The Crucible: Epilogue

SUMMARY

Finally the Crucible is coming to an end.  The Salem Witch Trials have left the town haggard and sparse.  Havoc is rife, and the infrastructure is tumbling down upon its self.  Parris is in jail, accused of witchcraft,  and John Proctor goes to visit him.  Hale then appears, begging them to set the prisoners free because they will not confess to witchcraft.  Over 100 people in this small town have been accused of witchcraft, and many of them have been hanged, stoned, or killed in other means.  John Proctor confesses, and is hanged at the gallows, ultimately ending the witch trials.

ANALYSIS

As the end of the book approaches, the girls who started the whole series of events leading up to the trials are beginning to realize that their power to accuse people as witches in the fearful society is leading to the collapse of the society in question.  The power of being able to accuse people that you don't like has spread to the far corners of Salem, meaning that the whole town has this power.  Not even the rich are safe, because if the poor people have a grudge or dislike of them, then they can attack them in ways that they could not before.  The already small society is made even smaller by people turning on their neighbors who they could stand not a year before.  Then John Proctor realizes that he can stop the attacks by confessing.  He finally recognizes the system, and looks at it from a secular viewpoint.  This stopped the attacks dead in their tracks.  Many people, however, fled the town where so much had gone wrong, all in the name of radical religions and God.