The Crucible Then and Now: Symptoms of a Witch

(If you didn't read my previous post about Themes in Little Women, first of all, how dare you??? and second of all, I don't feel like restating the obvious. Go and read the disclaimer I left at the top of that post. It's also in italics. Then, come back when you're honorable enough to bask in my glory. I'm talking about The Crucible, so if you don't want spoilers either suffer and read or suffer and don't read. No matter what you'll suffer, so why not enjoy a dumb essay I wrote while you're at it? )

It’s hard to say where the term “witch” came from, but most people can agree that a witch is an old woman in a pointy hat riding a broomstick in the night with a black cat sitting beside her. Right? Wrong. Witches, both in the past and today, are far more complicated than the cartoons on television. Arthur Miller, author of The Crucible looked at what witches were defined as in the 1600’s and created a story based on fiction. However, witches aren’t just in fantasy. They exist in the real world today. That is why it is important to understand the difference between the beliefs citizens of Salem carried about witches and the truths about the beliefs of witches in modern times.

In The Crucible, witches were those who made deals with the devil for selfish or malicious reasons. Witches were followers of evil. Period. Therefore, the problem that most of the characters faced in The Crucible wasn’t debating whether witches deserved punishment or not. It was simply finding the guilty witches to give them the suffering they deserved. The struggle was that nobody knew what exactly defined a witch, so if new symptoms of a witch were conveniently added to the list of other signs that could point out a witch, and if that new symptom just so happened to match a specific person in Salem, nobody could question its relevance. The truth was the Christians of Salem were baffled by the fact that witches could even exist in their little town, so none truly knew what made a witch, well, a witch. As Reverend Hale stated in The Crucible in Act One:

 “Here are all your familiar spirits- your incubi and succubi; your witches that go by land, by air, and by sea; your wizards of the night and of the day. Have no fear now- we shall find him out if he has come among us, and I mean to crush him utterly if he has shown his face!” (Miller, 1953, p. 158)

You see, Revered Hale was talking in very broad and vague terms because he couldn’t just point at someone and say, “Yep. That’s a witch.” Simply put, anybody could have been declared a witch at that time, and nobody would have said otherwise because, truth be told, even Reverend Hale, the expert of witches and demon affairs, couldn’t define what witches were and what made them a witch. This is not to say that people had no clue what defined a witch. In fact, it was general knowledge to the Salem citizens that witches “cannot bear to hear the Lord’s name” (Miller, 1953, p. 158) and “compact with the Devil” (Miller, 1953, p. 161).

To go into more specifics, Reverend Hale mentions the Devil taking the shape of certain animals, such as frogs, and appearing to those, as the Devil saw, were easily corrupted. I’m sure Hale had much more to say on the topic, but the reader is never given too many details as to what he believed were signs of a witch. However, it was insisted throughout the book that a witch could control others by sending their spirit to attack others that threatened them. In Act Three, when Mary Warren tries to tell the Salem court that the girls accusing people of witchcraft were frauds, we see this recurring theme, combined with Hale’s aforementioned animal-Devil connection, when Abigail, one of the accused girls, claims that Mary Warren’s spirit has changed into the shape of a bird. As Abigail states, “Oh, Mary, this is a black art to change your shape.” (Miller, 1953, p. 195) 

  As you might have noticed, I have not yet mentioned where the modern witch comes into the picture. Although many people are unaware of this fact, there are people that still believe in and study witchcraft to this day. (No, they are not Christians claiming their neighbors are evil.) In fact, witches have their own religion. Unbeknownst to most, modern witches worship an old, practically ancient, religion called Paganism. However, their religion is about following old Pagan ideals, not mimicking them. Therefore, modern witches aren’t called Pagans. They are Neo-Pagans (New Pagans) or, often called, Wiccans. Now, the real question that I’m certain is on your mind is: What do these “Neo-Pagans” do?

I am happy to report that Neo-Pagans are very much real and have very real practices and beliefs. For instance, one of their beliefs, as Helen A. Berger (2010) claims, is that, “Most contemporary Pagans believe in reincarnation, typically after a period of reflection in the Other World.” (para. 6) Not only that, but witches today celebrate the cycle of the year through annual rituals and recognize the magic in nature and the world around them. As intriguing as these facts are, however, everyone knows what a witch is best known for: magic. And yes, Neo-Pagans practice magic. However, there is a fine difference between the magic portrayed in The Crucible and the magic used today. The difference is the intent behind it. “Within the religion,” Berger (2010) states, “there is an ethic against using magic to harm or manipulate others.” Magic, in most Wiccan’s eyes, is used as a tool for self-help, not a tool for controlling what other people do for personal gain.

            As you can see, there are many differences between witches back in the times of the Salem witch trials, and witches today. In the old times, when America was a wee baby-nation, Christians thought of witches as merely practitioners of evil when all that those witches, or innocently accused women, wanted was to practice their beliefs or simply try something new. In today’s day and age, the witches of America are happily practicing their spiritual beliefs of nature, rituals, and magic in a peaceful environment where they don’t get hurt and don’t hurt others.

References

Allen, J., & Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. (2010). Holt McDougal Literature: Texas American literature. Holt Mcdougal, A Division Of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Berger, H. (2010). Neo-Paganism. Encyclopedia of Religion in America, Vol. 2.

CredoReference. https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/cqreligionam/

neopaganism/0

(M'yep. I have references. Don't sue me. I'm seventeen and don't have a steady income so unless you are a Karen who enjoys picking on people, I would really appreciate it if you didn't make me broke before I'm a legal adult. If you ARE a Karen, hey. I'm looking forward to our little "meeting" in the parking lot at 3. Be there or be square, and stop asking for the manager. Managers don't exist, ya idiot.)