Crucible
The trumped-up witch hysteria in Salem, Massachusetts, deteriorated the rational, and emotional stability of its citizens. This exploited the populations weakest qualities, and insecurities. The obvious breakdown in Salem's social order led to the tragedy which saw twenty innocent people hung on the accusation of witchcraft. Arthur Miller, author of The Crucible, used hysteria to introduce personality flaws in vulnerable characters. A rigid social system, fear, and confusion were evident conditions that became prevalent before and during the witchtrials. These conditions only contributed to the tragedy in Salem. The isolation of the Puritan society created a rigid social system that did not allow for any variation in lifestyle. The strict society that was employed at this time had a detrimental effect on the Proctor family. John Proctor, a hard working farmer who had a bad season the year before and struggling this year was occasionally absent at Sunday service. This was due to the fact he needed to tend to his crops. Also, Proctor did not agree with the appointment of Mr. Parris as the newest minister, and therefore did not have his last child baptized. With the latest craze of witchery and swirling accusat
The fear of what was unknown created an uneasiness within Salem's population that added to Salem's social demise. The circumstances surrounding the witchtrials gave residents something to blame the supernatural on. The condemning of Tituba was mainly due to this. When Tituba took the girls into the woods, and they performed their ceremony, something the Puritans were not accustom to, she convicted of witchery. Along with Tituba, Martha Corey was indicted solely because she would not allow Giles to read them. Giles also stated that "I tried and tried and could not say my prayers. And then she close her book and walks out of the house, and suddenly--mark this--I could pray again!"(pg.38) This evidence of witchery is preposterous. The only thing that is true is that Giles was not allowed to read the books, and because he did not what the books contained, he feared them. This type of reaction throughout the community to the supernatural, and what was not known indicted many people, and contributed to the tragedy in Salem. The evident destruction of Salem's social order was due to rigid stipulations on deviation, fear of the unknown, and mass confusion. These conditions left Salem susceptible to an appare
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Approximate Word count = 815
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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