Most scholars of this work would disagree with your thesis
because Miller went to great lengths to portray the Puritan lifestyle as closely as
possible to a viewing audience.
However, if you have the
Penguin Classics version of this text, there is an introduction and a "note of
historical accuracy of this play" worth looking through. In these, I have uncovered some
misrepresentations.
First of all, during the witch trials
we can prove with absolute certainty from primary source documents that Abigail Williams
was 11 and John Proctor was 60. These circumstances create a far less believable affair
when compared to the 19 and 35-year-olds we watch. Sure, Proctor had his beefs with the
court, but they were of a much different documented nature. This dulls the suspense of
the entire storyline, but it is easy to understand that any author would want to create
sex appeal to sell tickets. So the fact that adultery ever happened in Puritan society
could be a questionable subject.
Next, there were many more
accusers and many more judges. This is a pure fact. This probably demonstrates that
Puritans would have customarily relied on great majorities to make decisions, not just 6
girls.
Finally, the language was changed because audiences
today would be bored by the discussion of Puritans. In fact, we would likely struggle
with their vocabulary. Although Miller tried to somewhat represent them it is not
authentic.
I guess in my answer I have come to the
conclusion that I disagree with your thesis. However, instead of trying to show that he
misrepresented Puritan customs, why don't you think about writing how he misrepresented
facts (although he did do a lot of it accurately) in order to create a suspenseful and
engaging storyline. His purpose to inform remained the same and we are the better for
having this work, it makes us think about how we treat others.
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