It is true that Arthur Miller's play and Nicholas Hytner's, 'The Crucible' makes truth claims and invite their audience to view the Salem Witch trails in a certain way. Both directors use deliberate manipulation to ensure that the audience perceived the Salem Witch Trails in a way that was predetermined by Miller in the play and Hytner in the Film.
             Arthur Millers play 'The Crucible' was written in 1953 and presents and allegory for events in 1950's America. Miller's play adjusts these historical events to criticize the moments in Humankind's history when reason and fact become clouded by irrational fears and the desire to place the blame for society's problems on others. Dealing with elements such as false accusations, manifestations of mass hysteria and the spread of rumors, The Crucible is seen by many as more of a commentary on McCarthyism than the actual Salem trails. McCarthyism was the name given to a movement led by Senator Joe McCarthy and his House Committee on Un-American Activities. This movement evolved the hunting down and exposing of people suspected of having communist sympathies or connections. While those found guilty in McCarthy's witch-hunt were not executed, many suffered irreparable damage to their reputations. Miller himself came under suspicion during this time, this was Millers conscience attempt to link the two ideas of the Salem Witch Trails, 1692, and McCarthyism of the 1950. In Hytner's film he does not press the viewers to challenge their own consciences. The viewers are given the handsome, John Proctor who encourages despising the weak-minded, if not evil people of Salem. The film focuses much more on the sexual repression of the rime period and the affair between Proctor and William's, as sex sells in Hollywood.
             Both creators chose to alter the fact that John Proctor was a man of thirty and Abigail was a young girl of 17, thes...