preview

Salem Witch Trials In The Crucible

Better Essays

Have you ever had a finger pointed at you unfairly? If so, how would that feel? Despite being a country that has fairness and justice as core values, the United States has been and is currently a neutral witness to such events, which has caused irreparable damage. When these events have occurred in the U.S., the targets were usually a certain group of people who were highly feared in society. Targeting a group in this manner was known as a “witch hunt.” In Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible, he discusses how a small suspicion of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts during colonial times ultimately escalated to hysteria and destruction of innocent life. While the Salem Witch Trials were the most quintessential example of a “witch hunt”, similar instances sadly reappeared in different forms during the 20th century. To comprehend how modern events parallel witch hunts of more than 300 years ago, it is important to first examine the main events in The Crucible, which captured the first such significant event on U.S. soil. Miller’s play starts out with a physician who attempts to save 2 ill-feeling girls, Betty Parris and Ruth Putnam. When the doctors tell Betty’s father, Reverend Parris, via Susanna Walcott that she appeared to be fine, Walcott says “But he [the doctor] bid me tell you, that you might look to unnatural things for the cause of it” (9). Here, the doctors resorted directly to witchcraft instead of looking into the fact that Betty could have been traumatized by

Get Access