Religion is woven into the everyday life in Salem of the play. Meanwhile it was abused abruptly as an excuse to rule salem, the ones who thought they were doing god's work later found out that they are doing the opposite. That they are killing innocent people. Well at least some did change and some didn't, like reverend Parris. The puritans see it as a life manual. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller uses many different types of themes throughout the play.
The theme that seems to be the most important one in the play is religion. Religion is always in all the characters' mind in every action they take, conquering their minds. Even at the very beginning of the play, Arthur Miller starts the scene by Reverend Harris praying to god, and this shows how important the theme of religion is in the story. When the witch trials began, Satan was blamed to be the cause of the hysteria. A few days later, most of the people in Salem started to get accused of witchcraft.
Religion
Religion, “The belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods.”Religion has been a part and of human life since time immemorial. Religion represents a great system of human thought. Religion attempts to search for a deeper meaning to life, to find facts about the universe, about the laws of nature. Though science has advanced today, science is directly opposed to religion, even so religion has not lost its importance, because science is beyond the comprehension of many, and religious trends are easy to convince. Religion just gives us a clue of what is going on in this world, its like a guide.
Religion in The Crucible
Well, in the play, everyone abided by everything written in the Bible. Those who were “not religious enough” were considered to be working for Satan and were immediately accused of witchcraft. And those who didn’t confess to those accusations were hanged, and the only way the accused ones would save themselves was to confess to witchcraft and lie. Those who didn't remember the ten commandments, caught reading a book other than the bible, or even dancing, were immediately accused of witchcraft.
Reverend John Hale
Reverend John Hale is a young minister reputed to be an expert on witchcraft. Reverend Hale is called in to Salem to examine Parris' daughter Betty. Hale is a committed Christian and hater of witchcraft. His arrival is the beginning of the hysteria in Salem.
Unfortunately, Hale gets manipulated by Abigail, which is one of the most evil characters in The Crucible. The amount of evidence of witchcraft when he in Salem overwhelms him when he arrives. Although Hale remains determined not to declare witchcraft unless he can prove it, the expectations of the people of Salem sweep him up, and, as a result, he takes their evidence at face value, rather than investigating it himself. “Let you not mistake your duty as I mistook my own. I came into this village like a bridegroom to his beloved, bearing gifts of high religion; the very crowns of holy law I brought, and what I touched with my bright confidence, it died; and where I turned the eye of my great faith, blood flowed up.”
In the beginning, Hale believed that the trials were happening because someone in the village did something wrong, and now God is punishing the village. In the end, Hale realized that the trials were happening due to selfish peoples trying to advance their own interests. Hale was also trying to get people to confess to witchcraft because he believed that they were actually witches. For example, he got Tituba to confess when she was accused by Abigal. In the end, he was trying to persuade people to confess to save their lives. Abigail accused Tituba to save her own life by saying she was the one who dragged her into this, she knew that Tituba's word wont be heard because she was a black slave. And at the end, Hale knew he was wrong the whole time.
Reverend Parris
Unlike Reverend Hale, Reverend Parris is much worse. He's the minister of Salem’s church. Reverend Parris is a paranoid, power-hungry, yet oddly self-pitying figure. Many of the people in salem, especially John Proctor, dislike him, and Parris is very concerned with building his position in the community. He is willing do whatever it'll take to get him in power. First of all, Parris is greedy ruler, he gives weak justifications, but never denies any of the accusations. Some examples of Parris's greed include: quibbling over firewood, insisting on gratuitous golden candlesticks for the church, demanding that he have the deed to the house he lives in. In the very first scene, we see him standing over his daughter Betty's sick bed. At first the audience might feel bad for him.
But then they'd quickly realize that Parris is just worried about his reputation more than ever. He's afraid that if people think there's witchcraft in his household, he'll lose his position as minister of Salem. In Act Three, when he shows his spineless selfishness once again when he lies in court. He tells the court that he saw no naked dancing in the woods, yet we know that he did, because he says as much to Abigail. He was considered the most crucial ruler in Salem. "And what shall I say to them? That my daughter and my niece I discovered dancing like heathen in the forest?" The quote shows how much he cares about his reputation instead of actually telling the truth.
Rebecca Nurse
Rebecca Nurse is a wise, sensible, and upright woman, held in tremendous regard by most of the Salem community. Rebecca is a pillar of the community, a devoutly religious woman in her seventies. However, she falls victim to the hysteria when the Putnams accuse her of witchcraft and she refuses to confess. When convicted of witchcraft, she refuses to bear false witness against herself and others. She would rather hang than lie. She comforts John Proctor as they are both led to the gallows. “Let you fear nothing! Another judgment waits us all!” When she is accused of witchcraft, it makes the Reverend Hale pause and reconsider whether the proceedings are just and fair. After her arrest and conviction, Rebecca continues to be a pillar of the community, but this time, the community of falsely accused people. She is an example of strength and resolve for those who choose not to confess, even though it means going to their death.
Conclusion
We could conclude that life wasn’t very pleasant during that period of time. People had to be religious whether they liked it or not. If they chose not to be religious, they would immediately get accused of witchcraft, and If they don’t confess to witchcraft, they were hanged. But later on, people (including Reverend Hale) started waking up and finding out that all of this was wrong and it shouldn’t have happened in the first place. Some people changed and figured out that something was actually wrong (like reverend Hale) and some didn't care if they were on the right track or not, they just didn't want to ruin their reputation (like reverend Parris).
