Analysis Of The Crucible: The Patterns Of Society

The Patterns of Society
Throughout history literature has been a tool for mirroring, or contrasting present day society. It has been prevalent that literature be used in such a way, in order to create a better self awareness of the people in a society. With just the right amount of extreme portrayals, to the subtle, but intriguing criticisms found within a book’s cover, it enables readers in the multitude to understand how societies throughout the generations are all in some way connected. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, we can see how Miller creates this connection. He creates a world that seems far fetched, absurd. A world that really indeed existed in the late 1800’s. A world that oddly enough, is still not that far off from our own.

It demonstrated a time in which religion heavily influenced the law. It was also a time where burning people, or murdering them in the name of God was ridiculously common. Throughout the book, the theme associated with this time period can be seen quite clearly. If people were not of God, they were of the Devil, and if they were the latter, it required “heavenly punishment”. This rang true within real Puritan groups within the late 1800’s. The search for the Devil within their towns, and themselves consumed them. To contrast this way of thought, Miller created characters that felt conflict within themselves living in that sort of society. An example is when Proctor said, “Can you speak one minute without we land in Hell again? I am sick of Hell!” to which Parris responded, “ It is not for you to say what is good for you to hear!” To which Proctor finally proclaimed, “ I may speak my heart, I think!”. Act 1 This shows the constant battle people during this time period faced. It was a time where the minister had the right to assert religious authority over the people. It was not the collective ideal of the people to decide what God was, or wanted. It was a black and white battle of good and evil. The fear that drove the people, and gained the minister’s and religious leader’s power, was that the last thing the people wanted was to be on the wrong

During the Red Scare it had communities very much like in Puritan groups. They went under a lot of stress and hosted formal hearings during which members of these communities accused others of violating social standards. While these periods in history share many similarities, they were also distinctly different times that produced distinctly different consequences. While the Puritans had the mindset that people were being possessed with the Devil, the Red Scare dealt with the suspicion of Soviet Union Spies. These two different reasons of why to punish their people led to different ways of how they affected society as a whole. While it was more on accusation than proof when it came to the condemning of witches, there were in fact traitor Soviet Union spies. This caused a real tension throughout the world during this time period. However, when both periods ended, many accusers were filled with misgivings regarding decisions they made during the meltdown of these