In what kind of community does Arthur Miller root John Proctor?

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In what kind of community does Arthur Miller root John Proctor?

In Arthur Millers Salem the community is very religious and pious.

They might be religious but their actions are bad. The community is a

puritan community this means that they are keen on helping the church

or making it better. The community is lead by the church so it is a

theocracy. Only by one example you can see how religious the community

is because the church leads it. The community is scared of other

people coming and changing the whole way of their lives so they want

to keep their way to themselves. In Arthur Millers Salem, Salem

society is very repressive in other word it is controlled and strict.

They want it strict so they can keep the community from falling to

pieces.

The society of Arthur Millers Salem is very strict and severe. For

instance when Abigail and the other teenage girls were caught in the

forest dancing by Parris. When Abigail was at home with Parris.

Abigail says to Parris in Act 1 Page 7

"I think you best go down and deny it yourself."

Parris replies back by saying

"My daughter and my niece I discovered dancing like heathen in the

forest?"

You can see here now that Parris is calling Abigail heathen who means

non-Christian. Parris is calling Abigail non-Christian only for

dancing.

It is so severe that Abigail said on Act 1 Page 7

"Uncle, we did dance: let you tell them I confessed it-and

I'll be whipped if I must be.

Then Mary says on Act 1 Page 14

"Abby we've got to tell. Witchery's an hanging error…you'll only be

whipped for dancing and other things we must tell the truth."

You only can see by this how strict and severe the community is, if

you dace you get whipped sixty times. You can see the society is

strict and only by the few examples I have given. They gave severe

punishment to anyone who broke their rules.

The beliefs of the people are strong and they stand up for their

beliefs. Because the existence of witches etc are mentioned in the

Bible. Proctor says in Act 2 Page 57

"I have no knowledge of it: the Bible speaks of witches and I

Will not deny them."

Proctor is saying that he does not know if witches exist, because the

Bible mentions witches so he has full belief in them. All of the

community is religious and they will have total belief in the Bible.

They are very quick to call each other witches or that some one is

bewitched.

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