The Importance Of The Salem Witch Trials In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

The Puritan era of the sixteenth and seventeenth century had a large impact on the daily lives of every community. During this time it was nearly impossible to tell the difference between church and law, as the church was a major factor in this era. Another important event that took place in this time period was the Salem witch trials. During these trials many innocent people lost their lives and it had inspired people for many centuries to write stories and plays based on the event, to tell of the horrible trials the people went through and to compare to modern day conflicts. One play that was wrote based off of the Salem witch trials was “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller published in 1952 to compare the mass hysteria of communism to that …show more content…
First of all, to make a living to support his family, John must farm. In court on page 1192 in act 3 when Cheever tells of the plowing John does on Sundays, the Sabbath day, he responds, “I-I have once or twice plowed on Sunday. I have three children, sir, and until last year my land gave little.” This desperate response in court displays that this is his only form of income. Only two pages later on page 1195 in act 3, Giles exclaims, “If Jacobs hangs for a witch he forfeit up his property- that’s law! And there is none Putnam with the coin to buy so great a price. This man is killing his neighbors for their land!” he continues further to say, “The proof is there! I have it from an honest man who heard Putman say it! The day his daughter cried out on Jacobs, he said she’d given him a fair gift of land.” When Giles had said this it was to explain that if anybody had made a bad name for themselves, or crossed Putnam, they could be falsely testified against and possibly lose their life and their land; this was something the John Proctor could not afford. Also, another reason that reputation was important to him was so he could set a good example for his children. When the judges had wanted him to sign a paper that would be nailed to the door of a church saying he consented to participating in witchcraft. John could not bare the thought of being …show more content…
In act 4 of the play, John Proctor was being prepared for his hanging for the charge of not admitting to being involved in witchcraft with the devil. During this rising action of the play Reverend Hale and his wife were working to convince him to lie and admit that he was involved in witchcraft, in order to save his life. However, his wife, Elizabeth informed him that she would not judge no matter the decision that John made. The climax of the play began when John finally agreed to lie and claim he was a witch. However, he learned that in order to do this he would have to blame other innocent people for witchcraft and have his name hanging on the church forever as a witch. As discussed earlier, he did not want to be known to his children as a coward who signed falsely to only save his life. He also did not want to be a part of the town that lied only for the selfish reason of saving his own life, when many other brave souls didn’t lie. Finally, he did not want to be known forever as a witch to the town and anyone who would see his name hanging on the church door. Thus, he ripped the contract up that stated he was a witch and decided he would be hung. On page 1233 as the very last line of act 4, Elizabeth exclaims after watching the horrific sight of her husband being taken for his soon to be brutal death, “He have his goodness now, God