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Miller chose the title The Crucible because of its symbolic use in meaning a trial or test. Miller says that the play is not historically accurate and small changes have been made to the characters, such as the number and age of the characters. Although things have been changed, the fates of the characters remain the same.

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The play opens in a bedroom in Rvnd. Parris' house, in Salem MA 1692. The narrator depicts the room as small and filled with furniture. The gloomy atmosphere of the room sets the tone of the first scene. Parris is seen kneeling in prayer over his sick daughter, Betty.

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The lives of the people are very suppressed and they were not allowed to read and enjoyment was outlawed. The didnt celebrate christmas and saw holiday as a time for prayer. They describe life as stcrict and somber "to combat this they look for excuses to celebrate suchas roofraising."

p.1126-1127

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After many misfortunes and hardships, people started to attribute their misfortunes to evil and witches in their society. "They were

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Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible because he was inspired by a book about the Salem witch hunts,The Devil In Massachusetts by Marion Starkey. He saw the witch hunts as poetry becaus so many people were captivated by them. He went to the Salem courthouse, and ended up comparing the trials of the 1600's to events of the 1950's, which is when he was there

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Pg. 1126
Rev. Parris is in his 40's. He is not known to be a good man, and he always feels victimized. He is extremely religious and strict. He is also a widower who is not fond of children. He lives near the meeting house in Salem, MA. Salem has been established for only 40 years, and it is a very slow and quiet town.

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p. 1127
People in Salem believed the forest was the Devil's last place to hide, since it was the last place not worshiping God. Their parents were persecuted in England, so they felt it necessary to do the same in their society. They were dedicated people, and they had to be if they were going to survive the life they chose to live.

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"… fearful people and believed that witches, servants of the Devil, were real and dangerous". When the rumors spread about girls in the community fortunetelling, many people were quick to spread allegations of witchcraft. At first, allegations were based on social and economic animosity, but mass hysteria inflated the situation.

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One of the main causes of this mayhem was the two-man patrol. This patrol system required men to walk around and spy on those that did not show up to church services. If the two-men found someone, they wrote down their name and turned it in to the magistrate. This created anger among the people who felt they had no privacy which caused the magistrates to become suspicious.

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pg. 1124
In 1692, Massachusetts "was convulsed by a witchcraft hysteria" that put 20 people to death and jailed 100 others. Witch hunts also occurred in Europe, with tens of thousands of executions. Most of the people found guilty were practicing folk customs that existed in Europe since pre-Christian times.

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p1120
In Echoes Down the Corridor, published in 2000, Arthur Miller talked about how he never imagined he would write a play about the Salem witch trials.  He said the main reason that he did write The Crucible was that he saw correspondences with the witch trials in America in the 1940's-1950's. Author Millers writing referring to the anticommunist  rage. That rage effected hysterical proportions. Miller is talking about the period were people discussed or debated ideas and even suspect language.