Crucible Allusions
One allusion Miller used is New Jerusalem, meaning the holy city of heaven in the Bible. I believe Miller used this allusion in order to show us how his characters viewed their land in America. They believed that they were the ones who were selected by God to find this New Jerusalem. But I also think Miller had intentions to make this allusion ironic because when they Puritans came to America to pursue religious freedom because they were persecuted for their beliefs in England.
However, they also persecuted others for having different religious views because they thought that other religions would corrupt and bring deceitful ideas to their New Jerusalem. I also believe Miller used this allusion to show the vengeance of the Puritans, since they felt the need to persecute because they themselves were persecuted (Miller 1237). Another allusion used by Miller is the use of Lucifer, which is the Devil. I believe Miller used Lucifer as an allusion because he wanted to express the importance that the Devil had on the characters of The Crucible.
I think Miller thought this was necessary since it shows that they both need and want someone to blame for everything that is goes wrong in Salem (Miller 1260). They accuse people of being witches, who were there because of Lucifer. The use of this allusion several times throughout the Crucible suggests that the Puritans were kind of obsessed with Lucifer, thus revealing that Miller had high regards for the Salem characters religious beliefs..
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This also shows that vengeance was very common since envy of the miserable toward the happy resulted in revenge (Miller 1237). Martin Luther, a German theologian who led the Protestant Reformation, was another allusion Miller used in The Crucible. The reason why I believe Miller used Martin was because Martin had an experience that closely resembled that of the Salem witch trials. He too was blamed of being affiliated with Hell and accused of heresy. So Miller wanted to show that trials were not only held in Salem but in other parts of the world.
In the case of Martin, he also then accused his enemies of being in an alliance with Hell, similar to how Tituba accused someone else when she was accused (Miller 1260). But for Luther, his case was more complicated in that he thought that he had contact with the Devil and argued theology with him. So I believe this allusion was ultimately used to provide similar examples of the problems that were happening in Salem. The last allusion that Miller uses is the Inquisition.
I think Miller used this allusion because it sort of resembles the Salem witch hunts of The Crucible. Instead of only mentioning witch hunts in early America, he shows us other examples of people being accused of wrong doings and then blaming it on others. Pope Gregory IX proposed the Inquisition in 1231 and Catholic judges started accused people of treason and heresy (Miller 1253). In both cases there were deaths because of persecutions. So he wanted us to see the similarities between other cases of accusations, vengeances, fear, and greed.
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