What does The Crucible tell a reader conflict?
The Crucible can be used to explore a number of key ideas relevant to the Context: Encountering Conflict.
The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is a play that deals with conflicts involved in the Salem witch trials of 1692. The characters in Miller’s theocratic society are not only in conflict with their environment, the ‘barbaric frontier’, but with each other and their religious authority. Written in the 1950s the play is an allegory and the events it describes have strong parallels with the House of UnAmerican Activities Committee (HUAC) led by Senator Joe McCarthy, who conducted ‘witch-hunts’ (campaigns to find or investigate people considered to be unorthodox or disloyal) to expose communists or communist sympathisers. Miller expected to be called before this committee and was blacklisted for refusing to name names. Miller drew parallels between the witch-hunts in Salem and modern America to explore conflict and present his point
of view about freedom of the individual within a society run autocratically.
Arthur Miller’s allegorical play draws on real historical events – the Salem witch-hunts of the 17th century – and was written in response to the disturbing contemporary phenomenon known as ‘McCarthyism’. In the early 1950s, the United States was at the height of the Cold War. This was an undeclared war of suspicion and espionage against Communism in general and the Soviet Union in particular. Communism, as an ideology, was hated and feared. In 1950, the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee was established to flush out the ‘Communist menace’ and condemn those who ‘threatened’ the American way of life. Senator Joseph McCarthy presided over the Committee for four years and hunted down his victims with ruthless, almost religious, fervour.
This conflict between the individual and the state was paralleled in 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts, where the events of the play occur. The accusations of a group of children resulted in the jailing of hundreds of innocent people. Motivation for these accusations ranged from genuine mass hysteria to malicious self-importance. As a result, twenty people were hanged. The Puritanical theocracy that ruled the new colony took the notion of witchcraft seriously, and quite literally. Their fear of the Devil and all his works instigated a fanatical pursuit of those perceived to be in his thrall. Just as ‘Communists’ were targeted three hundred years later by the authorities, so too were ‘witches’ hunted down and coerced into confessing their association with the Devil. They were also expected to denounce others who had been similarly corrupted. Those who resisted were assumed to be guilty. Miller’s characters in The Crucible are based on real individuals and his hero, John Proctor, was one of the victims of the state’s vendetta against the forces of darkness.
In Miller’s play, conflict occurs in an insular society obsessed with sin and damnation. The people of Salem have a propensity to judge others harshly and to feed off the shortcomings of their neighbours. The Massachusetts theocracy enforces its moral expectations on the populace with a heavy hand. The outcome is a battle between state and individual, which leads to the unwarranted victimisation of many harmless people and the ultimate destruction of the theocracy itself.
Miller’s play is a condemnation of an administration that uses religious intolerance as a way to wield control and repress its citizens. The implications of this confrontation for the individual are truly frightening. Miller argued that ‘the sin of public terror is that it divests man of conscience, of himself’. He also noted that such ‘public terror’ requires compliance from those whom the state seeks to repress. Neither McCarthyism nor the Salem witch-hunts could have flourished in their respective communities had there not been the underlying sense that Communists and witches represented legitimate threats. The authorities, therefore, felt they were well within their rights to fight these dangerous forces. Both the citizens of Salem and Americans of the 1950s were victims of ‘a new subjective reality’, which redefined previous boundaries and expectations. Nevertheless, through characters like John Proctor and Rebecca Nurse, Miller demonstrates that it is possible for those with integrity and a strong sense of self to resist the tide.
Equally, the text suggests that if individuals are unwilling to challenge a corrupt authority and oppose injustice, then genuine, lasting damage will be done to a society. Proctor’s reaction to the conflict he encounters not only establishes what he stands for, but also crystallises the true nature of the crisis that confronts Salem.
- Conflict between the individual and the state: Salem’s ruling theocracy forces citizens to deny their consciences and perjure themselves in order to save their own lives. The majority comply, but a few resist.
- Conflict with the self:John Proctor’s dilemma is compounded by his personal sense of guilt, arising out of his relationship with Abigail Williams. This affects the way in which he reacts in his public life.
The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is a play that deals with conflicts involved in the Salem witch trials of 1692. The characters in Miller’s theocratic society are not only in conflict with their environment, the ‘barbaric frontier’, but with each other and their religious authority. Written in the 1950s the play is an allegory and the events it describes have strong parallels with the House of UnAmerican Activities Committee (HUAC) led by Senator Joe McCarthy, who conducted ‘witch-hunts’ (campaigns to find or investigate people considered to be unorthodox or disloyal) to expose communists or communist sympathisers. Miller expected to be called before this committee and was blacklisted for refusing to name names. Miller drew parallels between the witch-hunts in Salem and modern America to explore conflict and present his point
of view about freedom of the individual within a society run autocratically.
Arthur Miller’s allegorical play draws on real historical events – the Salem witch-hunts of the 17th century – and was written in response to the disturbing contemporary phenomenon known as ‘McCarthyism’. In the early 1950s, the United States was at the height of the Cold War. This was an undeclared war of suspicion and espionage against Communism in general and the Soviet Union in particular. Communism, as an ideology, was hated and feared. In 1950, the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee was established to flush out the ‘Communist menace’ and condemn those who ‘threatened’ the American way of life. Senator Joseph McCarthy presided over the Committee for four years and hunted down his victims with ruthless, almost religious, fervour.
This conflict between the individual and the state was paralleled in 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts, where the events of the play occur. The accusations of a group of children resulted in the jailing of hundreds of innocent people. Motivation for these accusations ranged from genuine mass hysteria to malicious self-importance. As a result, twenty people were hanged. The Puritanical theocracy that ruled the new colony took the notion of witchcraft seriously, and quite literally. Their fear of the Devil and all his works instigated a fanatical pursuit of those perceived to be in his thrall. Just as ‘Communists’ were targeted three hundred years later by the authorities, so too were ‘witches’ hunted down and coerced into confessing their association with the Devil. They were also expected to denounce others who had been similarly corrupted. Those who resisted were assumed to be guilty. Miller’s characters in The Crucible are based on real individuals and his hero, John Proctor, was one of the victims of the state’s vendetta against the forces of darkness.
In Miller’s play, conflict occurs in an insular society obsessed with sin and damnation. The people of Salem have a propensity to judge others harshly and to feed off the shortcomings of their neighbours. The Massachusetts theocracy enforces its moral expectations on the populace with a heavy hand. The outcome is a battle between state and individual, which leads to the unwarranted victimisation of many harmless people and the ultimate destruction of the theocracy itself.
Miller’s play is a condemnation of an administration that uses religious intolerance as a way to wield control and repress its citizens. The implications of this confrontation for the individual are truly frightening. Miller argued that ‘the sin of public terror is that it divests man of conscience, of himself’. He also noted that such ‘public terror’ requires compliance from those whom the state seeks to repress. Neither McCarthyism nor the Salem witch-hunts could have flourished in their respective communities had there not been the underlying sense that Communists and witches represented legitimate threats. The authorities, therefore, felt they were well within their rights to fight these dangerous forces. Both the citizens of Salem and Americans of the 1950s were victims of ‘a new subjective reality’, which redefined previous boundaries and expectations. Nevertheless, through characters like John Proctor and Rebecca Nurse, Miller demonstrates that it is possible for those with integrity and a strong sense of self to resist the tide.
Equally, the text suggests that if individuals are unwilling to challenge a corrupt authority and oppose injustice, then genuine, lasting damage will be done to a society. Proctor’s reaction to the conflict he encounters not only establishes what he stands for, but also crystallises the true nature of the crisis that confronts Salem.