(The Crucible) Reading Journal 1 - Act 1 to the Appearance of Reverend Hale

Aurthur Miller, The Crucible, Published 1952,1953,1954

Reverend Parris found a group of girls dancing around a fire with his servant, Tituba, uttering foreign words. Among these girls are his daughter Betty and his niece Abigail. Betty is in a state they believe to be caused by sickness. Parris is paranoid that his enemies will remove him from the ministry with this evidence of witchcraft. It is also mentioned that Abigail was removed from service of the Proctor family because she was having an affair with the man of the house, John Proctor. Reverend Parris has called on a witch expert, Reverend Hale, to examine the town for witchcraft. The town also has many on-going territory disputes that cause people to go to extremes. Citizens have even gone to the point of naming each other witches to own the disputed land. Miller approaches the story with an interesting standpoint. He attempts to enter the confusing fight between the two factions without bias, which is difficult and only furthers the confusion of the reader. It makes it difficult to tell who is doing what and when. This fits the story of the Salem Witch Trials because the entire event is confusing as to why humans would treat each other this way and their inability to follow the religion they pretend to follow. The real question is rather if this event encourages religion or denies it. The story can either be interpreted to encourage belief in religion or to discourage belief in religion. If you see these accusations by the town’s people as a correct interpretation of the word of God then God must exist because he protected the town from the devilish beings, while if you see these accusations as false then their belief in God caused many innocent people to die and therefore religion is responsible. This is what makes the book so interesting. When you read the book you further your belief in religion whether it is negative or a positive outlook on religion. Did Miller write The Crucible for this purpose?