Conform to the Crucilbe

Imagine a world where everybody conformed to the point where people are so similar, it is often difficult to tell them apart. This would be a stagnant way of life, the oppressed are never integrated into society, and people are too afraid to share new ideas or inventions. Complete conformity stamps out the beginnings of revolution and reform. However, without conformity, there are no societies, no cities or countries or peace. It takes a balance of conformity and nonconformity to create a society. Those who conform are considered normal, and those who do not are considered outcasts. These outcasts are the ones who start new trends, invent new things, share new ideas and call for reform, though they do tend to have less of a social network and are more likely to become scapegoats in the face of panic. In “The Crucible”, a play set in 1692 in the small town of Salem, outcasts such a Tituba are the first to be tried as witches. Characters are often slow to halt the trials, for fear of ruining their reputations, or losing their lives at the hands of their conformist neighbors.

Conformity can be rewarding in certain situations, such as being tried as a witch. It one conforms to being a witch on the court's and society's standards, they will keep their lives. Condemned witches are hung for their deal with the Devil. When Tituba pleads “No, no, don't hang Tituba! I tell him I don't desire to work for him, sir.” (Miller 44), she is denying any consensual work with the Devil, claiming that he used her as a tool, and she was trying to resist. This is exactly what Reverend Hale, a minister who specializes in finding witches from Beverly, wants to hear. However, if one does not conform and admit to being a witch, and claims innocence on...

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...learly states that it is fine to lie when it suits you. Or he could die a man of his word. He struggles to make the decision, and even signs the confession stating that he is, in fact, a witch. In the last moments of his life “His berats heaving, his eyes staring, Proctor tears the paper and crumples it, and he is weeping in fury, but erect.” (Miller 144). John Proctor just ended his life. He did not conform, rather kept to his morals and did the right thing, though a corrupt law system takes his life. John was a martyr, standing up for his beliefs even in his last moments.

In the play “The Crucible;e”, characters conformed to meet society's standards, resulting in death as well as the inability to change their way of life. Although non-conformity may have high costs, in the end, it is better to stand up for your beliefs than to let those beliefs be annihilated.