Argumentative Essay On The Crucible

As stated in the above paragraph, the main focus of this paper is The Crucible by Arthur Miller. Set in the small Puritan village of Salem, Mass., The Crucible starts with the girls dancing under the moonlight in the woods. When the reverend's daughter, Betty, falls into a coma like state, rumors of witchcraft spread quickly through the town. After Abigail blames the reverend's slave, Tituba, for witchcraft, to which she confesses but says she is not the only witch in Salem, leading to widespread fear and panic to the town. Then we find out that, while working for John Proctor, Abigail engaged in an affair with him, and after being discovered by Proctor’s wife, she was fired. We also find out that Abigail wants to continue the affair but Proctor continually shuts her down. Later, Proctor’s wife Elizabeth is accused of witchcraft and arrested. In response to her arrest, Proctor blames Abigail for being an adultress in hope that it will clear the accusation and free his wife. His plan, however, backfires when Abigail begins to act crazy and tells the town that Proctor had her sign her name in the Devil’s book. This accusation lands Proctor in jail and set to be …show more content…
Using writing as his tool, Arthur Miller shot back at political figures using public fear and paranoia as their platform by writing The Crucible and essentially saying that the then-modern government was on a giant witch hunt and was no more advanced than that of Salem, Mass.. To me, this play shows that no matter how far our society goes, society can continue to go full circle because the play ultimately speaks to human nature. While initially the play was written to be a metaphor between the Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism, the versatility in the themes of the play easily be applied and compared to many different times in history (Gray,