The Crucible: Social deterioration
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 d
executed that Hale commented there are orphans wandering from house to house; abandoned cattle bellow on the highroads, the stink of rotting crops hangs everywhere...(130) Salem was turning into a ghost town. With Abigail controlling the community, the church no longer getting the whole town to prayer, and an unjust legal system, it is natural that the people were in a state of total chaos. ance. 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 evil. The unexplained was caused by the devil, so some members of Salem used the unexplained to their advantage. Mrs. Putnam told the truth when she said, There are wheels within wheels in this village, and fires within fires!(26) Mrs. Putnam did her share of spreading rumors after she heard that the girls were flying, so she asked Parris How high did she (Abigail) fly, how high?(11). These rumors happened because people did not want any blame put on to themselves. This 'passing the buck' made people start fighting with one another such as Corey charging Putnam of having his dau
Some common words found in the essay are:
Arthur Miller's, Parris Abigail, John Proctor, Marblehead Lynn, Crucible Social, innocent people, social structure, MillerJohn Hudson, legal system, john proctor, town abigail, community starts, puritan society, justice system, salem witch, protect themselves,
Approximate Word count = 828
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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