Is “The Crucible” historically accurate? While “The Crucible” is loosely based on the Salem Witchcraft Trials it is historically inaccurate. However it does have many things that are parallel to what happened in 1692.
In “The Crucible” Tituba was first blamed and then Tituba blamed others, “She made me drink the blood!” stated Abigail. Tituba is the only person who is accused of anything. “You beg me to conjure! She beg me to conjure-” is Tituba blaming someone else after being called a witch. Another example being “Mister Reverend, I do believe somebody else be witchin’ these children”(Miller 847). “Historically speaking, three people were accused at once, one of which was Tituba, and from there those three did the blaming” says Michael O’Neal for WRRL Ed. The sources provided show sufficient proof that the order of blame in “The Crucible” is incorrect, which contributes to why I think “The Crucible” is inaccurate.
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Proof can be found in the text when John Proctor says to Abigail “Child-,” she lashes out saying “How do you call me child!” The writers of American Eras Vol. 2 puts it into simpler terms “How would a child successfully control, threaten, and abuse a mob of girl for her being merely 11 years of age, not to mention the affair with John Proctor” (Miller 839). I think that is true, an 11 year old doesn’t have the mental capacity to take advantage of a mob mentality. In conclusion, the above examples help support my thesis; “The Crucible” is loosely based on the Salem Witchcraft Trials, but in many aspects it falls short in terms of being historically accurate. Maybe Miller didn’t want to be historically accurate, but that doesn’t change that many things didn’t match up with history. The order of the blame, the death of Giles, and Abigail’s age are a few of the many things that prove that
The focus of Miller’s The Crucible is an appalling witch trial that morfs the once-peaceful town of Salem into a cutthroat slaughterhouse. As a lucrative playwright and a not-so-subtle allegory author, Miller is a seasoned wordsmith who addresses people akin to himself, and is not secretive about that information. The Crucible best serves its purpose as a learning device and a social statement, especially at the time of its publishing. Miller‘s piece showcases the appeals in an easy-to-identify manner that is perfect for middle or high school students who are new to the appeals, or for English majors who have no problem pinpointing them, making this play ideal for a classroom setting.
For example, Betty Paris and Ruth Putnam in the movie could not wake, but in Wilson’s historical depiction the only symptoms the afflicted girls had were: slipping into trances, cowering in corners, blurting nonsense, and collapsing into shrieking epileptic fits. Miller’s beginning scene of “The Crucible” where the girls were dancing and conjuring spirits in the woods with Tituba is not something that is known to have actually occurred. In Wilson’s historical depictions, Tituba is accused of being a witch because she made the witch cake, but in the film Abigail accuses her in order to avoid punishment because of what her and the girls were caught by Reverend Parris doing in the woods. Tituba’s confession in the movie was whipped out of her, but according to the historically she was interrogated, not whipped. Miller also changed why Martha Corey was accused in the film it is because her husband, Giles Corey, said she was reading suspicious books, but according to Wilson it was because Abigail said she saw her specter on the beams during sermon. According to Wilson’s historical depiction of the Salem Witch Trials, jailers would torture children to get them to confess their mother was a witch, but Miller did not put that in his
In the Crucible there are two quotes Parris says “You will confess yourself or I will take you out and whip you to your death, Tituba!” So what this means is that anybody accused of witch gets hanged. People really do not have a choice. Putnam says “This woman must be hanged! She must be taken and
Authors often have underlying reasons for giving their stories certain themes or settings. Arthur Miller’s masterpiece, The Crucible, is a work of art inspired by actual events as a response to political and moral issues. Set in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, The Crucible proves to have its roots in events of the 1950’s and 1960’s, such as the activities of the House Un-American Committee and the “Red Scare.” Though the play provides an accurate account of the Salem witch trials, its real achievement lies in the many important issues of Miller’s time that it dealswith.
After reading The Crucible by Arthur Miller, and hearing the various approaches to the story by my peers. I decided the best way to explain my perspective analysis of the book through an article of my own creation. This was the best way to show my ideas because our society isn't currently based on how well students learn, but by how we show it through a production of it. Society refuses to change in a lot of ways, writing essays being an example, but in certain ways it does change. My choice example is how we diagnose mental disorders in the now.
Despite these good qualities, John Proctor had many flaws as well. Lust was a constant struggle for Proctor in many forms. For instance, when Abigail was working for him and his wife, he lusted after her and committed adultery by having an affair. Afterwards, Proctor was extremely repentant and stopped seeing her. “Abby, you’ll put it out of mind. I’ll not be comin’ for you more” (Miller 21). This essentially lead to his demise because of the affair, Abigail became infatuated over Proctor to the point where she went into the woods with her friends and Tituba and practiced “witchcraft” to kill Proctor’s wife. “You drank a charm to kill John Proctor’s wife!” (Miller18). When the girls were caught and the whole “witch” hysteria broke out, people were getting accused and executed, including Proctor, who wouldn’t confess to witchcraft and died because of it. If Proctor never lusted after Abigail and had an affair with her in the first place, accusations of “witchcraft” would have never happened and his death. Throughout the book unlike many other characters, Proctor never accepted the girl's story about witchcraft to be true. He on the other hand knew
When these women of Salem Massachusetts started to do witchcraft and pass it on to other people, they were put on trial for their actions, which at the time was, illegal. It had caught on all over England and was spreading fast. Arthur Miller made a play called the Crucible that was about the Salem witchcraft trials. Arthur Miller took the historical accounts and changed them to be suitable for the play. The crucible had many alterations to the historical documents that took place in 1962 which were in the characters, the historical differences, and why the theme of history was changed.
In his article, “Why I Wrote The Crucible,” Arthur Miller speaks of the 1950’s “which nobody seems to remember clearly”- a time of fearful insanity and unrest. Anyone could be accused. Showing excessive opposition ensured prosecution. Most shrunk back from disputing the McCarthy hearings for fear of their safety. Now, this period of panic is viewed as absurd. As Miller describes Hitler as being almost comical to his generation, the modern generation sees the Salem witch trials as foolish scuffles between ignorant people. The actual events were much different as perceived. Just as a feud with a neighbor seems trivial to those not involved but of intense frustration to the embroiled , the trials were not silly and insignificant. The trials were more about personal issues between rivals than witchcraft itself- the witchcraft was a weapon for Salemites to obtain revenge on their enemies. A tool Miller uses to show the reader this emotion is Rebecca Nurse, seventy-year-old grandmother, wife, and respected member of Salem society. Miller modifies her character in his play. Some facts remain true in the play, others are altered, and some have been neglected altogether. What did he change, and what did he regret to? Why did Miller take such liberties with Rebecca’s character in his play?
During the 1690’s in Salem, Massachusetts, one of the most disgraceful events in American history took place. 20 innocent people were sentenced to death on charges of witchcraft (Kortuem). At the time there was a witch scare sweeping across the North East of America in a time we know today as the Salem Witch Trials. The witch trials was one of the most shameful events in American history. In fact, it was compared to another event by a man named Arthur Miller. Arthur Miller was a playwright from New York who wrote many famous plays like Death of a Salesman, All my Sons, and of course The Crucible (Kortuem). In The Crucible, Miller was comparing the McCarthy Hearings at the time to the events hundreds of years earlier in the
The Crucible by Arthur Miller The Crucible is a fictional retelling of events in American history surrounding the Salem witch trials of the seventeenth century, yet is as much a product of the time in which Arthur Miller wrote it, the early 1950s, as it is description of Puritan society. At that particular time in the 1950s, when Arthur Miller wrote the play the American Senator McCarthy who chaired the ‘House Un-American Activities Committee’ was very conscious of communism and feared its influence in America. It stopped authors’ writings being published in fear of them being socialist sympathisers. Miller was fascinated by the Salem Witch Trials and that human beings were capable of such madness. In the 1950s the audience would have seen the play as a parallel between the McCarthy trials and the Salem Trials.
The crucible’s setting was in the year 1962, in the small Puritan society of Salem. One night some of the girls in the village were in the woods doing love potions when they were caught. The girls lied and said that witches made them do it. In an extremely religeous society the influence of witches was immensely frightening and as the thought to identify witches arose, so did mass hysteria of the...
Many characters in The Crucible fall under the trap of lying, if not to other people, then to themselves. The Crucible is a fictional retelling of events in history, surrounding the Salem witch trials. It takes place in Salem, Massachusetts during 1692 and 1693. Additionally, Miller wrote the play as an allegory to mccarthyism, which is the practice of making accusations without evidence. In the play, Arthur Miller develops the theme of lies and deceit by showing Abigail lying for her own benefit, John Proctor committing adultery, and Elizabeth lying to protect her husband.
Author Arthur Miller, of The Crucible an excellent job of showing the cruelty of the witch trials. The movie based upon The Crucible, is almost an exact replica of the book. When showing many similarities, it also had some vast differences. These differences don't have much of an effect on the actually story. They are added for dramatic effect and to entice the viewer. Although there are many similarities there are some vast differences.
In conclusion Arthur Miller saw the similarities in The McCarthy Era and The Salem Witch Trials, and portrayed them in “The Crucible.” The lives of many people were destroyed during these times in history.
In the Crucible, persecution exists between friends and enemies in the play. The girls could falsely accuse the people they hate for practicing witchcraft so that they are persecuted. In addition, friends whose friendship had ended also accused their former friends of witchcraft. An example is Abigail who persecutes not just her enemies but her friends and family too. She accuses Mary Warren of bewitching her when she admitted her lies to the other girls.