The Crucible - The fall of the good at the hands of evil.

Act two of the Crucible is the Act when John Proctor and his wife Elizabeth are in their home discussing all the events of the past few weeks and a less recent transgression on John's behalf.

Our classes underlying subject is satire, but I'm not exactly sure where it is to be found in this play. It is either too subtle to be able to speak on it, or as it seems to me, nonexistent at all. The only place where I hope to find satire is in the indulgence of the little girls by the court. I find it hard to believe, that a bunch of men, who call themselves justice, are able to so wholly convict people on the charades of the girls.

John Proctor seems to be the only man able to see through their guise. Although he is not the best example of a Christian, due to his adultery with Abigail, he is still the most upright and honest man we are confronted with from the whole of the Salem village. Arthur Miller even goes so far as to write it into many of the stage directions and in the dialog of his characters, excluding those who seem mischievous (Putnam who is in constant search of more land for himself, or Abigail who is a trollop).

Another example of those that are good but are convicted at the hands of the unrighteous is Rebecca Nurse. She is called out a witch by Mrs. Putnam who has lost six children at birth and blames her for sending her soul out on them. This claim is seem as completely absurd, no one would dare call witch on Rebecca Nurse because she is always so good hearted to everyone. It is just another instance of the Putnam's trying to blame someone else for retribution of God on their bad souls.

It seems that the satire of The Crucible lies in the good being punished by the wicked. But also in the show of the little girls being brought to the level of saints, when in fact, it was their wrong-doing (in the woods) that lead to the rise of the situation to begin with. The vengeance of Abigail on those who seemed to have wronged her is the cause of her wreaking havoc on Salem, and can be seen as the fall of the good at the hands of evil which the people of Salem were so hoping to alleviate with her.