The Crucible - 1/3 book read

The Crucible is a drama written by author Arthur Miller that was published in 1953. This play takes place in Salem, Massachusetts in the time on 1692. The small town of salem is ruled by a theocracy type government which means it is ruled by God though the authority of church officials. In the beginning of the play, Reverend Parris has a daughter,named Betty, who is laying in bed sick. He stumbles upon his niece, protagonist of the story, Abigail Williams and other girls in the woods dancing around fire while Tituba, the slave, is chanting weird things. After the event in the woods is discovered, talk of witchcraft in salem circulates around the town. People suspect that the girls in the woods were engaging in witchcraft. Abigail pleads that the girls did not participate in witchcraft but then tells the other girls to blame Tituba and say that she was conjuring spirits of the dead.

This story shows the things people believed in, and how they acted out of fear in those times. The religious group in Salem in that time were called the Puritans. They are very strict christians who believe that religious authorities know everything thats right in the world because they hear it from God. Witchcraft was a threat to that belief so whoever was suspected of being a witch was put to death. The girls in the story knew that what they were doing would get them in a lot of trouble and eventually death. In fear, they blamed the black slave, who was obviously lower in social status them any of the young girls. The girls of Salem have no power because they are female. In that time in history, women had few to no rights. They are starting to gain power over other individuals that live in Salem because they can and are probably going to make more false allegations against other salem citizens so that they do not get in trouble for witchcraft.