The Crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller, takes place during the witch trials in Salem, at the time an isolated village in Massachusetts. The Crucible is concerned with who has power, the shift of that power and how people both use and abuse the concept of power on a personal, social and political leveli The Crucible demonstrates that in Puritan times power was used to oppress the people, in particular women. The recent newspaper cartoon by Leunig examines the political level of power and depicts that, regardless of the system of power, it is bad — power systems are always oppressive and depressing for the people However, despite the theme of oppressive power in The Crucible and Leunig‘s cartoon, I believe that power, when it is not misused or abused, can be good In The Crucible, Abigail Williams can be described as an opportunistic, cunning and manipulative character to suit her own purpose, It is through her character that there can be an examination of power at a personal level.
She was not born into power but gains it through her many devious manipulations and accusations Never seen as a dangerous woman, she manipulates other girls in the town to gain her personal power in an opportunistic way The girls fall victim to Abigail’s determination that they barely question her, because she seems so confident and therefore they unwittingly add to Abigail’s sense of personal power. Through wielding her oppressive personal power she holds over others she is able to convince the girls to lie to the court about witchcraft and those allegedly involved, Abigail‘s wielding of personal power is assisted by the town of Salem, the townsfolk are misguided by the fantasies and mistruths surrounding witch folklore. Further, Abigail is able to gain a lot of personal power through her sexual manipulation over John Proctor, Elizabeth is the opposite person to Abigail Elizabeth, an older woman with her hair back in a bonnet is compared to Abigail a young, youthful beautiful woman Elizabeth is a faithful wife of John Proctor, whilst Abigail is a lying and mistrusting young woman Abigail had been flirting with John Proctor and then later had an affair with him.
Abigail knew John Proctors weakness and flaws. Therefore, she was clever in the way she was flirtatious towards Proctor to her advantage, in hope that he would give in to her. For example, Abigail reminds Proctor of the affair after it is over and asks him to be with her again, convincingly saying ”You loved me, John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet!”(Act I), Abigail managed to succeed in the physical intimacy and the sexual power over Proctor, but ultimately John was after love that Elizabeth and him shared. It was Elizabeth who ultimately had the personal power of love with John Proctorr In this way I believe that benevolent personal power of Elizabeth won out over the manipulative personal power of Abigail In regard to power on a social level, the society of Salem at the time was very patriarchal society Where men had the power and authority over women, Women were mainly servants to the townspeople until they were married off.
The men were highly connected, controlled the church and the court meaning that they held all the power 7 personal, social and political Women were expected to cook, clean and take care of the children In all it was very sexist of that all the women, excluding a few males we the ones accused of witchcraft and had been “seen” with the devil, The crucible is a male-dominated playr Women were treated as lesser human beings and powerless, unless a woman was willing to accuse another of witchcraft. It was then a woman could hold some power 7 Another abuse of power by Abigail when she testified against others in the Salem Witch trials to her own benefit Another example of social power being oppressive of people is racism. This is demonstrated in The Crucible. Tituba is a black, poor foreign slaves Tituba would have been an easy target for Abigail because of her low standing as a black, foreign slave.
Racism played a huge part in Tituba’s fate when accused of witchcraft. Tituba protests that before she came to the Massachusetts she had never seen dancing nor dealing with the devil: l’Devil, him be pleasure-man in Barbados, him be singin and dancing .,.It’s you folks—you riles him up ’round here …He freeze his soul in Massachusetts, but in Barbados he just as sweet.” Political power, including Government, Church and the Law, was the most influential and strongest power in The Crucible. Government, the court system, the Church and authority were virtually inseparable. The courts held the most power and could not be questioned or appealed. Those in a position of power, Governor Danforth and Reverend Parris, refused to listen to others. The leaders of the Church, especially the ministers of the Church, were very powerful figures.
The Church did not stop the convictions, even in the face of innocence, because this would make the Church look less powerful. Danforth is a Judge of the Supreme Court who holds respect because of his years of experience. He held stubborn, inflexible views of what is right and what is wrong. The Crucible demonstrates when political power can be oppressive to those with little or no power in society. Political power is very relevant in today’s society. With reference to Leunig’s cartoon there is a depiction of power through out all time as oppressive and depressing — whether in Totalitarian (as was in the Puritan setting of The Crucible) or our current Democratic society. All people in power are “awful and depressing” and “regardless of the system, those in power are Minsufferable and disgraceful”.
My opinion is that although Leunig’s View of power may be descriptive of power in The Crucible, it does not reflect my view on power in today’s democratic society that we live in It is necessary to have people in Government to be decision maker’s on behalf of those that have voted them in to power i.e. the people. In conclusion, examining the concept of power on a personal, social and political level in The Crucible has much to teach us 7 to avoid the misuse and abuse of power on all levels against those less powerful in society, otherwise it leads to oppression and depression of those people.
