Literary Analysis on "The Crucible" by Arthur Miller; Witchcraft Accusations: Childish Game.

Essay by closetcheater06High School, 12th gradeA-, October 2005

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In the time period of 1692, when the Puritans came to this country for religious freedom, they had a strict moral code which everyone in the village lived by. Religion was especially important. The state was founded on religion, built on religion, thrived on politics, which proved to be a very social life. Witchcraft was looked down upon by religious groups, whom believed that witches could cast spells on people. They had a great fear of defying God and also believed that they should do all in their power to punish people who would do just this.

Arthur Miller's "The Crucible" is an excellent example of how all of these morals and beliefs are disassembled simply by the emotion, vengeance and misunderstandings stemming from five seemingly ordinary girls. Each of the characters plays an important role in creating this hysteria known as the Salem Witch Trials. From the beginning, when the girls were caught dancing in the woods by Reverend Parris, until the very end, when John Proctor is accused of being a witch himself, false beliefs keep this big misunderstanding from ending.

With these thoughts in mind, one may believe that the whole witchcraft scare was completely fabricated. The evidence to support this conclusion can easily be found by looking a little deeper into the literature.

Abigail Williams, who was caught dancing in the woods by Reverend Parris, was a very manipulative person. Portrayed as a leader of the girls who began this epidemic of accusing people of witchcraft. She instills fear in the other girls convincing them to do what she says. Obviously, the suspicion of witch craft isn't proving anything since she threatens the girls so they don't tell the truth about dancing in the woods. Abigail instills fear in the other girls by...