‘The Crucible’ is a play written by Arthur Miller (1915-2005), a playwright who wrote several successful plays, including the subject of this article, ‘Death of a Salesman’ and ‘a View From The Bridge’.
The Crucible is a manipulated dramatization of what is known worldwide as the ‘Salem witch trials’ – a historical disaster which occurred in Massachusetts, 1692, in which over a dozen women, 5 men and 2 dogs were executed for ‘witchcraft’; actually, somewhere between 144 and 185 people were accused of ‘witchcraft’ before the disaster ended, most of them being arrested for it. While some facts have been altered slightly (for example, the girl Abigail Williams’ age was raised – in reality, she was 12, whereas in the play, she was in her late teens), and Miller actually tried to figure out the causes for some events and make them his own, the play remains practically true to historical records of what happened all those years ago. Although 1692 was over 300 years ago, the events of the ‘New World’ (except it wasn’t ‘new’ – it was inhabited, but because its residents were not white, that didn’t count to the white Puritans) AKA the early United States of America are still relevant today. But why, I hear you cry?
The Crucible is an ‘allegory’, which is a story, poem or picture that represents a hidden meaning. Animal Farm by George Orwell (recommend – also, get it together and read 1984), for example, was an allegory about communist Russia. This play also has a political message – it was a metaphor for the state of the US in the frantic frenzy to eliminate ‘communists’. It was a time where whenever someone committed an act that seemed ‘weird’ or against social norms at the time, even if it wasn’t malicious, people could be fired from their jobs at the very least, sometimes even executed, for being a ‘communist’. Of course, now, you and I don’t see anything wrong with having the political view of supporting communism, but back in the day (the 40s and 50s), US citizens either A) didn’t really know what communism was or B) knew what it was and therefore recognised that that system threatened their beautiful, privileged, capitalist society. In consequence, everyone was out to get ‘the communists’ and people were blindly accusing others so they, themselves, wouldn’t seem like a ‘communist’… sound like anything familiar?
In Salem, 1692, their society was theocratic. This means that the law and the state as a whole, politically and socially, was controlled by religion. Puritans, the religious people that migrated to the US, considered themselves the chosen ones to follow their extreme version of Christianity; so extreme, in fact, that to defy authority in any way was to defy God, because the court and the law were seen as systems which always delivered God’s work. The Puritans lived in small towns from which very ‘tight-knit’ communities were born – it was difficult to keep a secret, or have independency without people talking. The Puritans were taught from the beginning to believe in one thing: the Bible. You could even be arrested for reading a book that wasn’t their scripture. Because of this, Puritan people generally had very narrow-minded ideas of what was right and wrong for themselves and everyone else, and what should and shouldn’t be done. As soon as someone brought a new idea to the public, had their own opinion of the Church and the way it was run or even the court system, well… people were so used to blindly following others that they immediately alienated these ideas and considered them wrong. Undeniably, this was a large contributing factor as to why people ended up accusing others of witchcraft.
This was strangely similar to 1940s and 1950s North America – people were very much accustomed to what they thought was acceptable, the one specific criteria people used to decide whether something was ‘respectable’, and the fact that stepping out of line meant persecution. The introduction of a new political idea and system, and the fact that people of this system were apparently capable of infiltrating their capitalist society, scared people out of their wits. So, they pointed fingers, just like the people of Massachusetts did in 1692.
In truth, people didn’t know what communism was. In practice, it’s never really worked out (Stalin? Are you there?), but in theory… well, Lenin was a bit of a wise guy, to say the least. If people had actually found out what was going on with the whole ‘commie’ palaver, they probably would have worked out it wasn’t actually as frightening as it was cut out to be. Plus, if they were worried about the seemingly penetrable state of the US political system… well, how far left has the US ever actually been? They had nothing to ‘worry’ about, even if communism, as an idea, would have been worth ‘worrying’ about.
In 1692, people were also willing to believe whatever they were told (teenage communism/witchcraft – don’t do it) as opposed to looking a little further and venturing to discover the truth (a few girls danced, one of them naked, in the woods this one time. There was also some kind of bird-frying involved), which was that nothing was really going on apart from some girls probably getting frisky with each other among the trees, and there wasn’t really anything to be afraid of. The few people who did see through it to any degree either ended up dead (I’m not telling you who – this is a spoiler-free zone) or used their power to accuse people they simply didn’t like as people who were “consorting with the devil”. People used the trials as an excuse to publicly express their anger or upset towards one another and get away with it.
There have been all sorts of theories as to why this occurred – some even theorise that a material used in LSD was in the river they were drinking from – but almost everyone since solidly recognised that there were actually no witches. In fact, it was said that one of the primary accusers came forward years later and admitted that it was all pretence.
Now, I know what you’re thinking… How is this relevant to modern day? You can no longer be persecuted in the United States for being either a communist or, shock horror, a witch. Well, son, I’ll break you out of your little ‘oppression is over!’ bubble right now…
Although the Crucible was written to specifically highlight a certain 2 periods of persecution in the US, the situation can be applied to pretty much any minority. From people with autism to LGBTQ citizens, when people don’t understand something, they immediately alienate it or tell it it’s wrong. A lot of the time, there’s nothing to be afraid of or hostile towards, except people get caught up in a lie that spread from one person, to another, to another… and if some random straight, CIS, able-bodied, neuro-typical, atheist white guy said it, it must be right, mustn’t it?
Wrong.
I don’t suppose any of us millennials have seen havoc being wreaked on any vulnerable people’s lives so much as the past… oh, wait. Looking at you, North Carolina. This whole bathroom thing… is it an excuse to persecute trans people for being themselves in a different way to you?
When people don’t know about something or understand it, they get scared. But that doesn’t mean it’s okay to bring a gun into a public bathroom.
If you didn’t understand how trans people feel about the bathroom laws, I hope you do now, thanks to Arthur Miller. We may be different to you, but we are certainly not consorting with the devil. And you definitely shouldn’t be scared of us. Or communists…
Except Stalin. Because he killed people.
Trans people don’t want to kill anyone. They won’t send their spirit out at night in the form of a cat and try and strangle you like people in Salem, 1692 said others would, either. So don’t treat them like they’re something to be feared.
You don’t get what it is to be trans, and that’s okay. You just have to respect what it is to be trans.
We don’t want to hurt you. Don’t let yourself get caught up in such a big lie that you start trying to hurt us.
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