The crucible: a study of mass hysteria and moral integrity

Crucible is the story of the House Un-American Activities Committee, as headed by Senator Joseph McCarthy, but filtered through the prism of Salem, Massachusetts. Playwright Arthur Miller uses the witchcraft trials held in Salem as a historical analogy to condemn the anti-communist hysteria that afflicted America during the 1950s. Over the course of the play, for various reasons, different characters use the opportunity provided by the trials and people's fears, to suit their own personal and political purposes. However, the system created by the mass hysteria eventually becomes so out-of-control that even the individuals who advanced the original accusations cannot contain the system's power. Abigail wanted to use her power as an accuser to secure her reputation in the community, marry John Proctor, and destroy his wife Elizabeth. Instead, she unintentionally strengthens their bond in marriage, but kills Proctor in a kind of judicial homicide.

Miller increased most of the age of the young Salem girls who accused their neighbors of witchcraft to decrease sympathy for the girls and to make their claimed possession seem more deliberate. Abigail Williams, an adolescent girl condemned as sexually forward by the community, is expelled by Elizabeth Proctor from the Proctor household for having an affair with Elizabeth's husband. While dallying in harmless fortune-telling with Tituba, a slave from Barbados, Elizabeth and some other girls grow frightened and exhibit signs interpreted by the hyper-religious Puritans of Salem as possession. The girls grow drunk on their power to accuse men and women of witchcraft. They half-believe their accusations, given the heady madness of that they feel as a collective unit. The ability of individuals with self-interested motives to abuse power, especially formerly powerless people like the girls, is one of the most potent themes of The Crucible. After all, McCarthy was an obscure senator until he branded himself as an anti-communist zealot.

Not all of the witch-hunters are mislead by base motives as Abigail: Reverend John Hale is at first persuaded of the existence of witchcraft, given the suffering of Reverent Paris' daughter young daughter Betty. But gradually Hale begins to trust John Proctor. Proctor always denies the existence of witchcraft, especially given his knowledge of Abigail's true character, but also because of his practical and unsentimental nature. Hale begins the play as the most idealistic character, but ends the play telling Proctor to lie under oath and confess to being a witch, after Proctor is accused by Abigail. Hale comes to see the judicial system as bankrupt. This shows how a corrupt system can corrupt even decent people. The system also uses Hale's idealism for its own ends, as pro-democracy, pro-American people were used in subservience of McCarthyism. Just as dangerous as idealists like Hale are weak people, looking for a sense of belonging. Mary Warren, Proctor's new servant, enjoys the sense of community she feels with the other girls, and fears breaking from their ranks.

Even Elizabeth Proctor's goodness serves the evil of the system: Abigail accuses Elizabeth of witchcraft, in hopes of making John a widower. Then, to protect her husband's reputation, Elizabeth unwittingly condemns John by refusing to admit that he was unfaithful, just as John condemns himself by not going to church, because he feels like a hypocrite as an adulterer. This is taken to be 'proof' of his deviltry, not a genuine religious crisis. The system perpetuates itself as small inconsistent actions are made to seem like glaring lies and crimes. When Mary admits that the girls are lying, the girls use this as evidence that Mary is under the power of witchcraft, not that her change of heart questions their truthfulness. There is no way to 'prove' the absence of witchcraft in such a world.