Author's use of setting in "The Crucible" by Arthur Miller - Dissertation sur la Littérature

As we read The Crucible, there were a few scenes that seemed pretty similar yet different because of the plot and the characters involved. Each settings have a relevant meaning when it comes to their religion, Puritanism, and have an impact on every character’s development and how their downfalls help the story go forward, which brought up multiple consequences their way without them acknowledging their mistakes. In this case, the author’s use of setting is essential to the development of his main theme.

To begin, the mention of the forest appears twice in this book. One where the girls were supposingly dancing naked, and the second that is very important to the plot is the meeting of John Proctor and Abigail Williams in the forest at night. They had an affair, with is an abomination in their religion. From there, Abigail became somewhat attached emotionally to John. She wanted to be his wife but to do so, she needed Elizabeth, John’s wife, out of the picture. She was a good liar, hence the reason why it is said that she used witchcraft to harm Elizabeth. “I want the light of God, I want the sweet love of Jesus! I danced for the Devil; I saw him, I wrote in his book; I go back to Jesus; I kiss His hand. I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil!”

When she realizes how easy it is to fool people into thinking that someone used witchcraft, it became her main strategy. This quotation showcases how wily Abigail is throughout the book, even if this was only at the beginning, in the setting of Reverend Parris’s house, a minister of the Puritans. She uses it at her advantage as she claims that she had seen many people pacting with the devil, with wasn’t true but the people were so religious that they took it seriously, to go as far as bringing this case in court. This court situation was also different from any typical one because their trials are based on their religions, their beliefs.

However, Abigail didn’t necessarily come up with this idea by herself. Tituba, a slave from Barbados of Reverend Parris, is the one that introduce the topic of witchcraft in the first place.To Abigail’s request, she ‘performed’ voodoo, which definitely triggered the worst of Abigail. Both of these characters were important in this plot because of

how the subject of accusation, betrayal, and condamnation were brought up because of their mistake of feeding their own fear of being hung. Tituba didn’t want to be severely punished, neither by her master or Reverend Hale.

In the book, this scene took place at Reverend Parris’s home, once again. Tituba was pressured by Reverend Hale and Putman because they thought, or preferrably suspected, that she compacted with the Devil. Therefore, she falsely confessed to a crime that she didn’t commit because Abigail claimed that she made a her do disturbing things such as drinking blood. This was exactly a mistake because she gave the opportunity to Abigail to think that if she mentioned that anyone did witchcraft, everyone would believe her. “Tituba, terrified, falls to her knees: No, no, don’t hang Tituba! I tell him I don’t desire to work for him, sir.”

Tituba confesses in front of Hale and Putman, saying that she did do some witchcraft and she doesn’t desire to deal with the devil no more. By simply referring to this quote of Tituba, she opened up a door of realization for the girls of Salem that they can punish their neighbours by accusing them of witchcraft, specially the ones that were in the forest with her and Abigail.

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Author’s use of setting in “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller