The Crucible - 1 : Puritan Qualities?

Reading through The Crucible, I noticed that it was written in the early nineteen fifties. That is not exactly the time in which most Puritan writing was written. Despite this, I noticed quite a few characteristics of Puritan writings about it. The sentence style is very much puritan sounding in the narration. Arthur Miller uses fairly short, declarative sentences with little extra in them to add much flavor. This can be seen very well in the beginning narration, and especially in the following passage.

"The edge of the wilderness was close by. The American continent stretched endlessly west, and it was full of mystery for them. It stood, dark and threatening, over their shoulders night and day, for out of it Indian tribes marauded from time to time, and Reverend Parris had parishioners who had lost relatives to these heathen." (Miller 5)

It uses more description than actual Puritan writing- the phrase "dark and threatening" probably would have been omitted- but the lack of drama and passion when talking about Indian killings certainly savors strongly of Puritan. Arthur did not want too focus to much on his opinion on the killings.

A major Puritan-like characteristic I noticed in the writing was the many references to religion. The main difference in the play and Puritan writing is who the characters reference when they talk. In Puritan writings, God is talked about in every aspect of every event. In The Crucible, the devil is the constant religious figure being referenced and talked about. Despite the play being centered around accused demonic encounters, if were it written by a Puritan, there would have been many more references to God.

We can see how the Puritan faith was declining through all of Reverend Parris' sermons about the impending doom awaiting in hell for the faithless. Mr. Proctor says "I have trouble enough without I come five mile to hear him preach only hellfire and bloody damnation. Take it to heart, Mr. Parris. There are many others who stay away from church these days because you hardly ever mention God anymore (Miller 29)." When the Puritan faith was declining, the preachers tried to pull their parishioners back by scaring them with such speeches of hell. I am really not surprised that that did not work, because no one really wants to be told they are going to hell. Who would?

I could also tell throughout the play that the Puritan religion was declining because of Mr. Proctor's continued respect in the community. He did not go to church often, which in normal cases would lead to your persecution in the community, but people still respected him. In the days of the Salem Witch trials, faith must have become a lot less important for such absence from church to make so little difference to everyone.

In the end, I think that The Crucible is a very good example of Puritan writing even though it was written over a hundred years after most Puritan writing had been written.  Despite this, I think that a lot of it is different than Puritan writing, especially in all of the details in the author's descriptions. It still came very close to average Puritan writing.

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York, NY: Penguin, 1996. Print.