Natalie Hanek

January 10th, 2018

AP Lit

Ms. O'keefe

Argument Essay

The play, “The Crucible” written by Arthur Miller is about a town in Massachusett,

named Salem, which is spoken to have witchcraft. Throughout the play, there are many

situations of discrimination. For example, a person from a more powerful class was not accused

of being a witch, man or women. Also, there were more women accused of being witches, rather

than men. Also, if you were African American, you were automatically accused of being a witch.

From a sociological perspective, The Crucible, divides people in the play by their sex, color, and

social power.

Social power and reputation was something very important to the people in the play.

Everyone was worried about what someone thought of them and how they looked in front of

others. This is where people accusing innocent people became very popular. Not to be a witch in

the courts eyes, people would tell on one another to save themselves. In the play, people like the

reverend or his family, were not accused of being witches. Since religion was a very strong belief

during the time, accusing the reverend was the last thing someone would do. The reverends

niece, Abigail, had a romance with Proctor. When she accused his wife of being a witch, he told

the court they committed adultery but since it was the reverends niece, they asked Proctor's wife
to confirm. In act three Danforth asks Elizabeth, “Look at me! To your own knowledge, has John

Proctor ever commited the crime of lechery? Answer my question! Is your husband a lecher!” to

protect Proctor’s honor, Elizabeth replies, “No, sir” (Miller 105). Elizabeth knew she was going

to be killed, so she wanted to leave her husband with a good name. I believe that the only reason

they questioned Proctor’s confession was because Abigail was the niece of the reverend. In an

article I read, it says, “Many historians believe the girl’s parents, particularly Thomas Putnam

and Reverend Samuel Parris, were egging the girls on and encouraging them to accuse specific

people in the community that they didn’t like in an act of revenge.’’ (“History of the Salem

Witch Trials.” ​History of Massachusetts​, 12 Dec. 2017,

historyofmassachusetts.org/the-salem-witch-trials/.) I believe that this proves that the Reverends

gave their power to their children to pass on things about people they disliked proving that their

high power in the community had something to do with it! Also, just so the parents aren’t

questioned, the children just say what that “saw” and there are no further inquiry.

Since the Salem witch trials happened in the 1600s, if you were of a different color, you

were one of the first to be accused of being a witch. The play begins with the reverend’s

daughter, Betty, his niece, Abigail, and their slave, Tituba playing in the woods. After coming

back home, Betty gets sick, and since the witch trials have been going on for a very long time,

the reverend accused Tituba of getting her sick by casting a spell on her. This is the first

accusation upon an African American. Tituba was the only slave mentioned in the play, which

made it easy for the author to accuse her. All the accusations that happened in the play and in

real life during the time, were not proven. Everything was because someone thought they saw

something. It was basically an easy way to get rid of the person you disliked or hated. In act one,
Hale asks Tituba, “Woman, have you enlisted these children for the Devil?” (Miller 41). Tituba

does not confess to doing such a thing, but you can see that the author made the characters look

for someone to blame, an easy target that couldn’t defend themselves and someone no one would

believe otherwise because of their color. In another article that I read, it says, “Three enslaved

women were among the approximately 155 people accused of witchcraft in the infamous Salem

witch trials of 1692.” (“The Black Witches Of Salem.” ​Kentake Page​, 4 July 2016,

kentakepage.com/the-black-witches-of-salem/.) Although, three slaves isn’t a lot compared to the

total amount of people accused, in the play, the first person that was accused was an African

American women named Tituba.

Women were of lesser power in the 1600s. They didn’t have many rights for themselves

and many depended on their husbands to do everything, while they stayed home to do chores and

anything a woman was allowed to do. In the play, Miller makes it as so women were the ones

doing all the evil. Although there were some men that were accused as well, the majority were

women. I believe during the time, many women didn’t know their worth and they were all afraid

which is why they all accused each other of being witches. Out of about 150 people accused of

being witches during the Salem Trials, about 93 women were accused of being witches, which

can prove that more women were accused of being witches than men. (“The Salem Witch Trials

Victims: Who Were They?” ​History of Massachusetts​, 13 Jan. 2018,

historyofmassachusetts.org/salem-witch-trials-victims/.)

From a sociological perspective, The Crucible, divides people in the play by their sex,

color, and social power. The play gives subtle hints of what the author believed when he was

writing it. He believed that women were more likely to be witches rather than men, that if you
are a different color than white, you are most likely a witch, and if you are on the bottom of the

social scale, you are going to be an easy target of being accused of witchery.