The Crucible

The Crucible
In 1962, Massachusetts was plagued by a witchcraft craze in which many people were hanged. This event is considered one of the most tragic incidents in American history. The witchcraft hysteria originated in the small village of Salem, where most of the people were uneducated, but more importantly superstitious. The town was quick to blame witchcraft when several of the girls in the village became sick by a bizarre illness. These afflicted girls were questioned for some time and submitted the names of the women who were responsible for this awful spell. Eventually, other ailing girls began to give names of those who were presumably persecuting them, leaving dozens of peopled jailed. A court was set up to try the people accused of witchcraft. In 1953, Arthur Miller wrote “The Crucible” which translates to the test. The play is based on the actual events of the witch trials in Salem during 1692. Although Miller’s play is a strong story about what took pl...