The Crucible

1
The Crucible

• Themes Symbols

2
Pride

• John Proctor wrestles with confessing, because he
  cannot allow his name to be tarnished.
• He has nothing left but his name to leave his
  sons.
• Because it is my name! Because I cannot have
  another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself
  to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the
  feet of them that hang! How may I live without my
  name? I have given you my soul leave me my name!

3
Intolerance

• The witch trials are the ultimate expression of
  intolerance.
• The Crucible is set in a theocratic society, in
  which the church and the state are one, and the
  religion is a strict, austere form of
  Protestantism known as Puritanism.
• Sin and the status of an individual's soul are
  matters of public concern.
• Hanging witches is the ultimate means of
  restoring the community's purity.
• Danforth a person is either with this court or
  he must be counted against it.

4
Hysteria

• Hysteria can tear apart a community.
• Hysteria supplants logic and enables people to
  believe that their neighbors are committing
  incredulous crimes.
• The townsfolk accept and become active in the
  hysterical climate because it gives them a chance
  to express repressed sentiments and to act on
  long-held grudges.
• Example Abigail who uses hysteria to attempt to
  rid herself of Elizabeth Proctor.

5
Reputation

• Reputation is tremendously important in
  theocratic Salem, where public and private
  moralities are one and the same.
• The fear of guilt by association becomes
  particularly destructive.
• Focused on maintaining public reputation, the
  townsfolk of Salem fear that the sins of their
  friends will taint their names.
• Example Reverend Parris fears having talk of
  witchcraft originate in his home, with his
  daughter.

6
Empowerment

• The witch trials empower several characters in
  the play who are previously marginalized in Salem
  society.
• The once debased, lower classed woman align
  themselves with what appears to be Gods will.
• The women and children, as Proctor puts is
  jangle the keys of the Kingdom.

7
Accusations, Confessions, and Legal Proceedings

• The dramatic accusations and confessions fill the
  play even beyond the confines of the courtroom.
• A chorus of indictments are heard before Hale
  even arrives. (Putnam Corey, Abigail Parris,
  etc)
• The entire witch trial system thrives on
  accusations, the only way that witches can be
  identified, and confessions, which provide the
  proof of the justice of the court proceedings.

8
Crucible

• Definition A place, time, or situation
  characterized by the confluence of powerful
  intellectual, social, economic, or political
  forces.
• Millers title suggests a convergence of
  conditions that included theocratic power, guilt,
  repression, pride, reputation which all led to
  the activities of Salem, MA in 1692.