Second Quarter/Blog 3: The Crucible by Arthur Miller

I finally made it through Act One and then made it quickly through Acts Two and Three.  Act One ends with Reverend Hale showing up to eliminate the evil spirits.  Before his entrance, there is a long discussion about good vs. evil and then a longer discussion about the political twist to equate political policy with moral right, and opposition to it with diabolical malevolence.  “Once such an equation is effectively made, society becomes a congerie of plots and counterplots, and the main role of government changes from that of arbiter to that of the scourge of God.”  Wow!!  I think this is really deep and beyond comprehension at this point in my short lived political life.  I feel very sheltered from the world of politics and cannot conceive of plots and counterplots.  So whatever messages that the writer is trying to convey are difficult for me to comprehend or relate to but they sound pretty deep.

Thankfully the story’s plot gets ramped up quite a bit.  There is huge roundup of girls in Salem who are thought to be witches.   They are arrested and brought to court.  The number goes from 13 to 39 and then more and more are accused, arrested, and confessing.  If they don’t confess then they are told they will be sentenced to hang.  So the plot thickens around whether or not they are telling the truth about witchcraft or confessing so they don’t have to die.  Then the additional plot is about the Proctors and whether or not Mary Warren (their servant) is telling the truth about the other girls having powers and whether or not the Proctors are liars too.  It’s really not complicated, but the web of misunderstandings and lies causes extreme conflict.  By the end of Act Three everyone in the town of Salem is either on trial for witchcraft or involved in the confusion.

There is only Act Four left to read.  I really can’t predict how this will end.  At this point everyone’s lives are turned upside down and the truth is not going to set anyone free.  The truth up to this point has caused more confusion and problems, so I can’t see a happy ending.  I hope I am wrong and they all realize there are no witches in Salem and all these girls can go back to a normal life, but I don’t think that is how this ends.