
They become easier to work with when heated or melted together. A crucible is used in metal crafts because you can change the properties, shapes, and atomic structure of the metal. Then the idea of witchcraft can be seen as the heat or flames in this comparison. The town of Salem is the crucible, and the people who live in the town of Salem are the crucible substances. The word crucible itself is used as a term of personification within the play. While the town of Salem can be compared to the container that melts metals also, the severe tests or trials can be compared to how people are fighting themselves and making moral decisions on coming clean or purifying themselves. Miller did a very good job of tying in the definition of the word to the story, for example, the trials can be compared to the severe tests or trials. In the play, the definition of a crucible is used as both a test and a purification process.

Although it also can be defined as a container that can withstand high temperatures, it is often used to melt and change the shape of metals. The definition of a crucible can be defined as a severe test. The play the “ Crucible” is written by Authur Miller and was published in 1953 as a response to what is known as the “communist scares” in America in the 1950s.
