The Deterioration Of Salem : The Crucible Essay, Research Paper

The trumped-up witch hysteria in Salem, Massachusetts, deteriorated the rational, and emotional stability of its citizens. This exploited the population s weakest qualities, and insecurities. The obvious breakdown in Salem s social order led to the tragedy which saw nineteen 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 witch trials. These conditions only contributed to the deterioration of Salem s social structure. Miller displays how easily people can be fooled by the innocence of youth. He also exposes the gullibility of common people, even people such as Danforth and Hathorne, who play the role of the “wise” judges.

Arthur Miller s depiction of the Salem witch trials 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 so-called 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 many ideas of change. The church was against the devil, at the same time it was against such things as dancing and other

so-called primative acts. The reputation of family was very important to the members of the community. When a group of young 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 dance. 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 devil/witch craft.

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 was struggling this year, was occasionally absent at Sunday service. This was partially 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 accusations, John Proctor was easily indicted of being a messenger for the devil by the testimony of his disillusioned servant Mary Warren, who in the past committed perjury. The court who heard the testimony easily accepted this because she is a church going person, while John Proctor slightly deviates from the norm. This transfer of blame is also noticeable when the truth is first discovered about what the girls were doing in the woods.

The girls were not blamed. The blame was put on Tituba, the black slave who was said to have charmed the girls. Abigail swears that she [Tituba] made me do it .(pg.40) It is obvious that in the Puritan society that whatever did not conform to what the masses had decided as proper, then the deviated, but innocent, were to blame. This practice contributed to the tragedy in Salem.

The fear of the unknown created an uneasiness within Salem s population that added to Salem s social demise. The circumstances surrounding the witch trials gave residents cause to put the blame the supernatural. 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 was convicted of witchery. Along with Tituba, Martha Corey was indicted solely because she would not allow Giles, her husband, to read her books. Giles also stated that I tried and tried and could not say my prayers. And then she closed her book and walked 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 alleged supernatural, and what was not known indicted many people, and contributed to the tragedy in Salem.

The state of mass confusion in Salem created a society of individuals who were only concerned with what was good for them, so that they would not be the next one implicated in the witchery scandal. This situation is clearly evident after Hale becomes privy to the true story of what happened in the woods. Abigail abandons Tituba, and accuses her of sending her spirit on me in church; she makes me laugh at prayer (pg.41), and Abigail also says Tituba comes to me every night to go and drink blood [devil s

blood](pg.41). Abigail reacts like this only to save herself from being suspected of witchery. At the end of Scene One, many community members are accused of consorting with the devil. These names were given by all of the girls present that took part in the ritual in the woods, in an attempt to return to the graces of God and to be declared bewitched. This was a common reaction that many had when accused of witchery. It led to confrontations which pitted neighbor against neighbor, husband against wife. The delirium which created this situation aided in the misfortunate proceedings in Salem.

The social breakdown in Salem was the major factor in the tragedy that took the

many innocent lives. There was more than one tragedy in The Crucible. The first

was the murdering of innocent people, and the second was that a community that

was once very close had been broken apart. It appeared that the people of Salem were like

a family but isolation actually made them unable to adapt to a troublesome situation. If the

community could have had a greater influence from another group of people then the

social structure could have been able to adapt.

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 apparent epidemic such as witchcraft. The susceptibility that Salem fell victim to, was the cause of a great tragedy which saw nineteen townspeople hung and one man crushed under the weight of stones, at the hands of the state. The Crucible is a story of a great catastrophe which highlights a free man s courageous and never-ending fight against mass pressures to make him bow down in conformity (intro.-x) and shows how hysteria can be used for evil purposes in an atmosphere were there is a belief in freedom and right of dissent.

by: cobia eadie