Miller’s The Crucible: The Salem witch trials as a black swan

Abstract

This paper uses Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s theory of the Black Swan as propounded by Taleb in his book The Black Swan and applies it to the Salem Witch Trials as portrayed by Arthur Miller in his play The Crucible. Taleb uses this theory to mainly analyse what he calls Black Swan events in financial markets, stating, however, that almost every major event in this world is a Black Swan. This paper proposes to read the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 as shown by Miller in his play using the principles that Taleb outlines to identify a Black Swan. The paper, however, focuses not simply on the Witch Trials as an isolated historical occurrence but rather on its later cultural and social repercussions, a side of which is witnessed in Miller’s use of it, almost two and a half centuries later as the subject of his play.