In the novel The Crucible, Arthur Miller paints a picture in the reader's mind of the brutality that followed the Salem and Massachucette witch trials and adventure into the personal stories of both the victims and the people who started the whole catastrophe. History constantly repeats itself, this becomes evident when comparing the Salem witch trials, Nazi Germany and the communist fear in America. When Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible, he kept in mind what some thoughtlessly assumed was an ever-expanding communist revolution and used some of the corruption issues of those years in his play. Blind faith, ignorance, disloyalty, power struggles, and human indecency all contribute to the mass hysteria that ensued during the McCarthyite "witch hunts" and the Salem witch trials in The Crucible. Miller's intention in writing this story was not only to prove a point about terrible historical tragedies, but to express the hold that betrayal, lust for power, and ignorance have on a community through the characters John Proctor, Abigail and Reverend Hale. John Proctor becomes the hero of the story and his decision to plead guilty to witchcraft and live with that lie; as opposed to not confessing, in which case he would have been put to death. His final decision aids Miller's emphasis on choices related to betrayal. Proctor comes to a point in his life where he argues with himself about the consequences of a betrayal of him versus the betrayal of those citizens before him who were accused of witchcraft and died respectfully in his mind, as exemplary Christians. He argues internally with himself and finally decides that to die confident in... middle of paper... his internal switch flips and he stops believing everything he hears. Miller used Hale and the rest of the court - important religious and political figures - as a symbol of the ignorance that resides not only in the lower reaches of a community but also in those who run it. The Crucible by Arthur Miller was written to exemplify the Many times a group of people are caught in the throes of mass hysteria, driven by duplicity, the pursuit of power, and blind faith. The author shows them through specific victim characters, the deceptive citizens, and the city's untrustworthy government system. The book chronicles real-life events in a time when all these negative qualities lead to the death of innocent people and the corruption of a small village. Similar to how other painful times occur in history, all over the world; again and again.