The Crucible by Arthur Miller - Essay Example

“The Crucible”, a story by Arthur Miller, describes the occurrences in a meager suburb in Massachusetts where religion forms a significant part in the maintenance of law and order. The very aspects of justice that normal Christianity finds formidable find acceptability in this town (Miller, 1953). The event in the story gives the account of five girls practicing witchcraft and this causes a strange illness in the daughter of the area priest reverend Parris, Betty. The events that transpired involved his niece Abigail, Betty, and their three friends Mercy, Mary, and Ruth. The Priest does not want to admit the possibility of witchcraft in his house involving its occupants considering the hard work he had put in to get his followers like him (Miller, 1953).

            Reverend Parris continues with this denial even before a re-known couple in the suburb, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Putman though he suspects that they might be true after he had found the girls dancing in the woods with one of them nude (Miller, 1953). After the confession that the Putmans had lost their previous children to death through unfamiliar circumstances, they are convinced their other daughter is also headed the same way. Later the girls realize that if the truth comes out, the court in Massachusetts will convict them of murder by hanging. This culminates in a series of witch-hunting that causes a lot of persecution of many innocent people in the area. This is all due to Abigail who was doing all this to eliminate her former boss Elizabeth Proctor with who’s the husband she was having an affair with (Miller, 1953). They performed witch-like rituals like consuming chicken’s blood and even invoking the spirits of Putman’s dead children. The story terminates as Abigail escapes with all of the proctor's wealth and Proctors refuses to accept blame to retain his honor and that of his children. The Judge authorizes his murder but he dies proudly and later this ends the religious-led government in the town (Miller, 1953).

Persecution

            According to Kuosmanen (2014), persecution entails accusing a person wrongfully with the intention of seeking their wrongful punishment. The main intent of the person persecuting the other is to inflict pain accusing them of mere malice. Persecution has its origin in the bible during the olden days when there were frequent persecutions of those who were in the service of God (Chandler, 1736).

            The whole concept of the Crucible entails persecution where forceful accusations are common in the town of Salem. The situation is even worse due to their system where the ruling was on the basis of religious grounds. Miller (1953) first illustrates the element of persecution when he claims that the people of Salem were popular even in far cities for their wrongful accusations against people who had crossed their paths. A further illustration of persecution is when the Reverend cries that the people in the town dislike him for no reason and they would crucify him any chance they get (Miller 1953).

            Persecution in the story is so intense that young girls like Abigail can accuse other people of Satanism yet they are the real culprits. These girls do this to cover up their ritualistic actions in a bid to bring death to Elizabeth Proctor.  Another characteristic of persecution is the need to cover up the sins of one person by condemning another to take the blame. Abigail causes persecution of so many people whom she accused and since the court had so much faith in her, they all face terminal executions.

            Persecutions can also happen for revenge purposes thus a person can accuse another wrongfully just to get them out of the way for past grudges.

John Proctor’s wife, Elizabeth faces the death penalty because of Abigail’s wrongful accusations because she wants her out of the way to marry his husband (Miller 1953). This is despite the fact that John does not want anything to do with her. The events before that illustrate Proctor’s worry that insinuated that Abigail will accuse Elizabeth and eventually that happened. To avert his wife's prosecution, Proctor seeks Mary help’s and asks her to tell the truth but she refuses.

            In many cases, those who find themselves in the path of wrongful accusations receive proposals to accept blame in exchange for exonerations. This is common in persecution instances in order to justify the actions of the accusers (Miller 1953). Proctor, faces death in defense of his wife and shortly considers admitting the blame for something he did not do. However, he changes his mind at the last minute to preserve his name and that of his children.

            The concept of persecution is similarly evident during the time of Senator McCarthy with his unjustified accusations of socialism. Though later, his accusations emerged baseless, there were a lot of persecutions that had already taken place. Those who dared go against him got the label of promoting totalitarianism and got punished for that. Those mostly affected were entertainers and musicians whose careers faced setbacks as a result.

Conclusion

            Persecution occurs when wrongful accusations happen to cause harm and pain to another. The majority draws its origin in the olden day but also transcend into the modern-day world. Accusations to exonerate one self, accusations to justify one's mistake, and accusations to eliminate an obstacle with an ill motive all qualify as persecutions.