Zuzanna Pasierbek

AP Literature

01/10/18

The Crucible through a Sociological View

From a sociological perspective, the play, “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller puts

restrictions on people based on their gender, race, religion, and social class. Sociologically

speaking, Arthur Miller made these restrictions in order to put more suspense into the play.

The restrictions made on gender are that females were at a bigger risk of being accused of

witchcraft in the play. In the first act, the first people to be accused of witchcraft were all of the

little girls that were in the forest “dancing.” Even later in the play in the time of the trial, the ones

constantly being accused were the women, like Elizabeth, Rebecca and Mary. Even when the

stories kept getting twisted, the judge ultimately came to accusing the women and questioning

them. In an article from ​www.scientificamerican.com​ it said, “​For example, middle aged women

are the most common victims, and accusations of poisoning are frequently involved.” So the

restriction here is that women were quick to be accused of witchcraft and summoning dead

spirits.

There isn’t much talk of race in “The Crucible” but there is one case that shows what

people in that time really thought of people of another race. In act one, when Betty was sick and

the Reverend was trying to find out how it happened and who did it, the one person that was

quick to blame was the servant, Tituba, an African American woman. Later in Act one on page
41, Hale even asks Tituba, “have you enlisted these children for the Devil?” Abigail didn’t want

to risk her good reputation, so when Tituba was blamed, she just went along with it and blamed

her for it as well. But after reading an online research article, I found that ​www.theroot.com​ said,

“According to Breslaw, there is no evidence that Tituba, the slave, had any particular interest,

knowledge or skill in magic before she arrived in Salem and that the ritual she performed was

based on English folk magic at Sibley’s behest.” Meaning that historically speaking, there is no

evidence that Tituba even knew anything about witchcraft let alone do the crime. She was just

the “most convenient” to be accused because she was an African American slave containing

almost no power over the others.

The whole play seems to revolve around religion. Everyone is very committed to being

religious and if someone wasn’t religious they were looked down upon. Taking a look back into

history, of when this play was taken place which was 1953, ​www.patheos.com​ stated, “During

the 1950s, American religious commitment peaked.” Meaning that the 1950’s were a time when

religion was significantly important and the practice of religion among people increased.

Reverend Parris seemed to have a level of authority based on the fact that he was a reverend and

was very religious. This is a restriction made on the characters, the ones that were heavily

religious were seen as more credible people, the reverend wasn’t accused much of the witchcraft

because of his level of authority. Everyone in the play practices Christianity and only the ones

like Reverend had a benefit of it because they weren’t at risk of being questioned or accused of

witchcraft.

Social class and reputation was also a big part of this play. These were things that people

really cared about, especially the men. For example, when Proctor told his wife Elizabeth about
his affair with Abigail, she didn’t want to confess about it during the trial because she was

protecting his reputation. She wanted to maintain his good reputation for him to the public. On

page 105 in “The Crucible” during the trial, Danforth says, “​Look at me! To your own

knowledge, has John Proctor ever commited the crime of lechery? Answer my question! Is your

husband a lecher!” Elizabeth already knew about Proctor’s affair with Abigail, but to protect her

husband’s reputation to the public she responded, “No, sir.” ​So even when he confessed to it,

she denied for the sake of his reputation. It was important for people to maintain their good

reputations for the public so that others would respect them and see them as credible people.

That is something that would help in the time of a trial, if someone is known for maintaining a

good reputation they are more likely to be believed in front of a judge because they have that

credibility.

Some of these sociological restrictions made in the play were created by Arthur Miller for

the entertainment of the play, while some were based on history. For example, African

Americans were constantly accused of things they didn’t do solely because of the color of their

skin and their social class. Just like women were quick to the accusation of witchcraft and

historically speaking, it was true. But the restrictions of religion and reputation were made by

Arthur Miller to add the element of suspense into the play. The reverend could have committed

the crime of witchcraft, but he wasn’t a target because of his level of authority in being a

reverend. And Proctor and his wife wanted to maintain his reputation at a good standing because

it was “important” during that time.

 MLA Sources:

Jr., Henry Louis Gates. “The 'Black' Witch of Salem?” ​The Root​, Www.theroot.com, 14 Apr.

2014, ​www.theroot.com/the-black-witch-of-salem-1790875290​.

US, Ruth Mace The Conversation. “Why Are Women Accused of Witchcraft?” ​Scientific

American​, 11 Jan. 2018,

www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-are-women-accused-of-witchcraft/​.

Mullin, Miles. “The Religion of the 1950s.” ​Anxious Bench​, 16 Jan. 2015,

www.patheos.com/blogs/anxiousbench/2013/07/the-religion-of-the-1950s/​.