The Crucible is a story which begins with a series of relatively innocent childish events conducted by young people doing what young people do best: defying the rules as set by their elders. Their expression of mild dissent results ultimately in tragedy for the adults as
the nocturnal games played out in the Salem forest at night begin a sequence of events that finally ends in the deaths of many innocent people. But the play is not simply about the inability of people to act rationally in the face of irrational provocation, nor does it only show a small and tight-knit community unable to act with tolerance and generosity. It is also a play that explores one of the building blocks of modern Western society: marriage. It shows a broken marriage and the attempt of the two adults involved, John and Elizabeth Proctor, to rise above their past mistakes and ultimately to find
a truthful and honest relationship which transcends even the fear of death.
Arthur Miller wrote the play in 1953, at the height of the so-called cold war between Russia and America. It was a powerful and articulate plea for tolerance in the face of the then unremitting hostility towards those who expressed minority views, especially “un-American” (i.e. socialist) ideas. But long after the end of the cold war,
The Crucible continues to be revived, not just in America, but throughout the world.
Fundamentalism, from whatever quarter or culture it comes, is a dangerous energy whose first casualty is tolerance and respect of difference. In the first decade of this troubled new century the play’s plea for tolerance of difference is just as important as it was for those who, over half a century ago, thought they were facing nuclear Armageddon because of the clash of two apparently irreconcilable ideological opposites.