Crucible

Crucible A Major Theme of The Crucible According to the Webster’s Dictionary, a crucible is “a vessel in which metal is heated to a high temperature and melted for the purposes of casting”. It can also be referred to a situation in which a person has to make a decision that can be critical to his morals and principles. There are many interpretations of the word crucible as there is for the theme of Arthur Miller’s, The Crucible. Closely related to the word “crucifixion”, The Crucible is about a man put in a crucible situation, who is forced to choose between life and morality, just as Jesus Christ did. Miller interweaved these scenarios to form the main themes of the play – the problem of making the right moral choice and the necessity of sacrifice as a means of redemption. Both of these themes can be abridged to form one main theme, good versus evil. Based on the Salem witch trials of the late 17th century, The Crucible explores the vulnerability of a society and the difficulty of doing ‘good’ in the face of evil and tremendous social pressures. The play is about a town, Salem, Massachusetts, and the hysteria its crucible, good, john, bad, abigail, evil, mary, elizabeth, girls, witchcraft, theme, situation, one, life, go, confess, between, versus, put, proctor, person, main, because, town, through, society, right, parris, choose, choice, battle, witches, williams, warren, try, stand