Arthur Miller And His Distorted Historical Accuracies

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history has a way of repeating itself. Miller’s play was an extreme hit upon release and won a Tony award. The play is so popular today that many teachers in secondary schools use it to base their lesson around when teaching their students about 1692 Salem and there are multimedia activities based on Salem through The Crucible’s view. Miller is often asked to speak at events where similar "witch hunts" occur, acting as a sort of expert on the subject of Puritan Salem and acts of hysteria.
The question is, why is Arthur Miller revered by so many as "the man to ask" regarding the Salem Witch trials when his play had many inaccuracies, some very obvious? Miller’s play is not a historical account of the events in 1692 Salem, but rather a work of fiction. It is important to realize that what Miller wrote is not fact by revealing where his play is historically flawed. Some of the more important discrepancies are discussed below:
By examining Miller’s main plot ...

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Williams; Miller writes Abigail to hate Elizabeth for standing in the way of her desire. The historical truth is that Abigail and Elizabeth (John’s third wife, aged 41) hardly knew each other. There is no way that Elizabeth Proctor could have ever thrown Abigail from the Proctor house because the truth is that Abigail never worked for the Proctors; they lived in different sections of town.

Other than her age and affair with John Proctor, there are other differences between reality and Miller’s play regarding Abigail Williams. In The Crucible, Abigail is a scheming villain-like character with cruel intention. According to the story, when the hysteria is lifted from the community and ...

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