The Crucible

The Crucible

The deterioration of Salem's social structure precipitated the murders of many
innocent people. Arthur Miller's depiction of the Salem witch trials, The Crucible, deals
with a community that starts out looking like it is tightly knit and church loving. It turns
out that once Tituba starts pointing her finger at the witches, the community starts
pointing their fingers at each other. Hysteria and hidden agendas break down the social
structure and then everyone must protect themselves from the people that they thought
were their friends. The church, legal system and the togetherness of the community died
so that children could protect their families' social status.
Being isolated from any other group of people with different beliefs created a
church led Puritan society that was not able to accept a lot of change. The church was
against the devil, at the same time it was against such things as dancing and other
premature acts. The reputation of the family was very important to the members of the
community. When the girls were caught dancing in the woods, they lied to protect not just
themselves but the reputation of their families. They claimed that the devil took them over
and influenced them to dance. The girls also said that they saw members of the town
standing with the devil. A community living in a puritan society like Salem could easily go
into a chaotic state and have a difficult time dealing with what they consider to be the
largest form of...

The Crucible

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