Conformity in Arthur Miller´s The Crucible

Despite years of evolution in human culture, the ideal of conformity has succeeded numerous changes of human ideology. To conform means to set aside your own moral beliefs and join the group that would benefit your self the most, or at least that is what author, Arthur Miller, suggests in The Crucible. Throughout the book, characters are faced with the dilemma of conforming or rebelling, a predicament that tests their morality against their will to avoid punishment and shame. In The Crucible, Miller suggests that the decision to conform or to rebel truly displays the morality and selflessness within the characters in the book.

The Crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller, is a chronological narrative including a large cast of characters with a constantly moving setting.* The Crucible is a dramatization of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 and an allegory of the McCarthyism period. Throughout the play, Miller explores the destruction of freedom by the ignorant and tyrannical society in which his characters live.* By exhibiting how easily a member of the community can become an outcast, Arthur Miller displays social criticism in the Puritan society as well as in today's society in The Crucible.

How many people have you met in your life that is stronger because of a difficult experience they went through? Most people are because we take these difficult experiences and grow from them and become better people. This is the exact case is expressed in the play, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller. The story begins in Salem, Massachusetts 1692 right in the middle of a period of witchcraft hysteria. During this time many people were accused of being witches and wrongly convicted by judges Danforth and Hathorne. The characters in the story are struggling because of a girl named Abigail who gets caught practicing witchcraft and then starts naming and accusing others so that she doesn’t get in trouble; one of these people being a well-respected farmer, John Proctor’s, wife Elizabeth. The title, The Crucible, refers to a test, trial, ordeal, formation by fire, and vessel baked to resist heat, and the entire story is an allegory meaning it has a hidden meaning. John Proctor symbolizes a crucible by embodying the definition of one, as he went through a test and was formed by fire.

Conformity is a belief that has conflicted people since the beginning of time. Conformity is the inner feeling that will make you second guess everything you do: should I go to my friends party or should I resist temptation and stay home and study, should I change my beliefs or stand alone in the crowd. Conformity is all around you and it is up to you to make the right choices. In Arthur Miller’s 1953 drama, The Crucible, Miller uses conformity by forcing the people of Salem to choose between being an outcast or being accepted but forced to live a life not true to themselves. Conformity plays a key role in the play because it shows the reader that everyone is hiding something and it gives a deeper meaning to some of the characters

Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, focuses on the inconsistencies and injustice of the 1692 witch trials of Salem, Massachusetts. The restrictive Puritan society of Salem in the 17th century was based upon religious intolerance, where faith was demonstrated through physical labour and by strict adherence to religious doctrine. Material, physical and sexual desires were considered the Devil’s work and a threat to the very fabric of society. In summary, it is said that Puritanism discouraged individualism on all levels. The literal way in which the Bible was interpreted by the Puritans, provides a paradox within the play. This is because although the Bible says “thou shalt not kill,” the people of Salem are willing to sentence innocent

What keeps the world running and interesting? The answer is our problems. In the play The Crucible, Arthur Miller says “When one rises above the individual villainy displayed, one can only pity them all, just as we shall be pitied someday. It is impossible for man to organize himself without repression, and the balance has yet to be struck between order and freedom.” It is no surprise that our society is not perfect, but it must stay imperfect. If we were to have a world where there was peace and tranquility everywhere, what would be the point in our existence? With no oppression, we would have no goals. Therefore, balance has yet to be struck. Repression dominates and freedom is constantly a struggle. When freedom is achieved, order is needed to keep chaos at bay. As Arthur Miller stated, balance has yet to be found in this country since order and freedom cannot coexist.

As stated by the great Irish philosopher, Edmund Burke, “The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse” (braniyquotes.com). Burke’s words are proven true in many facets of the human experience. In Arthur Miller’s, The Crucible, a shift of power is portrayed through Abigal’s sly manipulation. Arthur Miller takes a historical context, that of the Salem Witch Trials, and shows how simple actions can alter the course of history. The disintegration of an orderly Puritan society into one that is governed by chaos and hysteria is caused by a radical change in the normally male dominated power by a woman whose pride has been bruised.

A ‘crucible’ is an object in which substances are combined and then subjected to high temperatures. Arthur Miller uses this theme to guide “The Crucible” from the exposition, when Puritan girls danced in the woods, to Proctor’s death by the hangman’s noose. Hale and Danforth are closely intertwined in their beliefs and views at the beginning of the play, but, as tensions and temperatures rise, they begin to separate; ultimately ending with contrary beliefs. In the opening scenes, Hale and Danforth are present in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 to cast out demons and witches. When the final curtain falls at the end of Act Four, Hale recognizes that the Salem Witch Trials were a result of repressed emotions and conflicts, and the desire to express them under the pretext of witchcraft. Danforth cannot and will not recognize this fact. Thus, Miller develops the characters of Hale and Danforth into foils for each other by the end of the novel; the growing tension is made evident through dialogue, character development, and through the theme of pride.

Societal order entails an organized structure of rules and practices in a society intended to preserve the life and safety of its citizens. Individual freedom refers to the ability of an individual to speak or behave as one pleases within the law without being discriminated or attacked for one's words or actions. Under most circumstances, these two values of societal order and individual freedom can co-exist hand in hand without difficulty. However, sometimes a dilemma will arise when these two values come into conflict, and one value must be chosen while the other is sacrificed. We see this pattern many times over the course of history, even today. More often than not, individual freedom is sacrificed to maintain societal order. Arthur Miller’s The Crucible illustrates this viewpoint by his example of the Salem witch trials of the late 17th

American playwright, Arthur Miller, in his play The Crucible, implies that witch hunts still exist in American society. Miller supports this claim by drawing parallels between the Salem Witch Trials and the Senator Joseph Mccarthy Trials. His purpose is to warn his readers of the dangers of mass hysteria. He uses emotional appeals and logic to convince the reader that mass “hunts” are still a danger to Americans today. The central way, however, that Miller achieves his topmost goal of displaying the hazards of Individuality vs. Ideology is through the expressive characterization of Reverend John Hale. John hale is an example of outward conformity because he believes in the devil in the beginning, he sees that the girls are

 The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, is a play that takes place in the sixteen nineties during the famous but tragic witch trials. The entire community is in pandemonium yet certain characters are also fighting internal conflicts. Miller uses three characters that manifest this internal battle ever so clearly: Mary Warren whose whole world turns upside down, John Proctor who must weigh the importance of his family against his reputation and Reverend Hale who must decide whether to do his job, or do what he knows to be right. 

Imagine living in a society where you are guilty till proven innocent, instead of innocent til proven guilty. Due to the bias preference of the word of “God” in the story The Crucible By Arthur Miller, it is greatly implied that many of the casualties such as John and Elizabeth Proctor to name a couple was due to the restricted theology of church and state. In the Puritan New England town of Salem, Massachusetts, a group of girls goes dancing in the forest with a black slave named Tituba. While dancing, they are caught by the local minister, Reverend Parris. These girls are who create most of the controversy, as they lie to get through most circumstances. A specific individual is Abigail Williams, playing the victim for example as she blames Tituba in page 43 saying “She makes me drink blood!” leading to Tituba to being pulled to the side in page 44 and yelled at “you will confess yourself or I will take you out and whip you to death” making her give in, in order for him to spare her life. leading to further unjustifiable atrocities.

Arthur Miller writes about the tragic results of human failings in his play, The Crucible. He presents characters from the past and infuses them with renewed vitality and color. Miller demonstrates the horrifying results of succumbing to personal motives and flaws as he writes the painful story of the Salem witch trials. Not only do the trials stem from human failings but also from neglect of moral and religious considerations of that time. Characters begin to overlook Puritan values of thrift and hope for salvation. Focusing on the flawed characters, they begin to exhibit land lust, envy of the miserable and self-preservation.

Lying leads to terrible tragedies. Lying for so long will make it unpleasant to move on and the more difficult it will become. Just like how The Crucible ends. The Crucible is set in Salem, Massachusetts, at the beginning of the 1692 Salem Witchcraft Trials. The story is centralized around John Proctor, a white, landowning Puritan who betrayed his wife, Elizabeth by having sex with Abigail Williams. Back in the day, everything was black and white, meaning if something isn’t about God then it must’ve been about the Devil, they were religious people and they would not accept the fact that he had sex with someone else outside of marriage. He denied that nothing ever happened between him and Abigail. While Proctor is not taking responsibility for his actions, he causes a big commotion: people getting arrested and hanged, Abigail and a group of other girls are being accused of being part of Witchcraft. In the fourth act, Proctor is stuck in a situation where he either says the truth about who is part of witchcraft or he gets hanged. Proctor does not confess because he does not want people to use his name in vain and he knows that if he confesses it will leave a bad example for his sons, he decided to die an honest man than to live a fraud. At the end, Proctor ripped the confession knowing that he will be hung. Throughout the play, Arthur Miller creates two themes: the past will always haunt you and as people run away from their problems, their problems will continue to follow

A second theme revealed in The Crucible is empowerment. During the trials in the play, many characters were given power, which they never had before. These characters were the women. Women in Salem are generalized to be governed by the men and have no choice in anything. The women either work as servants to men or get married and have children. An example of this theme is Abigail Williams. She’s seventeen-years-old and has a great amount of power with the witch trials. In one scene with Reverend Hale, Reverend Parris, Abigail, Mrs. Putnam and Tituba, Abigail is explaining to Reverend Hale about the incident with Betty. Once she sees Tituba, Abigail points at her and says to Reverend Hale, “She made me do it! She made Betty do it!” Abigail also says, “She sends her spirit on me in church, she makes me laugh at prayer!”With these serious accusations, Tituba is imprisoned just because Abigail accused her of practicing witchcraft. The idea of empowerment is universal and enduring because anyone in the world with no supremacy, can suddenly have all the power. Today in modern society, people all over the world set aspirations in order to gain authority and be ahead of everyone else. Furthermore, many people in the world have power and authority over others. Empowerment will always be in societies around the world.