The Crucible Theme

Pandemonium runs rampant, and suppressed children cry out witch. Scenes such as these from Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, provides a fictional depiction of the infamous 1692 Salem, Massachusetts, witch trials. During the play, the entire community suffers from the mass hysteria that starts with a few young girls dancing in the woods. When the girls are inflicted with abnormal illnesses and problems, the community assumes that witchcraft is involved. After many accusations, trials, and …

…hysteria in forming. He, like John Proctor, also chooses the relief from his inner conflict, although his is the easier self-relief of the two, since he must only counsel Christians while John will hang. Whether right or wrong in his decision, each character carefully weighs his choice and goes with what he thinks is the right decision within his life and must live and die by that decision, resolving whether good or bad, the conflict.