Theme of the Crucible

Theme Development in The Crucible The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a historical play, but more importantly a social and psychological drama. The various ways the themes are developed through The Crucible are through characters, plot, setting and dialogue. The importance of the witch-trials is, according to Raymond Williams, that in them 'the moral crisis of a society is explicit, is directly enacted and stated, in such a way that the quality of the whole …

…theme 'evil' can be developed through characters such as Rebecca Nurse who warns us of the danger of seeking of spirits and Abigail Williams who is evil, commits lechery with John Proctor, her jealousy of Elizabeth Proctor and accuses innocent people of being witches. The dialogue that is spoken between the characters shows an evil trait, and some characters speak of evil such as Rebecca Nurse. All these, and others help to develop the theme.