A Whole New Standard: The Puritan Way of Life

The Crucible was written by Arthur Miller in 1954. It is a play that takes place in Salem, Massachusetts and he compares the Red Scare and McCarthyism to the Salem Witch Trials in 1692. Act One of the play illustrates the conditions and values of Salem in the 1600’s. The Puritans had a strict set of values that broke life into two categories: purity or sin. Due to this, the people of Salem were avid about keeping their village set apart from any kind of evil.

The Puritans did not live a lavish lifestyle. They focused on doing everything for Christ. In the book of Matthew verse 6:20 it says this; “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.” In the Overture of Act One it explains how the living conditions of Salem really were. It says, “His house stood in the ‘town’- but we today would hardly call it a village. The meeting house was nearby… there were a few small –windowed, dark houses snuggling against the raw Massachusetts winter.” They didn’t live in mansions or have a big town, everything was simple. As also stated in the Overture, the Puritans did not celebrate holidays. They also had hardly any material possessions. They only had what they needed to in order to survive like farming equipment, and other tools or utensils used around the house for everyday things like making dinner. The people of Salem got to read their bible and work, and that was about it.

In order to remain holy and truth-seeking, the puritans did not go into the forest. As said in the overture, “believed that the virgin forest was the Devil’s last playground… the last place on earth that was not paying homage to God”. The forest represented dark and evil. This value is represented when the young girls of the town were caught dancing there. Parris, the preacher, caught his daughter, Betty, his niece, Abigail, and many others “dancing like heathen in the forest”. Parris comes to realize they were with his slave in the forest, conjuring spirits. Parris says many things like, “trafficking spirits in the forest” and “Abominations are done in the forest” to stress how the townspeople do not venture there. It also shows how he believes that nothing good comes from the place that was believed to be of the devil. The end result of the girl’s dancing in the forest seemed to prove that the pastor was right. After dancing in the forest Betty took ill, almost like she had a demon in her. Or at least that’s what the townspeople expected. In the first scene she exhibits strange behavior like this when Abigail tries to wake