ence. The whole play revolves around John Proctor. The witch madness serves only to intensify and focus Proctor's energies on his problems with his wife, his neighbors, and himself.3. HYSTERIAThe play demonstrates an outbreak of that peculiar insanity called mass hysteria. We get to see how easily reasonable human beings can become unhinged in an environment that allows little opportunity for letting off steam. Once the seal is broken on the pressure cooker, it explodes.4. SUPERSTITIONThere were no real witches in Salem. Without the superstitious belief in witchcraft, this catastrophe could never have happened. Arthur Miller blames "them that quail to bring men out of ignorance" for this tragedy, and is making a plea for a more enlightened approach to religious beliefs.5. GREED AND VENGEANCESeveral characters find "monstrous profit" in the witch madness, and manipulate events for their own ends. Thomas Putnam, the richest man in town, acquires quite a bit of land by having his daughter Ruth "cry out" his neighbors. And Abigail Williams accomplishes a pretty sweet revenge on the Proctors when her affair with John is broken off.6. AUTHORITYThis play examines the question of authority: who has the power, and on what is that power based? What is the proper use of authority, and what is abuse of power? The judges believe they derive their authority from God, and so carry on the witch-hunt as if they are on a holy mission. They're deceived by the girls, and refuse to believe the obvious truth when it's staring them in the face. What went wrong?7. THEOCRACYThe separation of church and state, which is one of the cornerstones of the American Constitution, did not exist in seventeenth-century Massachusetts. "Theocracy" means "Government by God," and the Puritans believed that they were establishing God's "visible Kingdome" on earth--the state was to be governed by God's laws. But this mixing up of the laws of God and the laws of men led directly ...
