The Crucible

The Crucible. Directed by Nicholas Hytner. (Twentieth Century Fox, 1996)

The Crucible was adapted from Arthur Miller's stage play with the same name. The original stage play ran in New York in 1953, however, the play would not compare to "Death of a Salesman", Miller's well known play. In 1996, an adaptation of the play was brought to film. Arthur Miller was credited with scripting the screenplay as well.

Miller's inspiration can from what transpired in Salem, Massachusetts in the late 1600's. At that time, Salem was a Puritan community that had strong work and religious ethics. The strong religious ties could have been one reason why witchcraft trials sprouted like wildfires.

Arthur Miller tried to incorporate many of the important figures that fueled the witch hunts, such as the Parris family, the Proctors, the Putnams, and Tituba the slave woman. Miller also incorporated many historically accurate events. These events consisted of the practice of voodoo, dancing, and how the girls behaved in strange manners.

These accurate accounts are overshadowed by inaccurate or fabricated events. These inaccurate events consist of a love story between the main characters, Abigail Williams and John Proctor, Abigail seeking revenge on the Proctor family, and how all the girls were bewitched at once.

There was evidence that many of village girls were practicing voodoo and dancing. Tituba had admitted that she taught the girls these strange rituals. There is also evidence that the girls would try to create love spells. The voodoo love spell was how the film introduced Abigail Williams' feelings towards John Proctor. Abigail was in love with him.

-2-

In the film, Abigail was portrayed as a young woman, perhaps in her late teens to early twenties. John Proctor was portrayed to be in his mid to late thirties. In Salem, when the witch trials started, Abigail would have been eleven years old. John Proctor would have been near sixty years old. Surely, an eleven year old would not be romantically interested in a person that was in his sixties.

Due to Abigail, the love spell was not successfully performed and caused all of them to act in strange and fantastic ways. In reality, the girls would become