Why Is The Crucible Relevant Or Irrelevant In Today's Society

Another example of how the themes of ‘The Crucible’ relate to modern affairs is what has happened in Kosovo in the past few years. The Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic. He had Albanians in Kosovo sent out of the country or killed. This is called ethnic cleansing. As the Albanians were ‘the odd one out’ they were hunted down and killed. This is another example of how three hundred years on we have evolved very little when it comes to looking at peoples differences.

The events of ‘The Crucible’ do not just have themes that relate to worldwide affairs, they also have a meaning for things happening in the local area.

Essay Example on Why Is The Crucible Still Relevant Today

For instance when something is stolen from someone everyone jumps to conclusions and looks for the odd person out and then assumes its them. Then the person is under some much pressure and just can’t take it any more and confess.

This is true in the Crucible when John goes to Danforth and tells him why Abagail is calling Witchcraft on his wife. He tells the court that he and Abagail had an affair saying, “I have known her”. Unfortunately Johns wife lies thinking she is protecting John by saying this is not true when asked by Danforth ” To your Knowledge, has John Proctor ever committed the crime of Lechery?

Answer my question! Is your husband a lecher? ” To which Elizabeth Proctor replies “No sir”. Then after Mary turns on him and under the pressure he says he says, “God is dead” which for a puritan society is admitting to witchcraft.

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The play is so well known that quotes from it are used in TV shows. For instance when there is a ‘witch-hunt’ for a leek in ‘The West Wing’ one of the interviewees says (jokingly) “I saw Elizabeth Proctor with the devil. ” So even though ‘The Crucible’ is about 50 years old quotes are still used from it.

It is quite easy to see why the play is in production every week somewhere in the world. Even though Arthur Miller has set the play more than 300 years ago the themes are still relevant today, as I have shown. Even in our supposedly civilised society when someone2 commits a crime we jump through hoops trying to pin the blame on someone else and we are not to picky on who. This I have demonstrated in talking about recent events in America. So are we really all that civilised when we still look for the odd one out and put the blame on them like we did three hundred years ago?