Critical Lens Argument Essay.

The Crucible​ was one of the plays that displayed many sociological issues. People in the

village faced a problem which was the belief that “witches,” who were convicted without any

evidence, were working with the devil and taking the lives of children. The play had several

takeaways, however, there were many things that could be critiqued about the way it was

structured and portrayed. From a sociological perspective, Miller used ​The Crucible​ as a way to

demonstrate that religion and social class were two things that are used to justify actions, and it

showed the reputation was more valuable than actions and morals.

As Miller introduced us more to the story of witchcraft, he referred to religion many

times. He did that for several reasons, and one of those reasons is using it as a justification for

the things that took place in his play, ​The Crucible​. In act II scene ii, which can be found in the

appendix on the play, Abigail was explaining to Proctor that God gave her the chance to claim

people “liars” and she will take advantage of it, and will “scrub the world clean for the love of

Him” (141). Here, it can be easily inferred that she is accusing people of witchcraft depending on

what she thinks will make the world a better place. In the article “When Christianity Is Used to

Justify Violence,” Austin Cline described that people who justify their actions with Christianity

think that “violence could be regarded as being positively good.” Which means that people

believed that doing harm to others will have a positive impact. That can be one of the reasons

why religion was viewed as a way to promote justice, and a way to live safer lives. Therefore,

the view of religion in Salem was mostly a justification of actions.

Sociologically, social class was one of the significantly problematic points throughout the

play. It was portrayed as if you are in a higher social class, you have more power. A lot of
people, especially the accusers, threw names from here and there, and the court believed them,

but when Proctor attempted to defend himself, they stopped him saying, "in all justice, sir, a

claim so weighty cannot be argued by a farmer" (92). That was one of the things that can be

taken into closer attention because by that, a lot of people were oppressed or stopped from

expressing what they wanted to basically because they occupied a lower social class than other

people. It is mentioned in the article “Social Class and Unethical Behavior” that higher social

classes most of the time increases unethical behavior. That can be connected to ​The Crucible​ in

how innocent people were accused of witchcraft without any logical reasons. Another example

can be used from the book Night by Elie Wiesel, which explained the tragedy of the holocaust.

Hitler was a symbol that viewed all Jews in a violent way just because they had a different

religion than the one he had, in addition to him having a higher social class than they had. People

in Salem only claimed that the others, the accused people, were starting to get away from their

religion, when in fact most of them were saints, and religiously strict. That proves that people’s

reliability depended on their social classes or their positions.

The way Miller portrayed reputation was not the best. He used the concept of

“reputation” not to describe the actual values and manners a person has but used it to show

people what people should know about another. It is mentioned in the article “Integrity’s

Importance: Why Character Outweighs Reputation” that “People don’t judge who we are, they

judge who we’ve led them to believe we are.” That related to ​The Crucible​, and specifically,

Parris who played the role of the minister. He feared anything would happen to his reputation

and did not tell anything about what he has seen in the forest, and kept the lie going. He wanted

his reputation to remain “white” and by that allowed the execution of many innocent people.
Here, we could understand that sacrificing those innocent lives was less significant than him

having a good reputation, when in fact his actions showed his personality and who he truly was.

In conclusion, Miller had many problematic issues in his play ​The Crucible​ and when

looking closely at it, sociological problems were a huge part of it. Looking at people from their

social class, using Christianity to justify the inhumane actions, and portraying reputation as more

important than values and morals were major ideas that can prove that. People do not need more

oppression and suppression, what they need is more freedom and equality to be able to show the

world who they really are.

 Works Cited

Cline, Austin. “When Christianity Is Used to Justify Violence.” ​ThoughtCo​,

www.thoughtco.com/christianity-and-violence-249551.

“Integrity's Importance: Why Character Outweighs Reputation.” ​Growing Leaders​, 2 Oct. 2017,

growingleaders.com/blog/one-thing-thats-more-important-than-reputation/.

Miller, Arthur. ​The Crucible: a Play in Four Acts​. Penguin Books, 2016.

Peterson, Christopher. “Social Class and Unethical Behavior.” ​Psychology Today​, Sussex

Publishers, 18 Apr. 2012,

www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-good-life/201204/social-class-and-unethical-behavio

r.

Wiesel, Elie, and Marion Wiesel. ​Night​. Hill and Wang, a Division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux,

2017.