The Crucible: Self Betrayal
This research paper will examine how the theme in Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, shows how “...betrayal of the self no less than of others” (Bigsby xi), is connected to both McCarthyism in the 1950’s and the Salem witch trials in the 1690’s. The Puritans were a group that had suffered religious persecution in the Old World and came to America to establish their own religion in a place where they would be free of any type of persecution. Because of the personal persecution they endured in England, the puritans in turn became the persecutors when they were in America. The Puritans were the type of people who felt that there way of life was absolutely right, and all other ways were wrong. If you were not a member in good standing with the church, you were not allowed to remain in the community. The Puritans had two major beliefs, The Doctrine of the Elect and Theocracy. The Doctrine of the Elect better known as predestination or foreordination is the belief that when a person is born or at any time later in their life, they might be chosen by God to become one of the Elect, which is one of the people who would receive divine salvation. Those who were not among the select would not receive divine salvation. There is nothing that a person could do to be chosen, it was entirely predestined by God. No amount of good works, righteous living or moral behavior could help a person achieve this status. Since no one knew if they were one of the Elect, everyone lived a good life in order to be prepared for being elected when the day came. The Puritans also believed that if God could elect certain people to be saved, then the Devil could select certain people to be bewitched. The Devil, to the Puritans, was an active enemy to mankind because they accepted the story that the Devil was once one of God’s angels who had fallen from grace, and that now the Devils job is to continually try to destroy what God has made. Reverend Hale reiterates upon this when he says to Proctor “...remember, until an hour before the Devil fell, God thought him beautiful in Heaven.”(Miller 68) The Puritans second belief is that of Theocracy. Theocracy is the belief in a government that is totally controlled by the church. If a person was not a member of the church, they could not vote in elections or hold offices. The ministers were the main officers and administrators of the civil government. If a person does not know the beliefs or rules of the church they become a suspect of many things. The church was very powerful and held most of its authority. The Puritans had a strict view of sin and they thought that everyone was constantly tempted by the Devil to sin. They also believed that once someone did sin they must “openly confess”, then repent and finally do some sort of penance. Without this open confession, there would be way for that person to be saved. Many people are ready to confess in The Crucible because they know that they will be forgiven. Without that confession they stand the chance of being hanged. “For fear of punishment, and the irrationality of the Puritans, this led to many false confessions” (Cliffs Notes 44). This situation is summed up best by Walter J. Meserve when he states, “Lies always lead to confusion; lies juxtaposed to confessions may make that line between folly and wisdom even more indistinct.” (129) Belief in witches, at this time, was wide spread in both America and in Europe. During this time thousands of people were executed. The biggest problem was how to identify a witch. The Puritans eagerly accepted the ideas of witches existing in any society. This was a result of their complete acceptance of every word of the Bible. Because they accepted every word of the Bible as the absolute truth, debate on this issue was not allowed. A phrase that became known to almost everyone in the Puritan society was taken from Exodus 22:18, Moses states “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” In act two, scene three, of The Crucible, as John Proctor and his wife Elizabeth were being questioned by Reverend Hale, they hint at their disbelief in witches. The conversation picks up with Proctor: PROCTOR: I know not what I have said, I may have said it. I have wondered if there be witches in the world-although I cannot believe they come among us now. HALE: Then you do not believe- PROCTOR: I have no knowledge of it; the Bible speaks of witches, and I will not deny them. HALE: And you, woman? ELIZABETH: I-I cannot believe it. HALE: You cannot! PROCTOR: Elizabeth, you bewilder him! ELIZABETH: I cannot think the Devil may own a woman’s soul, Mr. Hale, when she keeps an upright way, as I have. I am a good woman, I know it; and if you believe I may do only good work in the world, and yet be secretly bound to Satan, then I must tell you, sir, I do not believe it. HALE: But, woman, you do believe there are witches in- ELIZABETH: If you think that I am one, then I say there are none. HALE: You surely do not fly against the word of the Gospel, the Gospel- PROCTOR: She believe in the Gospel, every word! (66) The knowledge of the Devil grew out of the basic beliefs of the Puritan Religion. The Puritans totally accepted the belief of original sin, and many sermons given sated that man was born “depraved and sinful”. According to the Puritans, the Devil did not work alone. He had many advocates who were generally referred to as witches. The Devil’s job was to tempt people into sin and disobey God’s commandments, and by doing this he could slowly destroy God’s kingdom. Since the Devil deceived God once, and could take on any shape on earth and deceive us we must take every necessary precaution against such a deceitful character. The Puritans felt that the Devil concentrated all his attention on destroying the New World. They also believed that their religion was the new and only religion that God approved of. Since the Devil’s time for destruction was limited, they thought they found his center of attack when they discovered so many witches in Salem. Their society was always ready to accuse anyone of witchcraft and accepted anyone else’s accusations. What a witch actually was and how to identify one was a problem never solved by the Puritans. One thing they did know, was a person became a witch when she entered into some sort of covenant with the Devil. When they realized that a witch could be invisible or enter a persons body without them knowing it, identification of a witch became harder. There was still allot of confusion and disagreement about how to detect a witch and just what a witch actually was. The accusations which occured in Salem in 1692, will always be remembered because,”...groundless accusations are still granted credence, hysteria still claims it’s victims, and persecution still masquerades as virtue and prejudice as piety.” (Bigsby xxv)
Arthur Miller had a bigger plan when he wrote The Crucible. He not only wanted to talk about the hysteria that occured in Salem Massachusetts in 1692, but he also wanted to talk about the hysteria that was happening now in West Virginia in the 1950’s. “ With the Salem witchcraft trials of 1692 as a moral frame and point of departure, Mr. Miller has gone to examine the permanent conditions of the climate of hysteria.” (Hayes 498) In West Virginia in 1950 an almost totally unknown senator became the center of attention when he casually accused the Democratic Administration of harboring and supporting Communists in the American government. That senator name was Joseph McCarthy. At the time these accusations were made, America was involved in a great struggle with Russia. (Hayes 498) Out of fear, America started to believe the ridiculous charges made by McCarthy. This can be compared to those in Salem, because it was a period when “...the rational mind was affected by fear” (Cliffs Notes 51). Even high ranking government officials were cautious of everything they did for fear that it might have an effect on McCarthy’s investigations. “The senator often maintained that those who opposed his hearings were Communists, and consequently, any public official who offered criticism of the hearings soon found himself defending himself against the charge of being a part of a Communist conspiracy” (Cliffs Notes 51). This also reiterates the stance of the Salem judges. They thought that those who opposed their authority, where trying to over throw the court. “Senator McCarthy’s activities, ‘a kind of personification of moral disintegration,’ symbolized a dehumanizing influence that might occur in any period.” (Moss 59) Miller himself finds this true when he is called to appear in front of the House Un-American Activities committee. He was asked to name people who were communists or who he might think were communists. Miller did not do this and therefore “He knew that his refusal to name names... would be to invite charges of being unpatriotic” (Bigsby xxiii). Because of this he was cited for contempt of Congress, and received a fine and a short prison sentence, which was later over ruled by an appeal. The Crucible “...is a study of a man who wishes, above all, to believe that he has invested his life with meaning, but cannot do so if he betrays himself through betraying others” (Moss 60). This statement best describes Arthur Miller because he refused to name people and accuse them just to save himself. “Both social and personal conflicts are dramatized in the destruction of a man by deadly fraud and by a self-imposed hypnotism on the part of a society in panic” (Meserve 137). This statement means that people often believe what they are told if it hits them close to home, and most people would rather save themselves than their neighbor.
A teacher wrote an article in the February 1996 edition of Education Digest stating: I have always been able to talk of the Salem witch trials and discuss the structure of the play, ...but I have always struggled to lift the play’s issues into a contemporary context to get my students to feel at a visceral level how this drama concerns us just as much as it did those people who were looking for witches 300 years ago. (32-33) This is Arthur Miller’s goal. He doesn’t want people to forget that what happened in Salem in 1692 and what happened in West Virginia in 1950 can occur at any time. The only way to stop things like that from happening again is to change the view of society. We should not have a mentality of saving ourselves first, but of trying to save others first, even if it is at our own expense.Partner sites: French Bulldog, Spanish school in Quito, and Wedding Speeches