The Crucible Research Paper

Emma Gulliford once said,”Reading a good book is like taking a journey…” and that is what Arthur Miller has done in his novel The Crucible. Arthur Miller has helped us take a journey with his novel for 64 years. He has done this by creating his own style, which is the author's use of word choice, sentence structure, figurative language, and sentence arrangement to establish mood,tone, and meaning in the text. Arthur Miller’s novel, The Crucible, has been around for so long ,but it is still loved because of his amazing use of culture, sociology, and allegories.
The definition of culture is arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively. Culture changes how many people handle different situations such

as they did in The Crucible. Such as on pages 166-167 they describe the religious aspects that are set up in their society. The prologue states “...a holiday from work meant only that they must concentrate even more on prayer.” and “The parochial snobbery of these people was partly for their failure to convert the Indians. Probably they also preferred to take land from heathens rather than from fellow christians.” This shows that their culture is very much based on god and their religion.Another example of this is on page 170 when Parris states “...Tell him I have sent for Reverend Hale of Beverly and Mr.Hale will surely confirm that…” and “ ...Now tell me true, Abigail. And I pray you feel the weight of truth upon you , for now my ministry’s at stake, my ministry and perhaps your cousin's life…” also on page 170. Readers learn through these quotes that their focus on God is a major role in their daily lives. Miller’s use of culture not only shows how their lives were made up, but also how their religion made everything more structured and methodized. Miller also held his readers with his use of sociology.
Sociology, the study of the development structure and functioning of human society, play a major role in the success of The Crucible.

Arthur Miller uses sociology in his novel during the trials when they are trying to prove if the town folk are witches or not. Such as on page 207 when Hathorne talks about the evidence they have against Martha Corey. Hathorne states, ” Now Martha Corey, there is abundant evidence in our hands to show that you have given yourself to the reading of fortunes. Do you deny it?” This shows how they are studying the functioning of their society because they are showing the fact that they have gathered her doing these things when they studied her actions. Sociology can also be shown on page 211 when they are going back and forth to see if Proctor is honest based on his actions with the church. Such as when Parris says, “such a christian that will not come to church but once a month!” and when Cheever says, “He plow on sunday sir.” This quote also shows that they watch and study how credible and functioning a person is based on their actions toward and with the church. The Crucible shows the use of sociology very often through the many acts, but mostly take place within the acts of the witch trials. Arthur Miller not only uses culture and sociology he also uses a wide array of

allegories.
The dictionary defines allegory as a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning.

Arthur Miller uses allegories throughout his entire novel The Crucible. Even though he uses allegories throughout his entire novel there are a few point in the novel that are majorly evident in their connections such as on page 101(smaller novel) when Hathorne and Giles are talking about the evidence that really isn’t true and they want the names of the people and for them to be called in, this is an allegory with the Red Scare. The dialogue goes as follows,” Hathorne: And the name of this man? Giles: What name? Hathorne:The man that gave you this information. Giles: Why, I - I cannot give you his name. Hathorne: And why not? Giles: You know well why not! He’ll lay in jail if I give his name! Hathorne: This is contempt of the court, Mr. Danforth!” This is like how it was during the Red Scare trials. The accused could have evidence to help themselves but didn’t want to share names for fear of others going to jail. Another evident example is on page 44 (smaller novel) when Abigail blames Tituba for the bewitching. Abigail says, “I never called him! Tituba, Tituba…” also in the stage directions it says, “Mrs.Putnam enters with Tituba, and instantly Abigail points at Tituba” and also says, “she made me do it! She made Betty do it!” These quotes show how quick others were to point fingers to save themselves. Both people existed during the Red Scare trials, those who

didn’t want others to get in trouble and those who would turn the evidence on others to get the accusations of of themselves. These were just the few examples that show a deeper and hidden meaning in the novel.
The crucible was an amazing piece of literature that has stayed with us for over 60 years and has taken us on a journey in a small amount of pages. It has used many devices to stay relevant, but the most helpful were culture,sociology and allegories. Now what do you think made Arthur Miller’s The Crucible such a timeless piece?