Examples Of Human Diversity In The Crucible

The Crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller, reenacts the events of The Witchcraft Trials of Salem in seventeenth-century Massachusetts, an event that many people were labeled witches to which were prosecuted. Within the community, it was alarming that anyone can be convicted with just an accusation. This was similar to McCarthyism, an event during the 1950s initiated by Joseph McCarthy where many people were accused with severe consequence. Throughout The Crucible, it illustrates examples of McCarthyism because people were biased on how they assume one's guilt.

In the beginning of the play, when Hale was introduced it was clear that he follows the books. He believes the innocent will be saved and the people that sin will suffer consequences. In act two of The Crucible, Hale goes to the Proctor’s household to figure out why

In the play, “The Crucible,” there is a series of changes among some of the characters. One of the characters that has change is Reverend Hale. Reverend Hale is the “spiritual doctor” that is needed in Salem to help solve the problem of witchcraft. Hale has strong beliefs in witchcraft, but by the end his whereabouts begin to change. No one but Hale has different thoughts about the witchcraft in Salem.

“Evil hiding among us is an ancient theme” (John Carpenter). Throughout human history, harsh themes have surfaced time and time again. Within society, these subjects appear daily. In fact, in literature authors include these topics to provide further engagement for the reader. Among the themes displayed in Arthur Miller's The Crucible, the most pertinent of which are human weakness, displayed by John Proctor, vindictiveness, by Abigail Williams, and hypocrisy demonstrated by Danforth.

In The Crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller in 1953, the character Reverend Hale seemed to be the only one with his head screwed on straight. While the whole town was buzzing about witchcraft, Hale knew his boundaries when it came to religious beliefs. When he was called to town as a spiritual doctor, no matter what was happening in court, he made his opinion clear. Reverend Hale was the most reasonable out of the bunch, but his honesty also lead him to be vulnerable.

Mexican Americans, Japanese Americans, all Undocumented Immigrants, the gay community and many more stereotypical groups of people are discriminated against whether it’s based on race or a lifestyle that they live in in this world filled with fear and hatred. Multiple groups of people were targeted in different decades of time, for example, chinese laborers in the 1910’s, mexican americans in the the 1930’s, communists in the 1950’s, the gay community in 1980’s and most recently, undocumented immigrants in the 2010’s. All of these moments of judgement and hatred to these groups, are used as allusions to plays that are made and to movies that are directed. One of the most famous plays, written in 1953, is The Crucible by Arthur MIller. This

Even with the play’s puritan disguise Miller was still sent on trial for suspicion of communism. If “The Crucible” had been written at another time it probably would not have gained much interest and there would not have been something to bring people to the realization that McCarthy’s accusations and methods were really somewhat uncalled for. Both the Salem Trials and McCarthyism were cause by the spread of something that created fear and paranoia and allowed chaos and revenge to take

At the beginning of the play, the girls get caught dancing in the woods which is against Puritan law. Knowing they will be whipped for dancing and being questioned by Reverend Hale for speaking with the Devil, Abigail decides to conjure a lie stating “I never called him! Tituba, Tituba… She makes me drink blood… She sends her spirit on me in church; she makes me laugh at prayer!”

When Reverend Hale evaluates Betty at Parris’s house, some of the girls reluctantly confess to doing a ritual in the woods. People instantly assume that the ritual is the cause of Betty's strange behavior, and Tituba is seen as the culprit. Tituba immediately confesses her sin, and Hale, who was leading the accusation against her, praised her for confessing: “You are selected, Tituba, you are chosen to help us cleanse our village,” (Miller 46). Hale firmly believes that Salem is under attack by witches, and that the town needs cleansing. A person from the era of the Red Scare would read this and believe that Reverend Hale is right to jump to the conclusion of reasoning.

Hale expresses that he must establish rules to correctly prosecute witchcraft. Although the similarities between the two versions of Hale are apparent, so are the differences. It appears at the beginning of The Crucible, Hale believes that he can do no wrong. He is certain that his ways of discovering witchcraft are set in stone and “holy”. When he does change his views on the persecution of witchcraft, he does not apologize for his previous, cruel rulings.

Soon after the release of his play critics began to notice the allegorical nature of the play. It was released in a time when the paranoia and hysteria was very relevant. It was dealt with by people regularly. Miller comments though that the reality of the situation was that The Red Scare was almost a more serious event in his mind. “Inevitably, it was no sooner known that my new play was about Salem than I had to confront the charge that such an analogy was specious -- that there never were any witches but there certainly are Communists.(Miller, Why I wrote The Crucible)” Miller was guilty of egocentrism.

The crucible portrays injustice by how Danforth is not following court that is ruled by religion. Evidence that shows that it's injustice is when Reverend Hale asks Elizabeth "Do you know your commandments Elizabeth?"(Miller 496). Hale is asking her this to test

Throughout history the fear of corruption and change has compelled people to go to drastic measures to prevent it. The Crucible, a play by arthur Miller, is set in an environment of religious citizens who fear that the devil and witchcraft will corrupt their society. Much like The Crucible, McCarthyism caused the citizens in America to fear corruption of the government by communism. Arthur Miller used his play the crucible as a direct response to McCarthyism and through this play Miller writes about the Salem witch trials during the McCarthy period to comment on how history repeats itself. The social and political factors in The Crucible resemble those in America during the red scare and McCarthyism.

They also believed that people weren’t born witches but they were approached by the Devil to come to be with him. In The Crucible, Reverend Hale serves as a conscience of Salem, first supporting, then being unsure of, and then finally opposing the Witch Trials at different times, depending on his view of their purpose and legitimacy. At the beginning of the play, Reverend Hale first supports the Witch Trials. On page 33, the Author states about Hale, “On being called here to ascertain witchcraft he felt the pride of the specialist whose unique knowledge has at last been publicly called for.”

Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible in 1953, as a response to McCarthyism, which is, in general, accusing people of crimes with little to no proof. It ran rampant through the United States during the Second Red Scare through the early 1950s (exactly when Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible). In The Crucible, Miller juxtaposes the leaders, who rationally think for themselves, and the followers, who believe what everybody else believes, through irony, imagery, and denotation. The Crucible is riddled with irony, and Arthur Miller utilizes situational and dramatic irony to show the difference between followers and leaders.