The Crucible Historical Analysis

A Psycho-Historical Analysis Of The Salem Witch Trials

Written By Megan Hanson (2015)

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.

I feel like the need to write paragraph after tedious paragraph and summarize The Crucible would positively be a tremendous waste of our times. So I will do my best to show my interpretations efficiently as possible. I will apologize for anything

you take a bit odd or disagree with, this paper is merely my own interpretations mixed with opinions and as little facts as possible. I hope you find it entertaining and I will try to make it more interesting for you, the reader.
The evaluations of Abigail Williams and John Proctor:
I went deep into both of their character designs and decided they aren't too different.

Both of them represent one of the *deadly sins, written in the bible, which hopefully I will remember to get to later. They both seek approval from others, as most do in the town of Salem, or try and keep a "white" reputation until the end of the book.

The point of this was to show how static they were in the novel, in my opinion, even though they both were a part of the conflict they barely changed. Also it shows how they might've been diagnosed as a mental patient in 2015, however I have no psychology degree so I can't exactly speak from a educational view (in theory) but I can use my own personal experience and knowledge to show you the thought process I used.

(Please refer to either both or one of the evaluations included)

Those are some of the examples of how they might've been diagnosed, and how they should've been evaluation now. Except it probably doesn't help with the lack of doctors in the 1600s, but this is all basically

theoretical.
The Bible and The Crucible
Earlier I mentioned the deadly sins, there are 7 of them in fact and I believe I can find almost each one in the story and identify it with a character.
Gluttony- Mr.Putnam, wants more land then he can handle, or farm.
Lust- Abigail Williams, who committed and tried to encourage adultery with John Proctor.
Greed- Mr.Giles, as he pushes to send people to jail in my opinion it's obvious that he wants their land, guess the weight of it was just too heavy,
Anger- Mrs.Putnam, very eager to blame the death of her children on anyone and everyone.
Envy- Elizabeth Proctor, who is very envious of Abigail who has previously stolen her husband away from her. This creates conflict in the relationship.
Pride- Parris, throughout the book he shows how highly he thinks of himself and how he should be treated better.
Sloth- Mary Warren, who decides to elude her duties by playing around in court.

Note: Some of these may be committed by one or more characters, but for a challenge I tried to just use each character once.
I think this is very important because it shows a hamartia in a character, either static or dynamic, which is involved in some conflict. So one theory that I could follow would be:
Hamartia + Character= Conflict. Meaning that no matter what fatal flaw (hamartia) a character in a novel or history has it will always come into play later on.
- It also shows the research that Arthur Miller put into the play by adding the personalities he would consider the characters to have, a characteristic of a good writer.
Attacking Adult Authority
I note I found in the play was how all the accusers were younger, this I labeled as a trend until I started the diagnosis. Each one of Abigail's diagnoses are common with abuse and neglect from parents or guardian figures. I inference that this has caused a couple issues in the community, with strict puritan rules and teenage hormones? I feel that even now with reduced restrictions we, as teens, still fight the laws we are given.

So is it a trend that teens no matter what age fight the rules we are given? Or was it bred into our behavior with time. I personally believe that it is not a trend, but a choice. Those who choose to change their behavior from destructive to harmonious and live with the rules should have a better chance at a conflict-less life. This is not a foolproof statement! It all depends on previous history and current laws.

Systemic Violence Against Women
Throughout the trials less than half of the people executed were men, this could be one of the first identifying non-woman's rights issues in the new colonies. In The Crucible every judge was a man, even if some of the woman had been accusers. The men always made the final decision, this being one example of how the colonies were a patriarchal society.

Women in The Crucible were targeted if:
- They were intellectually advanced
- Challenged economic or politics
- Were social outcasts
(From my observations)