The Crucible - Themes

• theocratic society - church and state are one
• therefore sin and the status of an individual's soul are matters of public concern
• everything/everyone belongs to either God or the Devil.
• Danforth (act iii): "a person is either with this court or be must be counted against it."
• witch trials - ultimate expresison of intolerance
• hanging witches - ultimate means of restoring community's purity
• no tolerance for devil-worship - must confess and accuse others.

• hysteria tears the community apart
• enables people to believe that their neighbours, whom they have always considered upstanding people, are committing crimes
• communing with the devil, killing babies etc.
• hysteria gives them a chance to act on long-held grudges
• Abigail - accuse Elizabeth of witchcraft so she can be with John
• Reverend Parris - strengthens his position within the village by making scapegoats of people who question his authorty
• Thomas Putnam - accuses Rebecca Nurse of the murder of Ann Putnam's babies
• hysteria can only thrive because people benefit from it
• allows the acting out of dark desires under the cover of righteousness

• very important in Salem
• fear of guilt by assosciation - the sins of their friends and assosciates will taint their names
• Parris - Abigail's questionable actions, witchcraft around Betty's coma
• Proctor - affair with Abigail keeps him from testifying against her.

• empower characters who were previously marginalized in Salem society
• in general, women occupy the lowest rung of male-dominated Salem, few options in life
• work as servants for townsmen until they are old enough to be married off & have children
• Abigail - unmarried young girl.
• Also slave to Proctor's sexual whims - strips away her innocence when he commits adultery with her
• arouses spiteful jealousy wen he terminates affair
• greatest fear of theocratic community - defiance of God - Abigail accusations of witchcraft and devil-worship draw lots of attention of court
• Abigail aligns herself with God - gains power over society (and girls) - her word becomes virtually unassailable
• Tituba - despite being black - deflect blame from herself by accusing others - gives her some kind of power

• witch trials - central to the action of The Crucible
• act i - Parris accusing Abigail of dishonouring him
• entire witch trial system thrives on accusations
• only way that witches can be identified
• confessions provide proof of the justice of the court proceedings

• the whole play can be seen as a symbol of the paranoia about communism in the 1950s
• Miller's main concern in The Crucibe is the unwillingness of the court officials to believe that they are not actually witches

• several characters in the play face dilemmas of conscience
• following conscience must withstand the desire to preserve one's good name, freedom, life.
• it is not the duty of good Christians to follow their individual consciences, but to obey the rulings of the church (e.g. Danforth and Parris)
• conflict between duty and self-interest, conscience and obedience - plunges Salem into tragedy
• Proctor - only when tragedy strikes his family he follows his conscience - too late
• Proctor's decision central to the drama - leads to his spiritual development - moral integrity becomes more important than his name
• Hale - indecisive about what to believe - the church or Proctor
• Elizabeth - indecisive about telling the truth and lying for Proctor's good name
• John has to take in several concepts - good name in the community, worldly gain versus spiritual salvation, loyalty to his own desires, duty to wife, family and neighbours, personal integrity

Evil

• abigails dissembling (concealing one's true beliefs, motives, feelings)
• self-centeredness of Parris
• Putnam's mean and avaricious view of life
• lying and pretence of Abigal accusing the people of Salem
• Abigail's "marvellous cool plot to murder"

Fear

• witch hunts caused and fuelled by fear.
• only Rebecca Nurse and Giles Corey seem unafraid
• hysteria of girls - from fear of being punished for dancing in the forest
• creates an atmosphere where fear becomes the motivating force
• fear of being accused - neighbours to accuse others
• Parris- fear of losing position - leads him to join the witch hunt
• Proctor - fear of adultery being made public - delays him discrediting Abigail
• Mary Warren - fear of Abigail - withdraw accusations against her and accuse Proctor instead
• Elizabeth - fear for husband's good name - lie destroys evidence against Abigail