The Crucible

Daniel Day-Lewis, plays John Proctor, a man not exactly unified to the church and living in Salem, Massachusetts when that was a dangerous business (moreso, after having an affair with a young servant woman living on their farm).  His wife sends her away to work elsewhere and sets the wheels in motion for something no one in the community imagined.  It is one thing to wish for the death of the wife of the man you tell yourself you love, but Winona Ryder's character, Abigail Williams finds herself covering her own tracks by pointing the finger at others.

Watching the townspeople's response to their suddenly crazed daughters was almost other worldly to me.  Had these very pious adults worked so hard at seperating themselves from their own natures that they couldn't recognize a power trip to the extreme when it was directly in front of them?  Odd, unexplainable behavior had to be the devil -- there was no way on this earth that their angelic daughters could be anything but innocent!  Really?  The sad irony is that this happens still today.  I know because I am usually the Witch.  I am just odd enough to be "not exactly unified" with any one particular belief system or cultural norm.

A crucible is a container used to heat metal to high temperatures in the act of refining it before shaping it.  The Salem Witch trials were a refiner's fire the likes of which, I hope are never seen again.  But, they may be.  When it comes, I'd like to be John Proctor, unwilling to yield my integrity to the fevered masses to save my own life.