The Crucible Act I Reflection

I like this play, The Crucible, so far from what we've read about it. The Salem witch trials have always frightened me, but this is giving us a chance to look at the individual members' psychology in addition to seeing the acts of Salem as a whole. In particular, I wonder about the mentality of the little girls who claim to have seen the witches. In modern-day interrogations, it has been shown that children can be highly suggestible when giving testimony.

Contemporary "witchhunts" take the form of accusations of things like child molesting, which (like witchcraft in Salem) often has little evidence outside of witness accounts. Psychologists who press children for testimony with leading questions like "Did so-and-so do THIS to you?" tend to result in the mental phenomenon known as false memories--a child wants to please the questioner and thus convinces him/herself that whatever he/she is being asked about really did happen. When pressed for details, the child will search his/her mind until they "remember" things that in actuality did not happen. Once he/she have said that it is true, though, the child stands by his/her decision (for the child does not want to believe him/herself a liar) even in court. And who would disbelieve the testimony of an innocent child who has even convinced him/herself that what he/she is saying is true? In this way, guiltless adults can be convicted of unfathomably terrible crimes that they under no circumstances would commit.

I believe that this is what was happening to many of the child witnesses in Salem, at least in the play.

Another person involved whom I am interested in is Tituba. She comes under fire from all sides but is shown a way out through accusing other people. I don't think we can justifiably blame her, at least in the way we would blame an evil villain in a story. Her motives are sympathetic at least--she's a victim who's scared out of her mind and says whatever she can to keep herself away from the noose of Salem's "justice." Of course what she did was wrong, but she didn't have a lot of time to think about what she was doing--she reacted in the middle of a swirl of terror and panic. Once again the idea of leading questions comes into play--the people she eventually accused were the ones her interrogators suggested for her.

All in all, I think that the play so far is very interesting in terms of mob psychology (as discussed in class) as well as that of the individuals involved.