Power and Cruelty in the Crucible

Power and Cruelty in the Crucible In the 1950's Arthur Miller wrote 'The Crucible', a play that was to become an enormous National Theatre Production. This play, still staged today, is a fictional retelling of events in American History surrounding the Salem witch trials of the seventeenth century. It is a story about pride, conflict of authority, self interest and most importantly abuse of power; many innocent people were accused of sins they did not commit. This play is an analogy of the McCarthyism era where society had been subjected to similar occurrences of similar witch-hunts, during the 1950's. Senator Joseph McCarthy accused many Americans of being communist. A vast amount of Americans believed these accusations, as they were fearful of communism. McCarthy, in effect was conducting the witch-hunts. Comparatively, in the Crucible, Abigail Williams, a malicious, vengeful girl, in an attempt to defend herself from punishment instigates the Salem witch trials which lead to the hysterical accusations. The fear of the devil, in this case, allowed the witch trials to continue. Because of these corrupt matters nineteen men and women were imprisoned or sent to death. The Crucible is paralleled to the Red Scare that took place during the 1950s. Each account in this play depicts power and cruelty that one can obtain when given high levels of authority. Joseph McCarthy and his bureau known as the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA) as well as several prosecutors from Arthur Millers play such as Judge Danforth, the Williams family including Abigail and numerous others abuse their power and exhibit acts of cruelty to defenseless and innocent individuals. The Crucible describes how the fear in both the Crucible and the McCarthy trials resulted in mass hysteria. Abigail's accusations that Procter's wife is a witch and has been in association with the devil outraged the unfaithful husband. Because of this he puts himself at risk and tells the court of his affair with Abigail. The court, now knowing that Elizabeth is an honest women give her a power, the opportunity to tell the truth, which she does not. Miller brings this scene to a climax as from the beginning of the play Elizabeth is described as a truthful woman however, her love for John and desire to make sure his name stays 'clean' forces her to renounce her high morals and to lie for his sake. Her small lie makes up a big part in the play; the madness could have ended if she had told the truth. Abigail abuses her power by accusing Elizabeth Procter who is a harmless innocent woman. As a result Ms. Procter had to serve a large amount of jail time, thus displaying an act of power and cruelty by Abigail.

When Abigail and the girls are in the courtroom accusing Mary Warren they act as if Mary is torturing them. Abigail says, "Oh, please, Mary! Don't come down. Mary, please don't hurt me!"(Miller,108) This creates dramatic irony, as the audience knows that Mary is innocent however the girls work together and construct the hysteria to such an extent that Mary lies and then accuse John Proctor just to end the uproar. This is a example of self interest in the play, people were looking out for their own lives and took what ever actions necessary to save themselves. During McCarthyism, people gave names in attempt to protect themselves form punishment; this therefore acts once again as a parallel to the Crucible. Arthur Miller himself was questioned during McCarthyism, and he could see the excessive madness the 'witch hunt' was creating. Like John Proctor, Miller refused to give names. In fact, When Miller applied in 1956 for a routine renewal of his passport, the HCUA used this opportunity to subpoena him to appear before the committee. Before appearing, Miller asked the committee not to ask him to name names, to, which the chairman agreed. When Miller attended the hearing, he gave the committee a detailed account of his political activities. Reneging on the chairman's promise, the committee demanded the names of friends and colleagues who had participated in similar activities. Miller refused to comply, saying "I could not use the name of another person and bring trouble on him." As a result, a judge found Miller guilty of contempt of Congress in May 1957. Miller was sentenced to a $500 fine or thirty days in prison, blacklisted, and disallowed a US passport. The play also described the Puritans' society. The people living in Salem followed strict beliefs. They believed in hard work, prayer and their knowledge of the holy bible. Their religion dictated every aspect of the way they lived. To exist under so close control meant that any deviation from the norm could prove very dissident, as these events proved. These people were extremely superstitious and had no doubt in the existence of the Devil, which could explain