The Crucible Essay Example for Free

The Crucible EssayThe vista of capital of Oregon, Massachusetts in Arthur millers The Crucible is a setting that is accessible and relevant to the reader, as it is grounded in naive realism. Although it is different from our society, it did once exist, and therefore helps us regard what can happen in a misgiving establish society. The theocratic setting is grounded in realism and Miller uses this to warn us that invoice repeats its self, and may do so again, as identical resultantidets happened in America in the 1950s. Miller uses Salem 1692 to show us some of the implications of living in a devotion based society, like having a good pay heed.In a fear based society, nobody is automatically trusted, everyone is judged by their expose. John Proctor has had a good name his whole heart in the settlement of Salem. However when he has information that could prove Abigail is not as good as she appears, he is conflicted between confessing that he had an affair with her an d ruining his good name, or watching people he knows argon innocent be convicted and keeping quiet. He does not want to blacken his name in the village. So he keeps the information to himself about the affair until it is too late, and nobody lead believe him be private road his name is no longer good.This shows that having a good name was so important in this society that you would take a chance your friends being convicted of witchcraft to keep your name white. Toward the end, when Proctor is about to confess to witchcraft, he refuses to residence away his name you have taken my soul, leave me my name He yells, and from this we see there is nix more important to him. Similarly, Judge Danforth is fixated on having a good name. We see this when he is not unstrained to postpone John Proctors hanging.He knows that John could be innocent, exactly if he postpones the hanging, the village could question Danforths judgement. So Danforth would rather innocent people die, than the co urts, or his reputation be put on the line. From these two characters, we get a sense of how much value a name can hold. The setting is vital in helping us infer this theme. Miller wants us to understand that in the close, fear-based village of Salem your name has so much value and holds your entire reputation. It must be kept white as people make every termination about you based on your name. It s ridiculous events like this that happen in a fear based society. However Salem 1692 is grounded in realism, so we are forced to consider our own society, and what actions take entrust currently as a result of fear. Take the Boston Marathon bombings for example. The USA lives in constant threat of terrorist attacks so when a bombing takes place, most Americans and the rest of the world are quick to weary it was the doing of the Middle East, when in fact there is no evidence at all to suggest that. Miller is encouraging us not to jump to conclusions in times of panic or unrest.In fear based societies, things often happen that we would now consider ludicrous, like intuition being genuine as proof, Miller uses a setting that is grounded in realism to show us this. In Salem, 1692 people lived in constant fear of the devil, witchcraft and spending the afterlife in hell. Villagers were so scared of the power of the devil, and the horrors of witchcraft, that anyone who was behaving with the slightest suspicion, or was in any way different, could be accused of being a witch. This is because they had no different translation for the behaviour.This meant that people like Tituba (a black slave) and Goody Good (homeless woman) were easily targeted and convicted by power hungry Abigail. We apothegm this conviction with a lack of evidence with goody Osborne. The evidence used to condemn her was that she did things like cause a black coldness to climb up Marys back, and for her to have a hold up ache, and she mumbled. As Witchcraft is ipsofacto an invisible crime. Theref ore who may possibly be witness to it? The witch and the victim. none other. The accused witchs interchange cannot be trusted therefore Marys word is accepted as fact in the court.Another seemingly ludicrous result of living in a fear based society is when Abigail and the girls hysteric reactions to people are seen as proof. Mr. Hale even admits that he has Seen too many frightful proofs in court showing that he takes these reactions as unfaltering evidence and reason enough to hang. By using this setting with such rigorous moral code, expectations and fear of the devil, Miller shows us how desperation can cloud judgement, and when fear and common vengeance writes the law suspicion can be accepted as proof.We are more willing to accept what Miller is notification us here because it is set in a realistic society that we view critically. Miller creates parallels to other events in history, and even now, to this real society from history to show us that history repeats. The Crucible takes place in a theocratic society, meaning that the bible is fact and law, people make every decision in life to please god and go to heaven after death.This of course means that witches are real as the bible states thou shalt not suffer a witch to live hence the people of Salem genuinely believe the devil is loose in Salem, and witches must be sought after and killed. The Crucible was written in the 1950s, as an allegory for the events that were happening in regards to communists in America. In the 1950s people lived in constant fear of communists America was at war with the Soviet Union, so if someone was seen supporting communism, they were accused of supporting the Soviet Union.The trials to convict communists needed very low evidence and were very partial, it is only because people lived in constant fear that these events could happen. Miller intentionally created mastermind parallels to the 1950s with 1692 Salem. Having the drama set in 1692 allows us to view the text more critically. We are in person removed from it, and can therefore more willingly accept the ideas that Miller is trying to convince us of. The text is a warning of the irrational things that come out of fear.By using this real event in history, and creating parallels with America in the 1950s, Miller wants us to acknowledge that we are not above these people, history just repeats its self. We should be able to lean from the Salem witch hunt, and even 1950s USA, but even today we still jump to conclusions in tense situations. The setting of this play is grounded in realism, it did rattling happen and the characters just represent human nature. Once we recognise this, we see that all humans are capable of behaving in this ludicrous way.In fact we still see this in todays society in Guantanamo bay. As a result of terrorist acts against the country, and the fear of more attacks the U. S military will interrogate, prosecute, act as the defence council, be the judges in trials of peop le who are suspected to be terrorist (often by racist stereotypes, Muslim/Islamic men). This gives possibly innocent people a hideously unfair trial and further validates Millers point That suspicion and accusation can be accepted as proof in fearful situations.We also see from this that the setting must be grounded in realism, by creating links in events that happened in that setting, to other events in history, we are forced to accept these ideas as true. Miller warns us through the setting of theocratic Salem in 1692, an allegory for America in the 1950s of the irrational actions that come from fearful situations and extreme societies. These ideas are accessible and relevant to the reader because the setting is grounded in realism.