Sunday, December 13, 2009

The Crucible

Watching the movie " The Crucible" by Arthur Miller and then having read the play makes me ponder on the question of personal integrity and dignity for a faithful Christian . The word crucible according to dictionary means "a severe test or trial of ones belief and patience". In a nutshell the play is about the paradox of the unquestional believe and trust  in God and for the very reason the adherents/ followers of christian beliefs  are doomed /or costed them a heavy price.

The setting/ place  is Salem, Masschusetts, in 1962, which is  described as

 "an enclave (a small group isolated within large one)of rigidy (unyielding)piety(reverence for God, devout fulfillment of religious obligations) huddled on the edge of a wilderness.  Its inhabitants believe unquestioningly in their own sanctity..."  and it was "That very believe will have poisonous consequences when a vengeful teenager accuses a rival witchcraft -and then when those accussations multiply to consume the entire village".


Salem witch trials were a series of hearings before local magistrates followed by county court of trials to prosecute people accused of witchcraft in Essex, Suffolk, and Middlesex counties of colonial Massachusetts, between February 1692 and May 1693.

A researh in Wikepidia throws some light upon the witch hunting and the origin of word .  The Salem trial according to Wikepdidia

"The episode has been used in political rhetoric and popular literature as a vivid cautionary tale about the dangers of religious extremism, false accusations, lapses in due process, and governmental intrusion on individual liberties"

The play was first produced in 1953, it was a time when "America was convulsed by a new epidemic of witchhunting".  The Crucible brilliantly explores the threshold between individual guilt and mass hysteria, personal spite and collective evil"


Characher sketch of Salem

The inhabitants of Salem were very devout Christian and described as "Their creed forbade anything resembling a theatre or "vain enjoyment". They did not celebrate Christmas, and a holiday from work meant only that they must concentrate even more upon prayer". They were dedicated folk and disciplined.

Two man patrol appointed and whose duty was to report to magistrates of anything unusual they heard in the streets or from the field.  This practise of "minding other people's business was time-honored among the people of Salem and it undoubtedly created many of the suspicions which where to feed the coming madness".

It was John Proctor who rebeled against this intrusion into personal privacy.

 P-5 "The Salem folk believed that the virgin forest was the Devil's last preserve, his home base and the citadel of his final stand. To the best of their knowledge the American forest was the last place on earth that was not paying homage to God".

Abigail:   The teenager who attempted to seduce John proctor

Parris:  the minister and Uncle of Abigail,   She denied of conjuring spirit in the forest. and she was accused of conjuring up spirit in the forest.

Betty:  She is a young girl, who was frightened and fainted, when Parris leaped out of the bush so suddenly.



Salem tragedy:
P-7 "The people of Salem developed a theocracy, a combine of state and religious power whose function was to keep the comunity together, and to prevent any kind of disunity that might open it to destruction by material or ideological enemies". it was forged for a necessary purpose and accomplished that purpose".

The witchhunt was not only a repression, "it was also a long due opportunity for everyone so inclined to express publicly his guilt and sins, under the cover of accussations against the victims". So when someone falsey accused Martha Corey for transgressions, it become patriotic and holy thing to do.

long held hatred against neighourbs,could now be openly expressed and vengance taken. One could cry witch against one's neighbour and feel perfectly justfied in the bargain. Old scores could be settled on a plane of morality.

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