Arthur Miller used the Salem Witch Trials as inspiration for his
play The Crucible. He exaggerates many details to exemplify his
point.
In an article he wrote in 2000 called "Are You Now or Were
You Ever," he compares his experiences in the 1950s with the Red Scare and the McCarthy trials
and notes that
"I
spent 10 days in Salem courthouse reading the crudely recorded trials of the 1692 outbreak, and
it was striking how totally absent was any sense of irony, let alone humour. I can't recall if it
was the provincial governor's nephew or son who, with a college friend, came from Boston to watch
the strange proceedings. Both boys burst out laughing at some absurd testimony: they were
promptly jailed, and faced possible hanging"
(Miller).
Here, Miller notes that
while he did extensive research it was supposed to be modeled after the hysteria of the time
period, not on the facts of the trials. He goes on to make thematic parallels in his article not
specific relationships between the facts.
Because we don't really
see a trial take place on stage, I can't say whether they were accurate. He does note that the
girls go and have hallucinations in court and Abigail seems to be their ring leader. However, in
the real cases, often times it was townspeople who would accuse the witches not just the young
girls. The "afflicted" were all ages and sexes. The magistrates were more than just Sewall,
Danforth & Hathorne. There had to be five magistrates present to move forward with the
proceedings. Reverend Hale would have had no business signing death warrants. He was a member of
the clergy not of the law.
In addition, Abigail was much younger
than in the play, and John Proctor much older. At the end of the play, Nurse, Proctor and Corey
all hang on the same day but that was not the case historical
Salem.
You can access the transcripts of the trial on the
etext.virginia.edu site as sourced below, and do more research on the actual proceedings of the
courts
there.
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