The Crucible 3
In Miller's, The Crucible, he describes a New England town in the midst of Salem witch-hunt hysteria during the late 1600's. His play not only recounts the historic events but also specifically sheds light on the rationalization for this hysteria. In Miller's running commentary he describes the intent of the Puritans particularly accurately. In one specific statement, he says "they [the Puritans] believed, in short, that they held in their steady hands the candle that would light the world. We have inherited this belief and it has helped and hurt us." This statement proves itself to be particularly profound, for it manages to both accurately describe the actions of the Puritans, and relate it to our world today. To understand the implications of Mr. Miller when he discusses the Salem witchcraft trials as having an impact on our society, one must first completely understand the metaphor, and all of its implications. Clearly, the candle described represents their persecution of the witches, perhaps the burning flame a symbol of the power that the Puritans possessed. It was the divine light that emanated from this candle, that they believed they could use to expose the heretics and eventually remove them from their society
It is interesting when one considers then common bonds between America today and Salem in the late 1600's. The bonds are there, and one cannot help wondering how far the metaphor goes. That is, Salem was destroyed by the hysteria of the witchcraft hysteria, its society crumbled under the great implications of their actions. Are we going to crumble as well, is our society doomed to destroy itself when it realizes it has made the wrong decision. But when one carefully considers this option, the answer shall always be no. Unlike Salem, our population is not uniform, and was not supporting one cause or the other. Our society has evolved to the point where upon any issue, there is already great debate, and almost never does a great majority convict people of a crime if there is not overwhelming evidence against them. Perhaps if Salem had thought over their actions more carefully, and been further advanced in their court system principles, they too might have escaped their tragic demise. The second part of Mr. Miller's quotation relates the events of the witchcraft trials to our time, saying "[how] we inherited this belief, and it has helped us and hurt us." Undeniably, Mr. Miller is correct when he states that we inherited the same need to know good and evil, and place a clear-cut reason for every occurrence. Part of this need is human nature. Everyone has their own story for the different occurrences in their life, and in the world. Ironically, even The Crucible is si
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Approximate Word count = 1000
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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