FREE ESSAY ON THE CRUCIBLE: LITERAL VS. LITERARY

THE CRUCIBLE: LITERAL VS. LITERARY

Arthur Miller's famous drama The Crucible, a tale of how accusations and lies 
ruinously impact a whole community, is very aptly titled. By definition, a "crucible" is
"a
severe test," and the challenges faced by Miller's characters are many. The historical
events dramatized in the play reflect how core human values, including truth, justice
and
love, are tested under life and death conditions. The trials of the characters and the
values
they hold dearly come when their simple, ordered world ceases to be black and white and
easily deciphered, and is turned upside down in the gray shade of ambiguity.
A major test in The Crucible is found in how the household of John Proctor 
responds in situations where hard choices must be made between lies and honor or truth
and shame. Early in the drama, it is revealed that Proctor has been unfaithful to his
wife,
Elizabeth, indulging in an extra-marital affair with a servant girl, Abigail. Suspecting
the
affair, Elizabeth dismisses Abigail amid rumor and innuendo, and Proctor confesses to
his
wife. The value of truth in their marriage is sorely tested when Elizabeth cannot find
it
within herself to forgive him. As the chain of events surrounding Abigail and the
dancing
girls in the forest leads to mounting self-protective lies about their activities, many
women
in the community, including Elizabeth, are accused of the practice of witchcraft. When
the
magistrate comes to arrest Elizabeth, the charges revolve around a doll made by servant
girl Mary Warren and Abigail's claim that the doll is Elizabeth's devilish instrument of
torture. Mary Warren's awakening to the truth about Abigail's lies causes her to
question
her experiences and the oddly vaulted place she holds in the community as one of the
bewitched. When Mary cannot withstand the pressure of the taunting girls in the face of
her truth, she crumbles. Even though Proctor realizes that coming forth and confessing
to
his lechery with Abigail will bring shame and dire consequences upon himself and his
family, he steps forward to save the reputation and life of his wife. Proctor calls upon
the
court to summon his wife to verify his faithlessness, swearing "there are them that
cannot
sing and them that cannot weep---my wife cannot lie. I have paid much to learn it." The
irony of his confession of adultery to save his bride comes full circle when she denies
his
adultery to save him. Ultimately, Proctor chooses to denounce the lie of "doing the
Devil's work," knowing that the choice of truth will mean his death. 
The value of justice in the ordered society of Salem is also put to the test. When
Betty Parris, the daughter of the self-serving Reverend Parris, falls ill , "the whole
country's talkin'witchcraft." Parris, to save his tenuous position as minister of the
flock,
calls in an expert in expelling demons, the Reverend John Hale. Reverend Hale is an
intellectual, full of desire to put to practice the tools he possesses that are "weighted
with
authority." As Reverend Hale responds to the pleas of parents to intervene on behalf of
their daughters, the deceit of Abigail and the dancing girls takes on a life of its own,
resulting in the formation of a tribunal to judge the implicated witches. The reverend
finds
himself caught up in a system of justice where confessions of consorting with the Devil
are
rewarded with forgiveness and life, while denial of impurity and witchcraft are harshly
punished with death. Repeatedly, he tries to assert the value of justice, protesting
that
Elizabeth Proctor is unjustly arrested and advocating that her husband be allowed a
lawyer. "I may shut my conscience to it no more," he cries as the court turns their
focus
on Proctor, and eventually he leaves the court in the name of justice. The test of
Reverend Hale's sense of justice later takes an ironic turn, when he returns to minister
to
the condemned. As he upholds the value he places on justice, he supports Proctor's
ultimate decision to die an honest man.
In the drama, the value of love is also challenged. The love that John and
Elizabeth Proctor have is first put to the test by Proctor's infidelity and later as they
try to
uphold their values as their community succumbs to the hysteria of the accusations of
witchcraft. They struggle to heal and maintain their marriage as they care for their
farm
and children and to help their friends and neighbors who are falsely accused and at risk
of
death as Salem is swept with paranoia. As Proctor and Elizabeth take bold steps to speak
up for what is right and true for their community, their best qualities come to the
forefront
and they come to recognize all that is good and enduring about their love. In their
final
moments together, when political pressures have taken such a turn that the court finds
it
expedient to come up with a way to spare Proctor's life, the imprisoned, pregnant
Elizabeth is asked to persuade her husband to confess to consorting with the Devil so
that
he may live. As they agonize over the desperate choices facing them, Elizabeth tells him
"let none be your judge. There be no higher judge under Heaven than Proctor is! . . . I
never knew such goodness in the world!" Proctor at first chooses life, for her and their
children, but cannot bear the sacrifice of his soul to the lie. Her love for him and
respect
for his basic need to be true to himself and his values gives him permission to choose
to
die an honest man.
Throughout the drama, The Crucible, the characters are faced with chilling choices
as they maneuver through a world that has lost its moral compass. The crucibles, the
serious tests, of their dearly held values put them in the position of having to figure
out
what is right and true in a world turned upside down. The value of truth is tested when
lies are rewarded and truth brings suffering, shame and the scaffold of the gallows. The
value of justice is challenged by a system that comes to be based on coerced
confessions,
unsubstantiated charges and self-serving political scheming. The value of love, be it of
husband and wife or of friends and community, is put to the test where true love is
exemplified by fatal choices.
Bibliography
The Crucible - Arthur Miller