Homework Week 8

The title The Crucible hints at paradoxical concerns which run throughout the play. On the one hand, a crucible, as a melting pot III which metals are heated to separate out the base metals from the valuable ones, could represent the spiritual improvement which can happen to human beings as a result of trials and hardship. Fueled by the lies and blasphemy in the town, they're finally brought to a "melting point" where the God-fearing people of Salem buy into the deceit and start to charge witchcraft. On the other hand, a crucible is also a witches' cauldron in which ingredients are brewed together to be used in black magic. In this sense, Miller might be suggesting that good can even come out of attempted evil, as well as the normal and healthy challenges of Christian life. In this sense, the events in Salem are seen as a necessary evil which roots out evil at the very heart of the community and which brings about a kind of cleansing; the crimes were charged in attempt to purify the community of the influence of Satan. John Proctor was put through a severe test of faith in himself, and came through in the end by finding the good in himself and refusing to cast away his name in signing a confession.