The Crucible Theme

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The Crucible is a movie that tells the tale of the salem witch trials, and is based off of the play by the same name by Arthur Miller. Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible during the time of the ‘Red Scare’ as a warning of what could happen when suspicion clouds the judgement and rationality of the people. The setting of the film is Salem Massachusetts in 1692. In this time period the government was the church, and the laws were set by the bible. The film takes place during the Salem Witch Trials. Knowing about the time period around the Salem Witch Trials, and how towns and villages were run, allows for watchers to understand how the witch trials, no matter how absurd it may seem, happened. The movie starts out with the Salem girls sneaking …show more content…

The town and the judges do not care who has been accused, once a person is they a thrown in jail to either confess, or hang. Judge Danforth, Reverend Parris, and a couple others, are so worried about tarnishing their reputation that they continue on with the hangings, after they begin to doubt the girls. Reverend Hale tries to save his reputation by removing himself from the trials, and John Proctor dies to protect his name. The girls, especially Abigail Williams, feel empowered by the witch trials, and that allows them to continue on with their farce. Another one of the themes is the never ending battle between good vs. evil. The characters in the film who believe that they are doing good, are the ones ending lives, and …show more content…

The dominant ideology that the film follows is that the bible is right, and anyone who denounces it has signed the devil’s book. The majority of Salam follows this, and when the girls start talking about people being witches, the town listens to them, and praises them. Meanwhile at the same time, the town is hanging people who they used to see as saints. At the same time the character of John Proctor allows for the critiquing of this same ideology. Proctor sees the problems with how the problem is dealing with the accusations of

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