Essay One: The Crucible

INTRODUCTION

When exploring the relationship between people and politics, representations of the various personal and political agendas demonstrate how the relationship between people and politics is inherently complex. Arthur Miller’s dramatic allegory The Crucible illustrates this idea by exploring the severe ramifications¹ when one manipulates politics to suit their personal agenda, using the Salem witch trials as an allegory for the Red Scare.² As a result, Miller highlights the effects of political decisions on individuals through the injustices caused by realpolitik.³

1. Rather than getting too specific about the examples and textual evidence, just talking in general terms about the ‘severe ramifications’ is totally fine for an introduction. Save the detail for your body paragraphs!

2. This introduction effectively integrates the contextual information with the core of the prompt.

3. This is a great key word to use when discussing themes of politics, manipulation, and ideology.

PARAGRAPH 1

Miller’s representation of the complex relationship between people and politics is reflected in the injustices caused when individuals manipulate politics for personal gain.⁴ This is represented through the portrayal of characters who are based on reality as Miller’s context greatly influences the events in The Crucible. Most notably, Abigail represents political opportunism, as is seen throughout the play. Due to the fear of being accused of practising witchcraft, Abigail tautologically accuses others, announcing the names of “Sarah Good,” “Goody Osburn” and “Bridget Bishop” as women she saw “with the Devil!” This cumulative listing of suspects represents the significance of false accusations within a theocratic society, as Abigail manipulates the situation for her personal gain.⁵ Miller illustrates the ramifications of Abigail’s actions when the other girls repeat Abigail’s accusations, declaring that they too “saw Goody Bibber with the Devil!” and “saw Goody Booth with the Devil!” With the list of suspects slowly increasing, Miller reflects how hysteria⁶ can be caused by an individual’s motivation to manipulate politics for selfish gains. This parallels Miller’s context, as he uses the Salem witch trials to mirror the paranoia during the Cold War, where the Red Scare caused hysteria towards communists and communistsympathisers.⁷ The severe, long-term effects of Abigail’s manipulations is reflected further in the play as Abigail has power over the falsely accused, “bring[ing them] into court... where she walks the crowd will part like the sea for Israel.” By biblically alluding⁸ to Moses, Miller demonstrates how an individual’s desire to fulfil their personal agenda can result injustices within society, as Salem politics is now controlled by Abigail. By representing the complex relationship between people and politics through characterisation, Miller is able to illustrate the detrimental effects of prioritising personal agenda in political affairs, resulting in injustices within society.⁹

4. Your topic sentences should always be a broad sentence that links a theme to your thesis or interpretation.

5. Here, I’ve connected this example to a statement about Abigail’s character more broadly.

6. Note that I’ve linked these quotes to the theme of hysteria, as well as the character of Abigail and her propensity for manipulation.

7. When discussing context, always link your analysis to the context to emphasise how this impacts the playwright’s decisions.

8. Rather than spend a whole sentence identifying this technique, I’ve just quickly remarked that that is an example of a biblical allusion through my use of a verb and adverb before moving on to explain my analysis. This is often a much more efficient way to approach closely analysing quotes.

9. This concluding sentence does a fantastic job in summarising the essence of this paragraph, and linking things back to our thesis, and therefore to the prompt.

PARAGRAPH 2

The desire to achieve authority to fulfil their political agenda can also result in injustices for individuals. Miller expresses this idea by critiquing theocracy and the injustices caused by using religion to silence competing political perspectives.¹⁰ This is illustrated through the character of Governor Danforth, who epitomises theocracy and realpolitik, as he declares: “We burn a hot fire here; it melts down all concealment.” While he foreshadows John’s confession of his affair with Abigail, Miller also alludes to the title ‘The Crucible’ as the crucible metaphorically¹¹ refers to the severe tests conducted on Salem and the ‘heat’ required to destroy an individual’s personal beliefs. This also reveals his self-righteousness and the great extent he is willing to act to fulfil his political agenda as he’d rather sacrifice innocent lives than get humiliated. His insistence of maintaining his control over Salem is further illustrated when he questions John, excessively repeating his questions: “what say you to that? ... What say you sir? ... Will you drop this charge?” These questions show how Danforth aims to suppress John’s dissent, and thus Danforth’s desire to assert power over Salem.¹² Furthermore, Miller is able to draw parallels between Danforth and a realworld counterpart, Joseph McCarthy, as McCarthy persecuted alleged Communists and communist-sympathisers for the sake of his political agenda and moral righteousness.¹³ Thus, the ramifications of achieving control and maintaining the system of realpolitik is demonstrated through Miller’s portrayal of the injustices for individuals.

10. By this point in your body paragraph, you should have given your assessor a clear sense of what you will be discussing, and how this links to the prompt.

11. This is a close analysis of the importance of the play’s title and where we see this in the text.

12. Explicitly stating the meaning of a quote or example will ensure your marker gives you credit for your use of evidence.

13. Here, I’ve integrated some contextual background information, but I’ve made sure to link this with my discussion of the text itself. Don’t just insert chunks of research in your essay, as your focus should always be primarily on the play.

PARAGRAPH 3

Ultimately, an individual’s pursuit of control due to their personal and political agendas reveal the corrupt nature of power,¹⁴ as seen in Miller’s illustration of how the hysteria within Salem will cause a downfall in society. The Red Scare resulted in widespread paranoia within society, and The Crucible shows a similar situation of the theocratic nature of society combined with the system of realpolitik repressing society through using fear.¹⁵ This is illustrated through the stage directions: “There is a narrow window. Through its leaded panes the morning sunlight streams.” The dark lighting here represents mystery and dishonesty, symbolising¹⁶ the darkness present in Salem as characters such as Abigail are motivated to defend their reputation. This is further reinforced by the characterisation of Abigail, with Miller describing her appearance as “a strikingly beautiful girl, an orphan, with an endless capacity for dissembling.” This foreshadows Abigail’s true intentions, which is to use fear to falsely accuse the innocent in order to prevent herself from being accused, as well as manipulating the situation so she gains power. Miller represents this through the motif of darkness: “I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and bring a pointy reckoning,” expressing her motive of gaining power through dishonesty. As Miller uses the darkness¹⁷ to demonstrate how dishonesty is used to stir hysteria and gain power, Miller contrasts this with John. Due to his desire to be honest with himself and protect his name, John refuses to falsely confess. While this results in his execution, John is able to maintain his personal beliefs, thus the lighting changes to “the new sun... pouring in upon [Elizabeth’s] face.” The contrasting lighting between the beginning of Act 1 and the end of Act 4 represents the ascension to heaven for the innocent lives, as well as the restoration of truth. By emphasising the importance of honesty within society, Miller highlights how dishonesty combined with the motivation to fulfil an individual’s personal and political agenda can result in the corruption of power and the injustices caused by their selfishness.¹⁸

14. This topic sentence outlines a sophiaticated interpretation of the play that we will spend the rest of this paragraph arguing for. It is also an example of the kind of idea you should aim to save for your final body paragraph, as it builds upon your previous discussion and analysis to form a cohesive, overarching thesis.

15. Note that I haven’t just said ‘there are real-world parrallels’ and left it at that – it’s important to explain remarks like this to ensure your assessor can tell how well you understand the play and its messages.

16. Here, I’ve combined an analysis of the stage directions with a discussion of the symbolism of light throughout the play.

17. Building off of the previous analysis of light, we’re now delving into the significance of darkness as a motif.

18. This is a highly impactful final sentence that serves as a powerful ending to the body of the essay.

CONCLUSION

In essence, Miller is able to represent the complex relationship between people and politics through the various representations of the personal and political agendas that are used as a source of motivation to gain power. Miller successfully encapsulates this idea through the combination of characterisation and the heavy influences from his context, using the Salem witch trials as an allegory for the McCarthy regime. Thus, when the system of realpolitik is combined with hysteria, injustices occur within society, reflecting the significance of political decisions on individuals.¹⁹