The Effectiveness of the Closing Scene of Arthur Miller's The Crucible

The Effectiveness of the Closing Scene of Arthur Miller's The Crucible

Arthur Miller was born in 1915 and was only fourteen years of age at

the time of the Wall Street crash, this clearly affected his life. His

plays often concentrated upon contemporary society and problems it may

face. This is why at first sight "The Crucible" seems to break this

mould, instead of a play showing contemporary society; it concerns a

study in the mass hysteria which led to the 1692 Salem witchcraft

trials.

The play is based around the Salem Witchcraft trials of the 17th

century; however the play is in fact a comment on the mass hysteria

which swept America in the 1950's concerning the huge fear, communism.

Communism threatened America's capitalist attitude to life, and

especially "The American Dream". The "dream" if anyone worked hard

they could find great wealth and prosper. Rich and upper class

American citizens feared the far left extremists, because the thought

of a communist state being established horrified them. This could

cause their hard earned wealth being shared evenly among the

population.

Arthur Miller's "The Crucible" shows a parallel between the America of

the 1950's and the Salem Witch trials in 1692. Where as 1950's America

feared communism the Salem of the 17th century was a puritan village

fearing witchcraft. Senator John McCartney presided over the

investigations of the Senate Committee on Internal Security, which was

as ruthlessly determined as the Salem judges had been to hunt out

witches. Both McCartney and the Salem judges sought to extort first

confessions, then names of alleged associates. Refusal to denounce

others...

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...em of the devil; he will save the already

broken community. Not only is Salem supposedly harbouring the devil,

before this there were squabbles over land, jealousy and vengeance.

Hale is seen by the Salemcommunity as a saviour. Nicholas Hytner's

film production conveys an image that Hale is a hero, the whole

population of Salem come to greet his entrance. Hytner also shows Hale

to be very committed to his work, and upon his arrival it seems he is

in a rush to begin his work, by rushing to see the inert Betty. I feel

Hytner's way of introducing Hale is effective, because as an audience

one can see how Hail and his books were seen by the Salemcommunity to

be the answers to all their problems.

Hale is believed to be an expert on witchcraft. He was initially

summoned by Parris to determine whether the devil was in Salem.