The Individual vs. Society in The Crucible

“Compare/Contrast Essay: The Individual vs. Society in The Crucible”

 

"The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice, it is conformity".

-Rollo May

 

                Arthur Miller’s, The Crucible, exposes the picture of a meager village falling victim to a shared horror that the spoken word of witchcraft brings about, masking itself in the citizens of the town.  Reverend Hale, an expert in the knowledge of demonology, is asked upon to fish out the hiding place of the devil, and a court blanketed in justice looks to be placed to root out those corrupted of dealing with the devil. The Crucible takes place in a theocratic society, where the church and state find themselves considered the same, and where the sins and condition of ones soul resides as the business of the public.  The story created by Miller invariably shifts between the ideas that the individual must be cleansed independently in order for the community, as one, to be perpetuated. One may question if the play concerns a characters’ uncovering of his pure self, or about a community, as a whole, hysterically growing out of control. When deciding whether individualism or society plays a more crucial role in the play one must consider the power of language, the motives of all, and moral dilemma.

Language became a demonic force, after Abigail discovers her power resides within her words, and she acts alone to control an entire community by accusing others of witchcraft. The mere influence of her words seduces the minds of the theocratic society, and through her perverted use of talk she kindles the blaze of hysteria and holds power over the party of easily manipulated girls. It only took the word of a single girl, who occupied a low tread on the social ladder of the Puritan Salem society, to have control over an entire community, and eventually be responsible for the deaths of nineteen innocent people. Abigail’s actions also lead to all means of communication between those accused and the society to be blocked. Language reached the point of being no help to anyone; those accused no longer had the chance to express their opinion fully, because the Puritans strongest fear exists in the defiance of God, and the accuser thought to always be holly. So Abigail’s accusations suggest to be directly seen as Gods will. Thus, acting as an individual, she gains complete control over society.

The witch hunt takes place in 1692 where society’s faith in Puritan principles makes them prone to an amount of intolerance concerning any form of antagonism. Such an adamantly reserved society implies that any form of separate identity from accepted beliefs seem to be seen as subversive and threatening. They have therefore a potentially explosive situation where unity of all ensures danger towards an individual’s safety; this precisely triggers off the entire drama of The Crucible. The overall tragedy can be seen as an acclamation of frivolous, selfish quarrels created because of the individual’s desires. This gangrenous process is a mixture of an individual and the force of society.  Abigail is the first to appear as one who carries an endless capacity for concealing lust for John Proctor, and his wife Elizabeth. a mere accusation by her word conveys enough to convict and incarcerate even the most honored inhabitant of Salem, and she takes use of this power ,using her  drive of  jealousy and desire to rid John of his wife and make him her  true lover. But eventually this malignancy progressively feeds on the weaknesses of all other members of the community; suddenly convicting others of witchcraft appeared to no longer be the act of an individual, but rather a social phenomenon. Thus we now have boundary disputes involving the Putnams and the Nurses of Salem, the squabble over lumber with the Proctors, the hunger for revenge intended at Martha Corey over a sick pig, and Mrs. Putnam’s grouchy brininess at being able to keep only one of her abundant children alive. The community joins together over useless squabbles because they feel they are setting Salem on its righteous path once again. Whereas Abigail, living in a extremely oppressive society,  used accusations of witchcraft as a way to assert her will, and wreaked her personal vengeance on Elizabeth Proctor,

 

Palpable evidence seemed to never be given throughout the play; each accused individual required lying in order to save their own life.  Hence the essential need for confessing, appearing to be a new type of institutionalized social alteration as well as a protection of life. In other words when the domineers extract confessions their fixation with the actual “saying” of the admittance of witchcraft, even if it means dishonesty on the part of the particular person, because appealing to authority is their only concern. It is in the affiliation of all these conditions that there lies a discrepancy between the views of Proctor and that of the authorities. One of the most crucial moments of the play appears in the final act of the play where Proctor struggles to admit to a crime he did not commit. The jurisdiction asks upon him to sign his name on a “confession paper” to be places on the doors of Salem’s “holly sanctuary” and be returned of his life.  Alas, Proctor clashes with the chance because the word “name” means something entirely personage, but also somewhat social for it has value in how each member of the community is distinguished. After his burdensome internal struggle he rapidly comes to the conclusion that he will remain the individual he has always been, if only he stays true to his name by refusing to sign the confession, and exercise his right to tell the truth above all else, “You will not use me! I an no Sarah Good or Tituba, I am John Proctor!...How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name! (Miller 120).” His final act of courage arises in the rejection of a faulty society that regulates falsehood. By refusing to give away others’ names he wishes not to spoil their names, and when he rejects the chance to sign his name, he acts to save his integrity before himself and the higher power- which ultimately leads to his, and the other accuses’  death.

 

This play undeniably created as a bi-focal and continually shifts its views from the personal to the public, because of this the individual, who attempts at declaring their individuality, are restrained by a web of social constraints. But when evaluating differences and contrasting ideas it is seemingly difficult when deciding if The Crucible is a story of the growth of an individual, or concerns the constraints handed by society when you consider the aptitude of language used by the characters, the motives of all members of the community, and the moral dilemma each character possesses. The evidence seems to point to the personal triumph of one character, who has reached a heightened self-awareness and favors to preserve his motives rather than live in a society where deceit has attained the rank of an institution. Wonder, however, if this cede will prove to be beneficial to the community as the doubting words of Hale linger in your mind, “What profit him to bleed Shall the dust praise him? Shall the worms declare the truth? (Miller 16)”