Setting Analysis of "The Crucible"

If someone saw girls dancing naked in the woods today, they probably wouldn't put them on trial. In early colonial times, it would have been considered a sign of witchcraft and a sin! In Arthur Miller's "The Crucible", a story of that kind of odd behavior is told about the now infamous Salem witch trials. In 1692, a group of young women were caught dancing in the woods and witchcraft hysteria went rampant through Salem, Massachusetts. …

…beast upon the flesh of the pure lamb," (45). When hysteria takes hold, all logic is thrown out. In the small village of Salem, many innocent people were hanged on the preposterous charges of witchcraft. The political, social, and environmental settings of that time helped to heighten the probability of the infamous trials. Arthur Miller uses the Salem witch trial setting to make his point about issues of the time such a event could take place.