Stephanie Rothrock: Student Choice: 4: The Crucible

I really wanted to write this as it demonstrates the darker side of ambition with respect to religion. In Christianity, we uphold the value of faith. This is a beautiful thing in that it preserves innocence. Overthinking can destroy us (as the bible indicates) as we saw in the Libertine but so too can too little thinking. What happens when a mass of people embraces an ideal simply out of faith. Should we question the workings of our beliefs?

During the infamous Salem Witch Trials, a text was circulated by a religious official. This text was called the Malleus Maleficarum, the Hammer of Witches. It was essentially a guide to recognizing witches. It gave methods of identification so that the world could be cleansed. These ideas had no basis in fact but they were accepted without question to the religious backing that it held.

Any woman who did not fit in was thought to be a witch. Any woman who did not conform was deemed a witch. Any woman who had an opinion, was a witch. The sexism and stupidity rampant at this time were extraordinary. Women were the blame of everything. If a man had an urge than it was a woman who brought it about through witchcraft. If he had wet dreams, then it was a woman's doing. Everything was the fault of a woman. All women could be viewed as witches since they were to blame for everything. Men held no responsibility for their problems or their sexuality. It was all women. If a woman was so much as in the wrong place at the wrong time, she could be guilty of witchcraft.

Women were slaughtered in vast numbers in accordance with a sexist book. There was no mercy to be had and not rational mind to be found within the mix. One of my favorite examples of the sheer mass hysteria deals with a test of witchcraft. If a woman floats then she is a witch but if she sinks then she is innocent, great, now just go fetch the body of the poor innocent woman who you just drowned in a lake.

The Crucible is a remarkable work in that it demonstrates the power of suggestion with regards to faith and superstition. Abigail has her own selfish motive but through the ideals of the time, she is able to turn the town against itself, killing countless people accused of witchcraft in an attempt to get the man she wants. The story demonstrates the very danger where people abandon reason and refuse to question a source. My only criticism is that in attempting to criticize the error, they also support it. The root of all evil in the film is a woman, a woman who destroys an entire village. Here again we have a woman as the real witch and root of all evil while the man (John Proctor) is the rational figure calling for reason.