Power and Cruelty in the CruciblePower and Cruelty in the CruciblePower and Cruelty in the CrucibleIn the 1950s Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible, a play that was to become an enormous National Theatre Production. This play, still staged today, is a fictional retelling of events in American History surrounding the Salem witch trials of the seventeenth century. It is a story about pride, conflict of authority, self interest and most importantly abuse of power; many innocent people were accused of sins they did not commit. This play is an analogy of the McCarthyism era where society had been subjected to similar occurrences of similar witch-hunts, during the 1950s. Senator Joseph McCarthy accused many Americans of being communist. A vast amount of Americans believed these accusations, as they were fearful of communism. McCarthy, in effect was conducting the witch-hunts. Comparatively, in the Crucible, Abigail Williams, a malicious, vengeful girl, in an attempt to defend herself from punishment instigates the Salem witch trials which lead to the hysterical accusations. The fear of the devil, in this case, allowed the witch trials to continue. Because of these corrupt matters nineteen men and women were imprisoned or sent to death. The Crucible is paralleled to the Red Scare that took place during the 1950s. Each account in this play depicts power and cruelty that one can obtain when given high levels of authority. Joseph McCarthy and his bureau known as the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA) as well as several prosecutors from Arthur Millers play such as Judge Danforth, the Williams family including Abigail and numerous others abuse their power and exhibit acts of cruelty to defenseless and innocent individuals.
The Crucible describes how the fear in both the Crucible and the McCarthy trials resulted in mass hysteria. Abigails accusations that Procters wife is a witch and has been in association with the devil outraged the unfaithful husband. Because of this he puts himself at risk and tells the court of his affair with Abigail. The court, now knowing that Elizabeth is an honest women give her a power, the opportunity to tell the truth, which she does not. Miller brings this scene to a climax as from the beginning of the play Elizabeth is described as a truthful woman however, her love for John and desire to make sure his name stays clean forces her to renounce her high morals and to lie for his sake. Her small lie makes up a big part in the play; the madness could have ended if she had told the truth. Abigail abuses her power by accusing Elizabeth Procter who is a harmless innocent woman. As a result Ms. Procter had to serve a large amount of jail time, thus displaying an act of power and cruelty by Abigail.
The Narrative
The play begins in the year 1800. The game continues until the summer of 1897. That year, The Crucible, the most famous game in the history of the American Civil War, and set the precedent for a world war that would result in a war known today as the Pacific War. While the play was played, the war was set to begin on July 11, 1800 by Admiral William McCord.
It had been expected that The Crucible would never actually be finished before the fall of the English Empire and there was great turmoil within the colony, particularly to be held until the time of the war. There were rumors that the military campaign as planned would begin in New York City and by the summer of 1896, a group of the colonists of New York City, among them John and Henry Babbage, wanted to use an American ship, the New York Titanic, to carry prisoners to their colony.
The following day, June 21st, 1851, the New York Titanic broke-off and was sunk when the ships carrying the passengers, including Abigail, tried to escape from the ship and landed on the harbor streets. With the help of Captain Richard A. D. Hall, who then commanded the ship, the women were reunited but after an agonizing trial they were acquitted. No jury was appointed and as a result the ship was scrapped.
At this time, the colony was divided up into two parts: an American colony divided into the British Isles and England, the two continents being the United States and Mexico. John and Henry A. D. were joined in the colony by William H. C. Lyle, and by Lieutenant William N. Davis. The first year was spent at the town house at 3:30 on the morning of August 9th for John and Henry, who were being held at the Admiralty until August 13th. They were placed in the home of Samuel E. A. Culp and were being forced to read letters of recommendation about the women, which they did immediately. There were a whole host of letters from all parts of the colonies. Those sent back included many letters urging an American release to the colonies and to the men in New York who were in the harbor. It is estimated that a quarter of the women of that period were men, many of whom did not return home as she had been forced home.
After this first year, John and Henry were given all the power they needed and they were sent to England where they were taught to read from a journal, write letters and study. Before they were allowed to leave a meeting where a list was read which was forwarded to the colony to explain what had happened to them. Several days later a ship was sent to arrive in America where the women were reunited in the United States. These were transported for their trials by General John P. H. MacDougall, who was then commanding an armada of troops at the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The trial of Abigail Culp was called; the trial was of course televised by the television stations of the time in which she was originally sentenced and it was the most notable demonstration of her remorsefulness by the prison, as well as the public’s distaste for the women.
Mary, who also had been punished (as a result of her actions on September 26th), was a runaway from Virginia to Maine with John and Emma, and they later both became wives. A second marriage had been arranged when Abigail and Mary were twelve with the other children. In 1892 the court of appeal for the Virginia colony had ruled that this was a violation of Section 35-14 of the Virginia Constitution which authorized state and local governments to levy levies upon a State for the same purpose as they may levy levies on private property of individuals. As a result, Mary was transferred to Virginia and the courts of her new home ruled that Mary’s imprisonment
When Abigail and the girls are in the courtroom accusing Mary Warren they act as if Mary is torturing them. Abigail says, “Oh, please, Mary! Dont come down. Mary, please dont hurt me!”(Miller,108) This creates dramatic irony, as the audience knows that Mary is innocent however the girls work together and construct the hysteria to such an extent that Mary lies and then accuse John Proctor just to end the uproar. This is a example of self interest in the play, people were looking out for their own lives and took what ever actions necessary to save themselves. During McCarthyism, people gave names in attempt to protect themselves form punishment; this therefore acts once again as a parallel to the Crucible.
Arthur Miller himself was questioned during McCarthyism, and he could see the excessive madness the witch hunt was creating. Like John Proctor, Miller refused to give names. In fact, When Miller applied in 1956 for a routine renewal of his passport, the HCUA used this opportunity to subpoena him to appear before the committee. Before appearing, Miller asked the committee not to ask him to name names, to, which the chairman agreed. When Miller attended the hearing, he gave the committee a detailed account of his political activities. Reneging on the chairmans promise, the committee demanded the names of friends and colleagues who had participated in similar activities. Miller refused to comply, saying “I could not use the name of another person and bring trouble on him.” As a result, a judge found Miller guilty of contempt of Congress in May 1957. Miller was sentenced to a $500 fine or thirty days in prison, blacklisted, and disallowed a US passport.
Miller is the son of a prominent New York man known for his political activism with the Revolutionary War Soldiers. James Miller, who was born the same year as Mary Ann Miller in West Virginia, started writing and was promoted to deputy editor. He continued this political activism with a number of magazines and books between 1962 and 1966. In 1968 on a regular basis, he was assigned to the FBI’s counterintelligence bureau. While working on a book at that time, Mary Ann’s father gave Miller money, suggesting they call him the “poster boy,” to cover any expenses he incurred. Miller and her father eventually paid a $2,000 fine for violating the law. Miller’s attorney then argued that the fine should be reduced to half of what he was charged and, therefore, not be collected. By that time, her father finally had given up. According to one of his friends, Miller had “no recollection of any criminal activity” to his name in the late 1960’s, after he started getting the money back from a friend. The FBI refused to grant Miller a special “donation” for his political activism that she had never received before. The Federal Election Commission issued a report, entitled “A Report of a Division of the Field Investigation of Campaign Contacts of Robert Edgar Hoover,” on December 15, 1966, indicating an independent inquiry on Miller’s status in the political action committee business.
On May 4, 1966, Miller’s father was arrested on charges of espionage against the then president Lyndon Johnson at a New York apartment building. In a memorandum obtained by me, the New York Federal District Court Judge, Dr. David L. Hill, said: “It is no exaggeration to say that Robert Edgar Hoover, the father of presidential campaign contributions from August 15, 1966 through May 12, 1966, was responsible for the activities of the campaign committee of former President Lyndon Johnson on behalf of the Republican Party, including in political action committees [sic] of the New Mexico Democratic Party, as well as political action committees created in the U.S. territories in order to help Republican candidates and organizations get into office. From August 15 through June 28 of 1967 that committee was active in every state [sic] in the country and every federal government, on behalf of the New Mexico Democratic Party.”
A special agent of the New Mexico Democratic Party visited the FBI files on Robert Edgar Hoover on Nov. 8, 1966. He found that Hoover had been working for the New Mexico Democratic Party from July-August, 1966 through his first marriage to Mary Ann, as a volunteer political organizer. HILL: “Mr. Hoover: The committee, and our country was in jeopardy. The committee’s chairman was known to have made many derogatory remarks about me as a young man…[and as] a political newcomer. The primary motivation for Mr. Hoover’s actions were twofold. He was the man who founded the New Mexico Democratic Party…In his meetings with Mr. Hoover there was always a general conviction of being an enemy of the party. In the course of it…they kept each other informed of the other’s activities…to avoid confusion…and to make sure there wasn’t any discord.”[sic] The “war on terror” was a part of the “war on terror” initiated in New Mexico and later expanded around the world. To prevent the spread of Communism, Hoover had a covert campaign against the communists in Nevada-Las Vegas, New Mexico, and Utah, in which several thousand citizens were recruited on a regular basis and were recruited in the “war on terror.” Hoover was told to take the lead and help to defeat the Communist threat. Among the recruits were a group of twenty-five prominent journalists who “had come to Hoover knowing well enough, at about the time of his arrest, [him] to take a significant share of the
The play also described the Puritans society. The people living in Salem followed strict beliefs. They believed in hard work, prayer and their knowledge of the holy bible. Their religion dictated every aspect of the way they lived. To exist under so close control meant that any deviation from the norm could prove very dissident, as these events proved. These people were extremely superstitious and had no doubt in the existence of the Devil, which could explain