Angelika Goscinski

Period: 8th

Critical Lens Argument Essay

The sociological perspective of The Crucible play by Arthur Miller can be described with

race, religion, social class, and gender. These issues have had a major impact in the play because

the play focused around the time period of Puritans and strict laws about witchcraft. Depending

on what sociological views the society had, that’s what made the court determine who performed

witchcraft and who to trust in these circumstances. The more higher you are in class, the more

benefits (trust) come your way. The Crucible is a play that focused on fear in people that made

individuals accuse others of witchcraft. The sociological perspective allows readers to enhance

their knowledge on history and how this time period has evolved.

The sociological perspective is a perspective that effects everyone on a daily basis. The

sociological perspective deals with race, gender, and even religion. These perspectives affect

everyone on different levels. The play, The Crucible by Arthur Miller focused more on affecting

women and showing how the males perspective and their reputation has to be pure. This play

focused a lot on gender and what should be the roles of each gender. There was an instance in the

play where the court asked Proctor if he cheated on Elizabeth and he stated the truth that he did.

That was before he tried covering up the cheating and stated that if Abigail said anything bad

about Elizabeth, he would beat her up. He was, so to say, an aggressive man to an extent. Just to

confirm, the court called in Elizabeth to ask her for her opinion. She tried looking at him to see if

he will give her a clue of how to respond, but she couldn’t. To honor his reputation, she lied and

denied any knowledge of him cheating. “Your Honor, I….in that time I were sick. And I...My
husband is a good and righteous man. He is never drunk, as some are, not wasting’ his time at the

shovelboard, but always at his work” (Miller, 70). This shows that Elizabeth, the women, had to

cover up his mistake to make him look like a good person. Cheating is considered a sin, but

Proctor is not as religious as he should be considering this play was portraying the Puritan time

period. In the book Things Fall Apart, “Okonkwo knew she was not speaking the truth. He

walked back to his obi to await Oijugo’s return. And when she returned he beat her very heavily.

In his anger he had forgotten that it was the Week of Peace” (Achebe, 29). This shows that men

felt the need to use violence to get their point through and make sure their reputation is upheld. A

conclusion or prediction could be made that the only reason he admitted to his sin was because

Elizabeth was accused of witchcraft. He didn’t want to lose her so he was willing to sacrifice his

own reputation. The secret was kept a secret until he admitted himself, so the honor of men is

upheld.

The Crucible mentioned on multiple instances that religion is important. In the reading

over break “Puritan Laws and Character”, it stated that Puritans follow a really strict religion.

Clothing for women can’t be too short because if they are, the girls would get into trouble of

showing too much skin. The rules were so strict that because of religion, fear has occurred.

“Believing in predestination, they explained that all human beings were pledged by the covenant

of works to adhere to the divine law and were justly condemned for failure to adhere to it”

(Breslaw, 2000). In the play, religion is portrayed as a big deal but to a certain extent. The fact

that Proctor was not religious and that his family did not go to church as often was questioned.

His sin of cheating is not supported by religion and his own son was not even baptised. His

views will be considered the opposite of religious. This is the instant where the views of religion
have been altered. Other than that, the play follows the religious views, such as not performing

witchcraft.

The whole play revolves around performing witchcraft and multiple people being

accused. An example would be about how Abigail and some other girls were performing

witchcraft in the forest and how they were drinking blood. When someone caught them, the girls

played it of and stated that they were dancing and not doing anything wrong. Fear caused the

girls to lie because of religion. Another reason fear was created was because Abigail threatened

the girls not to say anything because if they did, she would hurt them. Fear was involved

throughout the whole play because the people who were accused had the ability to accuse others

of witchcraft as well. The list kept on growing. When Elizabeth was accused of witchcraft, the

suspicion was that Abigail accused her because she wanted Proctor for herself. The same goes

for when the nurse got accused of witchcraft when a lady was not able to keep her children alive.

She gave birth to her children and then they died. Many accusations were made and sometimes

no proof was needed to accuse someone. Since religion was important, the consequence of

denying witchcraft resulted in getting hanged. Religion played a huge role for Puritans.

The sociological perspective revolves around race and age as well. Race is an important

factor in equality and African Americans did not get the rights they should have in this play.

There was one African American girl (Tituba) in the play who performed witchcraft with Abigail

and the other girls. When push came to shove, Abigail was the first one to accuse the African

American girl than any other person and the court believed her. On top of that, there was no

proof of Tituba being African American, there were some conclusions made that she’s

Indian.“Beyond these strict limitations however, we can realistically draw no further conclusions
as to her racial identity, affinity for witchcraft and stories of the occult, nor motivations for

confessing to the accusations” (Barillari, 2001). Why do African Americans have to be treated

unequal in each situation? This could be connected to how African Americans were treated back

in the day of slavery. African Americans were accused of every wrongdoing and they didn’t get

a chance to defend themselves. In this case, there was no trial by jury because those who got

accused of witchcraft got added on the list with no explanation granted. The book, the narrative

of Frederick Douglass, explained the inequalities of African Americans who were slaves. In the

Puritan Laws and Character reading, it exclaimed how indentured servants were slowly coming

to New England and that the “slaves rights were guarded by salutary laws” (Douglass, 1846).

Laws were improving, but they were not perfectly equal. Abigail disregarded that there were

other white girls including herself there in that forest. Till this day, race, has an impact in

people's lives but to different extents. Equality is improved, but to what extent? Are we all equal

in the same way? The sociological perspective could involve social class on different levels. An

example in the play is when people with higher education or higher income level, were less

likely accused of witchcraft. The upper class individuals with education are seen as too

intelligent to perform wrong doing actions. The lower class people will get accused faster than

the upper class individuals. This perspective covers the whole entire play to the very end.

The Crucible fits under many perspectives but the sociological perspective fits the

description of the play to the dot. The play can be described through many lenses using this

perspective because this perspective includes a lot of issues and concepts that are found in the

play. Race, gender, social class, and religion are important aspects to take under consideration

when we talk about equality and rights. The sociological perspective enhances one's capabilities
on expanding on ideas from other readings and connecting the play to historical events. The

Crucible is a play that focused on the Puritan time period involving witchcraft and how fear

caused many actions people performed. The play can be connected to history in multiple ways

because these issues were getting resolved throughout history. The sociological perspective gives

the reader a better chance to understand the play on different levels and viewpoints.
 Works Cited Page

Achebe, Chinua. ​Things fall apart​. Penguin Books, 1958.

Barillari, Alyssa. “Salem Witch Trials in History and Literature.” ​Salem Witch Trials: Tituba​,

2001, salem.lib.virginia.edu/people/tituba.html.

Breslaw, Elaine G. “Witches of the Atlantic World.” ​Puritans beliefs on satan and Witchcraft​,

2000,

www3.gettysburg.edu/~tshannon/hist106web/site15/KATE/Puritan%20Website%20-%20Front

%20Page%20-%20Introduction.htm.

Douglass, Frederick, et al. ​Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, an American slave.​ Webb

and Chapman, Gt. Brunswick-Street., 1846.

Ellis, George Edward. ​Puritan age and rule in the colony of the Massachusetts Bay, 1629-1685​. B.

Franklin, 1970.