The Crucible Essay, Research Paper

The Crucible- Struggles in the Play

The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is a story that contains many

struggles. These struggles come about as a result of the strict

Puritan society in which the story takes place. There are two main

struggles in the book. The first never actually takes place in the

story, but is described many times throughout the first act and is the

basis for the trials. It is Abigail’s and all the other girls’ need to

be free and act like teenagers. The second is the result of the

corruption of the trials. It is John Proctor’s fight to convince the

townspeople that the accused women are not witches (especially his

wife), and that it is Abigail who should be killed instead.

In Puritan society, the role of the child is to be quiet, and

stay out of the way. When Abigail is being considered a witch in the

first moments of the story, Rev. Paris is very worried about how this

will effect his image, and not of the fate of Abigail. It is this

society where Abigail feels the need to break loose and to act the way

a teenager should: freely. This is the reason why she goes dancing in

the forest. She is expressing her need to act her age and to break out

of the restrictions of Puritan law. Her struggle is to do what she

wants in a society that believes in ordering her around.

It becomes obvious soon after the trials started that many people

were going to be falsely accused by their neighbors as a method of

revenge, and as an outlet for their maliciousness. When Abigail uses

this case to attack Rebecca Nurse, one of the best Puritans in the

Salem, John Proctor begins his efforts to stop the injustice. This

increases when Elizabeth Proctor is tried and sentenced to death. This

is John Proctor’s struggle. He must fight to save his wife, his

community and eventually himself. In addition, he also has to convince

the leaders of Salem that they are mistaken in believing in Abigail.

Although Abigail and Proctor are mortal enemies, their struggles

can be seen as almost identical. They both need to change the way the

higherarchy of Salem is doing things. And also, both of them would

just like to live normal lives (however, when Abigail realizes she

cannot have this, she goes crazy by accusing everybody). This is shown

when John Proctor breaks some of the harsher of the Puritan rule, and

that he dislikes all of the speeches about damnation given by Rev.

Paris. Unfortunately, the struggle of Abigail goes awry and results in

many people dying, while the valiant efforts of John Proctor are

unable to save Salem from one of the greatest tragedies in American

history.