of this, and that is most likely the reason behind her getting up and trying to jump out of the window.
Also in Act 1 Abigail threatens marry Warren, Betty and the other girls against telling anyone anything:
“Let any of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you… and you know I can do it… I can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down” - Abigail
It is here that we learn just how aggressive and manipulative that Abigail really is. She was trying to manipulate Proctor and now she is being extremely aggressive and even explicit towards the girls.
We can tell that this is a frantic and tense moment on stage by the over average use of exclamation marks and use of short sentences. We can also see physical violence from Abigail as she violently shakes Betty around. Visually this would be interesting for the audience, creating both anger and tension. There is contrast in the loud violence of this moment to the quiet seduction from Abigail before.
Act 2 contrasts from the end of Act 1, in the fact that it is a calm and peaceful scene, over the loud fear-driven hysteria of the end of Act 1. Proctor comes home from ‘seeding’ his farm late at night, and he sits down to eat, with Elizabeth.
From the general feel of the scene we can gather that the common room of Proctors house is cold, empty and unwelcoming. This parallels with the relationship between John and Elizabeth. There’s is a great amount of tension between the pair, and they idly make chit-chat at the table, as they feel they need to:
“Proctor: Pray now for a good summer.
Elizabeth: Aye”
It should be noted that it is Proctor who is trying to make conversation; Elizabeth is spoiling his attempts with one-word answers. Proctor is feeling frustrated because Elizabeth is not acknowledging that Proctor is trying his hardest to repair the relationship. He is forever claiming his desire to please Elizabeth:
“I mean to please you Elizabeth.” - Proctor
I believe that the audience would to be getting frustrated with Elizabeth not forgiving him. The tension in the audience would also rise, due to the complete lack of any sexual tension.
Arthur Millers ‘The Crucible’ raised issues that were as relevant in the 1950’s as they were today. The idea of conformity will always exist. People who define this ideologies and beliefs by which groups of people live will always exist. As will accusations made towards one group from another group, to solve their problem, or help their cause. Arthur Millers play took on some very strong issues, that are still relevant to date, it is one that cannot be ignored because of Millers ability to touch issues and themes that have plagued mankind all through history, and will continue to do so in the future.
