Comparative Analysis: Use of Power in The Crucible & Truman Show

This essay provides a comparative analysis of the theme of power in Arthur Miller's play, 'The Crucible,' and the film, 'The Truman Show.' It explores how power is used and abused by the rich and influential characters in both narratives. In 'The Crucible,' the focus is on the misuse of authority during the Salem Witch Trials, particularly by figures like Judge Danforth and Abigail, leading to corruption and injustice. Conversely, 'The Truman Show' examines the media's power to manipulate public perception through the televised life of the protagonist, Truman, without his knowledge. The essay highlights how both works portray the dangers of unchecked power and its detrimental effects on individuals and society, illustrating that power, when abused, results in the suffering of common people. The essay concludes that while the settings and characters differ, both 'The Crucible' and 'The Truman Show' effectively explore the theme of power and its abuse.

Running head: USE OF POWER BETWEEN THE CRUCIBLE AND THE TRUMAN SHOW
Use of Power between The Crucible and The Truman Show
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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The Crucible is a play produced by American playwright Arthur Miller in 1953. The
play is partly based on the Salem Witch Trials in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1692-93.
The Truman Show, on the other hand is an American satirical science fiction film released in
1998. Both the play and the movie deal with the concept of power in it. Power is the theme
which plays an important part in both the play and the movie in spite of being totally different
from each other.
The theme of this essay is to compare the use of power in both Arthur Miller’s
The Crucible as well as in the science fiction film The Truman Show.
It is seen in both the play The Crucible and the film The Truman Film that it is the
theme pf power which drives both the play and the movie forward. In fact, the thing that is
about to be researched in the movie is to compare how the theme of power is used in both the
play and the movie. As stated by Balti (2017), in the play, The Crucible which is based in
part on the Salem Witch Trial of 1692-93, it is seen that power is not only used but also
abused in the play. Power is also the source of corruption and hypocrisy. This is seen among
the two main characters of the play Danforth and Abigail. This is because both of them have
power and misuse them. This is supported by the fact that Danforth, being a judge feels that
he has the power to suspect anybody even if that person is innocent. Same thing can also be
said about Abigail who feels that she can force innocent people to be tried and hanged just
because she is powerful. All these activities shows the abuse of power by the rich people of
those days. Meanwhile in the 1998 film The Truman Film, the theme of power is also
explored in the movie but in a different way than The Crucible. In the movie, the use of
power is mainly focused on the media’s power to manipulate the common public into
believing whatever they want them to believe. This fact is supported by the story of the film
which shows the life of the protagonist whose life is televised without him getting to know
about it. This is a scary example of the power of the media which says all of the common

2USE OF POWER BETWEEN THE CRUCIBLE AND THE TRUMAN SHOW
citizen’s lives can be watched by the entire world without the individual himself knowing
about it.
“We accept the reality of the world with which we're presented. It's as simple as that.”
In The Truman Show, it is seen that the power is again abused by the rich and the
powerful. As stated by Mercadante (2017), in this case, it is Christof, whose power makes
manipulate the protagonist by showcasing his life to the people of the world without the
protagonist himself knowing about the fact himself. This is similar to the case of Abigail in
The Crucible, who does not mind getting the innocent tried and hanged, as she feels that she
can do it as she is powerful. Although, she justifies her actions by saying that her actions
were to protect the innocent by exposing the hypocrisy and the corruption of the town for
punishing the innocents, and it is because of this reason that she warns Danforth of his
actions of suspecting the innocent s of the town.
“You misunderstand, sir: I cannot pardon these when twelve are already hanged for the
same crime. It is not just.”
In the play, the playwright Arthur Miller has accurately managed to portray the
ridiculousness of the ideals of McCarthyism, where the Puritans decided who they would like
to accept into the society itself. This power that belonged to them, allowed them to misuse it
and declare anybody they suspected to be a witch, and ultimately killed them (Torkamaneh,
2017).
As stated by Wang (2019), in the Truman Show, however, the world is a dystopian
one where it is seen that the mass media is controlling everything. It is due to the power of
mass media that people all over the world are getting to know what is happening in the life of
one individual without that individual knowing about it himself. This can be quite scary for
the common people as their personal lives can also become the subject of discussion by the

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media. This is also an example of the abuse of power, as just having power does not mean
that the media can abuse it by prying on other people’s lives.
“this is a court of law. The law based upon the Bible...”
Thus, both The Crucible and The Truman Show deal with the use and the abuse of
power by the rich and the powerful. In the Crucible, it is seen that the innocents are tried and
hanged due to the wishes of Judge Danforth and Abigail, who feel that she is protecting the
town in this manner by exposing the corruption and the hypocrisy of the church and the town
itself.
In The Crucible, the abuse of power comes in various ways, whether it is Danforth suspecting
the innocents of being witches or Mary Warren who wants to protect herself and all other
people who were locked up on account of being witches and in many other ways. Similarly,
in The Truman Show, power is also abused by the media by manipulating the common
people by showing the life of the protagonist. All of these activities are done for the
satisfaction of the rich and the powerful in both the play and the movie (Gale, 2016).
Thus, from the above discussion, it can be seen power is indeed a major theme in
both the play and the movie. Although there are different characters, they all explore the
same themes in the play and the movie: the abuse of power. It is the abuse of power that
causes difficulties in the lives of common people in both the cases and it is exactly this which
has been accurately portrayed in both the play and the movie. Thus, power becomes an
important factor in both the play and the movie which is being abused by the rich and the
powerful in both the cases.

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Reference List
BALTI, S., 2017. TRAUMA IN ARTHUR MILLER’S THE CRUCIBLE: BETWEEN
ABIGAIL WILLIAMS’TRAUMATIC LIFE EXPERIENCES AND MCCARTHYIST
HYSTERIA IN AMERICA IN THE 1950S. On Trauma and Traumatic Memory, p.121.
Bellacosa, J.W., 2016. Devils and Angels of Judicial Integrity. . John's L. Rev., 90, p.1.
Gale, C.L., 2015. A Study Guide for Arthur Miller's The Crucible. Gale, Cengage Learning.
Hofer, R., 2018. “It’sa set! It’sa show! Everybody’s watching you!” Human Puppets and
Real-Life Marionette Stages in Film. Dolls and Puppets: Contemporaneity and Tradition,
p.122.
Mercadante, L.A., 2016. The God Behind the Screen: Pleasantville and The Truman Show.
Journal of Religion & Film, 5(2), p.8.
Torkamaneh, P. and Ghaderi, A., 2018. “Thus Spoke Proctor”: Nietzsche and the Overman in
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. Atlantis. Journal of the Spanish Association for Anglo-
American Studies, 40(1), pp.135-152.
Wang, S.L., 2019. Truman’s World is an Utopia or Dystopia World in Peter Weir’s The
Truman Show. IJELLH (International Journal of English Language, Literature in
Humanities), 7(2), pp.16-16.