Similarities Between The Scarlet Letter And The Crucible

The Crucible Related to Puritanism

During the late 1600’s, Salem, Massachusetts, there was a period of time where a society, known as the Puritans, created a hysteria of witchcraft and other satanic like fears. During this “witch trials” panic, just fewer than twenty people were killed due to the accusations of them being associated with witchcraft. These trials were unjust and there was no real way to determine whether the person was innocent or not, due to the defendant having to either confess publicly that they were associated with the devil or be hung on the towns scaffold. Two novels are associated with these events that took place during this time period, Arthur Miller’s, The Crucible and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, The Scarlet Letter. Both

books relate to this event in different ways, but The Crucible represents the Puritan culture more between the two due to the false accusations, corrupt judicial system, and association of the townspeople from Salem.
Puritanism originates back to the 1620’s from a descended branch of the sixteenth and seventeenth-century Protestants in England (Randall Puritanism). At first, all members in the puritan society were located in Europe. After “Finally a group of Separatist Puritans voyaged across the Atlantic Ocean on the Mayflower and established a colony in Plymouth, later to become known as New England. Around twenty years later, the Puritans bought up land in Massachusetts and originally were intended to become a religious experiment that would set an example to the English church and society. Eventually thousands of Puritans would migrate to this area, creating a society where laws were based off of not only legal and illegal terms but moral and immoral acts” (Gale The Puritans). Puritans looked down upon any act that could be interpreted as frivolous, immature, and were extremely strict about the word of the Bible. If a person were to disobey the word of the lord, they would be publicly punished varying from being scourged to death by hanging. Many punishments were inflicted upon a scaffold for all to see, not only physically harming the convict, but also publicly disgracing them. The Crucible does an excellent job showing how the Puritans lived during this era. While The Scarlet Letter focuses on two main characters committing one crime, The Crucible shows an entire town of people expressing the corrupted and dishonest hysteria that took over Salem, Massachusetts.
The witch trials of Salem did not last too long, in fact is was a mere four months; however that summer of 1962 was the most fraudulent season that Massachusetts ever encompassed.

Author Miller’s The Crucible has many scenes focusing on the false accusations of witchcraft throughout the townspeople. For example, in the back yard of the Paris’s house there is a conflict between Reverend Hale, Reverend Paris, Abigail Williams, and Tituba because of Abigail’s accusation against Tituba. The script starts when Hale asks, “You have sent your spirit out upon this child, have you not? Are you gathering souls for the Devil?” Then Abigail adds, ‘She sends her spirit on me in church; she makes me laugh at prayer!” Parris then supports her by saying, “She have often laughed at prayer! Abigail then further lies to Reverend when she states, “She comes to me every night to go and drink blood!” Tituba attempts to defend herself when she says, “You beg me to conjure! She beg me make charm.” Abigail cuts her claim off yelling, “Don't lie! (To Hale :) She comes to me while I sleep; she's always making me dream corruptions” (Miller Act 1). As you can see the accusations presented were very untruthful and without reason. Another instance of false accusations that occurs in The Crucible is when Elizabeth Proctor discusses to Proctor on what she believes Abigail is planning to do. She says to Proctor, "It is her dearest hope, I know it. There be a thousand names; why does she call mine? There be a certain danger in calling such a name—I am no Goody Good that sleeps in ditches, nor Osborn, drunk and half-witted. She’d dare not call out such a farmer’s wife but there be monstrous profit in it. She thinks to take my place, John."(Miller Act II). This quote shows how others in the community are concerned about the accusations that are being made and how they fear that they can be accused due to unjust and fraudulent

allegations.
Not only did the witch trials represent unjust and unreasonable accusations, but showed the corruption of the judicial system. There was no positive outcome for the defendants during the witch trials, for they either had to choose between either admitting they were associated with witchcraft and publicly smirches their name, or deny it and face death. Elizabeth Proctor exclaims this in Act II of The Crucible, “They'll hang if they'll not confess, John. The town's gone wild, I think. She speak of Abigail, and I thought she were a saint, to hear her. Abigail brings the other girls into the court, and where she walks the crowd will part like the sea for Israel. And folks are brought before them, and if they scream and howl and fall to the floor—the person's clapped in the jail for bewitchin' them” (Miller Act II). This scene shows not only the limited option the defendant has to choose from when accused, but also how anyone can be accused and more than likely will be found guilty if presented the right way. Another example of the corrupted judicial system in The Crucible is when Proctor talks to Reverend Hale about how these defendants do not have a choice when accused. Proctor responds to Hale after Hale says, “I myself have examined Tituba, Sarah Good, and numerous others who have confessed to dealing with the Devil. They have confessed it” “And why not, if they must hang for denying it” (Miller Act II). This quote shows another example of how unfair these trials were and how unjust the punishment was. These trials were a major part of the hysteria that took over the Puritan society, and because it was so emphasized in the novel, The Crucible epitomizes Puritan culture greater than the Scarlet Letter does.
The Crucible represents puritan society more accurately than The Scarlet Letter does by telling the stories of an entire society, rather than two main characters. Yes, The Scarlet Letter shows a great representation of the punishment and after effects of committing adultery, however that is only one act that the Puritans looked down upon. An example of the punishment for adultery is shown in the chapter five of The Scarlet Letter when Nathaniel Hawthorne writes, "Here, she said to herself, had been the scene of her guilt, and here should be the scene of her earthly punishment; and so, perchance, the torture of her daily shame would at length purge her soul, and work out another purity than that which she had lost; more saint-like, because the result of martyrdom"(Hawthorne 83)This quote from the book symbolizes that the "A" on Hester's has not only an internal punishment but a public disgrace. This is only one broken law that was discussed throughout The Scarlet Letter, further supporting why it did not represent Puritanism that accurately. The Crucible shows not only adultery, but also the hysteria of the town and how the society was impacted in a scared, frantic way by the witch trials themselves. Gale Student Resources states, “Witches were believed to have renounced their Christian faith and signed a pact with the devil, who presided over them. In exchange for worshipping him, witches were granted supernatural powers, which they used to commit diabolical acts, raise havoc, seduce other Christians into their cult, and otherwise undermine Christianity—and with it the political, social, and cultural structures of Western civilization”(Le Beau Witchcraft). This quote shows ow people in the society were given a negative or false hope of the others in the town, and how they thought this witchcraft scare would impact them and the rest of the world. This also shows how the Puritan culture was concerned about the society it thrived in and is why the involvement of it in The Crucible proves that it represents it more than The Scarlet Letter does.
The unjust judicial system, false accusations, and involvement of the Salem society are the reasons why Arthur Miller’s The Crucible represents Puritanism in a better way than Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter does. The Puritan culture in Salem, Massachusetts during the late 1600’s had very abnormal ways of life. A very peculiar hysteria took over the minds of these Puritans, causing them to draw conclusions directly towards witchcraft for almost any event that negatively impacted them. The trials were unjust, leaving the defendant with no positive outcome with their decision. Arthur Miller's The Crucible helps the audience fully understand the way that the Puritans lived their lives, and the horrid hysteria they endured.