The Crucible and Modern Day America

The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is a tragic play and reminiscence that is a part of America’s history. The play is based during the Salem witch trials that occurred in Massachusetts in which eighteen innocent Puritan’s, members of a group from the 16^th and 17^th century who wanted to make the Church of England simpler and stricter on its morals, were accused of witchery and were hanged. Nine other Puritan’s died in the jail cell waiting for their trial, one man was pressed to death and a dog was hanged because it was thought the dog was a human in disguise. So it was obvious these were moments of hysteria and madness. Now the state had much to do with this which is why it’s good we don’t have that anymore. Salem’s theocracy of 1692 was a blasphemy and the most awful thing to happen to America because of the problems it caused, because of how people where brainwashed, and because of the diverse religions that we have in the U.S now.

The biggest issue was the false accusation’s made against innocent people. “Danforth: Mr. Putnam, I have here an accusation by Mr.Corey against you. He states that you coldly prompted your daughter to cry witchery upon George Jacobs that is now in jail… Giles: If Jacob hangs for a witch he forfeit up his property- that’s law! And there is none but Putnam with the coin to buy   so great a piece. This man is killing his neighbors for their land.”(Miller 214) In this dialogue Giles Corey, which is the man who was pressed to death, is accusing Mr.Putnam of trying to take away other peoples lands by getting his daughter, one of the “afflicted,” to accuse whoever he wants gone so he can take advantage and buy their land? This means that someone might accuse you just because they don’t like you or you are annoying or even out of jealousy. Today there is a lot of hate, jealousy, arguments, and fights in which many can easily be accused if the church was still part of the state. People were easily brainwashed thinking there was a devil and they felt god was the answer.

The church made people believe in witches and if there are witches there is a Satan meaning there is a god because the world has to be balanced. Anyone can easily pretend to be possessed and the church will say “it’s an invisible crime” and everyone else will go along with it. During the trials I am pretty sure if everyone would have gotten together they could have easily taken over the situation but since they all have the same belief they all thought it was true. Today however, we the church is separated  from the state which is good because god and witches are all myth where the state has made laws that are broken on a daily bases.

Today in the U.S there are many religions that exist for example there is the         christain church, catholic church, etc. I personally am an atheist so I believe in nothing over all. So there is a diversity of different religions so how can a state be ran with so many ethnic groups and religions. It is too much and it wouldn’t work. In The Crucible everyone believes in Puritanism so it was easier although it didn’t work. You can’t run a state based on superstition. If we would still have our church and state together I think all African Americans would be dead when we had our racist  and segregated years.

In conclusion it is great that we don’t have a union between the church and state because that would be a mistake all over again. The church is mostly filled of beliefs that may or may not be true so you can’t accuse anybody on beliefs which is what happen at Salem. The state is the law, rules we should be following everyday like no stealing from others. These are laws that make more sense and we actually know about and some of us are even witnesses to them. In other words the Salem witch trials happened for no reason because no one was actually a witch. The people who were accused were victims of hate, revenge, and even jealousy so hopefully they still rest in peace even though they died for no real reason.

                                                                                                                                

                                   

Works Cited Page                                                  

Applebee, Arthur N; Bermúdez, Andrea; Blau, Sheridan; Caplan, Rebeka; Elbow, Peter; Hynds, Susan; Langer, Judith A; Marshall, James. “The             Crucible.” The Language of Literature. 1941. Harcourt Brace & Company. Boyer, Paul. “Documentary Archive and Transcript Project.” University of Virginia Library. Electronic text center.1997.Nov.30,2010.<http://etext.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft/texts/transcripts.html>  McClenaghan, William A. “Our Political Beginning.” American       Government.   1917. Pearson Prentice Hall