Film Review Of The Crucible Essay, Research Paper

The Crucible: A Film Review

Who’d have thought that simple dancing could cause so much chaos in a

small town. This is precisely what happens in the film The Crucible (Nicholas

Hytner, 1996), which was originally written as a play by Arthur Miller. This story

is based on actual events, which helps in showing the accuracy of the events. The

story takes place in Salem in 1692, during the Salem witch trials. The story starts

when a group of young girls, particularly one named Abigail, are caught dancing

around a fire in the woods by the town preacher, Samuel Parris. In an effort to

avoid getting in trouble, the girls begin to make accusations against the

townspeople, saying that these people are witches who forced them to dance. As

the hysteria grows in Salem, people begin to question their own neighbors, simply

out of spite and vengeance, among other things. The Crucible is certainly

historically accurate in it’s portrayal of the townspeople’s beliefs and attitudes. It

is a film that should be seen to view the way people were in the seventeenth

century.

Fear was probably the biggest reason for all of the happenings. Fear

is what got the girls started on their accusations, as they were afraid to get in

trouble. They knew that if they were thought to be conjuring spirits, they would

be hung. The townspeople were also afraid, especially of those who were

different. They felt that they must be rid of anyone who disagreed with their

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beliefs. Just look at how the Puritans treated the Indians. They feared the Native

Americans because their beliefs were different than their own. Also, the main

reason that people were accused in the first place, is because when Tituba was

being questioned, they were asking if she saw Sara Good and Sara Osborne with

the Devil. Of course she said yes, they were threatening to kill her. Another

example of fear in the village, is the fear of accepting your own actions and taking

responsibility. The Puritans believed in predestination, and if the girls were

dancing just to dance, and not because the Devil took them from their path to God,

the townspeople would then have to take the responsibility for that, as it would be

thier fault for letting these girls go astray. They were also afraid of change.

Change in their beliefs would shut down the entire town, because it was built

mainly on their ideology. For the Puritans, their beliefs were what brought them

to America, and if they didn’t have their beliefs, what would they have had?

The town of Salem was a Puritan town, and they had very strict beliefs.

There were certain things, such as dancing, that just weren’t done, as they were

seen to be related to the Devil. When things such as dancing occured, the incident

was seen in direct relation to dealings with the Devil. “Someone called the Devil

in that forest!” This was the immediate reaction made by reverend Hale, who was

called to the village to examine the accused and afflicted. It is no wonder that

these girls started to make accusations against others, as they were afraid to be

accused of witchcraft themselves. Two of the girls were so frightened, that they

pretended to be in an unwakeable sleep. The belief in the Devil shown in this

film shows the historical accuracy. This is true because such strong beliefs in evil

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and the Devil were certainly recorded, such as the belief that because the Native

Americans were not Christian, they must be evil.

Another strong and influential feeling, was the feeling of judgement.

Judgement by God, as well as by others. It is a well known fact that the Puritans

judged their lives by how faithful they were to God, and by how pure they were.

This is also shown in The Crucible. For example, Elizabeth Proctor, the wife of

John Proctor, who had an affair with Abigail, says to him, “The magistrate sits in

your heart that judges you.” In this quote, she is referring to the affair, and how he

can not forgive himself for his own sins. Another judgement made is on Tituba, a

black slave of Rev. Parris’ from Barbados. She was present in the woods when the

dancing occurred, and because she was from what was thought to be an

“uncivilized” country, they assumed she was the ring leader of the whole thing.

To get her to confess, the men told her that God has sent her to cleanse the village

of Satan. And she does confess to witchcraft, because if she doesn’t, she will be

hung. People in the village started to judge their neighbors, because they were

frightened. Because of this, more and more people were accused.

Prejudice is also a feeling that was considerably influential in the

seventeenth century. The Indians were persecuted against because they were

different, and because their practices weren’t understood by the Puritans. In the

instance of The Crucible, anyone who disagreed or was different was accused.

Such as Rebecca Nurse, who up until the trials was considered the most holy

woman in town. But when she showed obvious doubts in the trials, she too was

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accused of being a witch. The fact that Tituba was considered the to be the

ringleader of the dancing is also prejudiced. They believed that because she was

from a strange land, she must have been persuading the girls to do the Devil’s

work.

The theology of the Puritans was also a factor in the actions of the people.

To the Puritans, every action had to do with God. In order to be one of God’s

chosen few, one must always have God in their heart, and never do anything evil.

When the girls danced, they realized that they would be severely punished for

doing something deemed “evil”, so they did whatever it was that they could to

avoid this. In fact, the whole trial was based on the theology of the Puritans. For

example, Hale says that, “Theology is a fortress. No crack in a fortress may be

accounted small.” This shows that they felt that any matter that opposed their

theology must be quickly taken care of to avoid change in the belief system.

Change would mean that they were wrong in their thinking, and they were not

ready to accept this.

Although people in this day in age feel that the Salem witch trials never

should have happened, the Puritans felt as though they had good reason to hold

them. This is easily shown in the film The Crucible. Their actions were a result

of their strong fear, prejudice, ideology, judgments, and the belief in evil and the

Devil. This film is historically accurate in portraying these feelings, as we can

look back in history and see parallels relating to these feelings.

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