Arthur Miller uses the title of his play The Crucible as a metaphor constantly throughout the text. A crucible is a container used to heat metals at a high temperature so the metal can be cast, often using intense pressure to do so. Crucibles are often also used to remove impurities from a substance, so that only the pure matter remains. The relevance of the title is apparent in many of the themes and issues …showed first 75 words of 1250 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1250 total…in an attempt to separate the good from the evil, the pure from the tainted. Through his text, he shows the frailty and vulnerability of human nature by showing how hypocrisy and hysteria can lead to times of suspicion and instability. He leaves us, his audience, to make our own judgment about similar periods in history and to ask ourselves the question – Is it possible, or even predictable, that this situation will ever occur again?