Featured in Arthur Miller's The Crucible, this is a powerful dynamic between levels of a maintained social hierarchy. There are changes in the social hierarchy in the city of Salem even though the social hierarchy has been maintained and has existed for a long time. Attempts against this maintained structure are met with powerful reprisals that draw out all members of the town of Salem, resulting in the deaths of many women and men of the town. The Crucible reflects on the historical context of this struggle and shows what would happen if the status quo was changed. The play presents what people would do to retain the power they are slowly losing through false pretenses. The Salem witch trails were a way for a society to attempt to maintain a structure it is accustomed to, using hysteria to help it grasp a dying consciousness it once had and explain what could not not be explained. Today, the problems presented in this play, the social hierarchy and the measures taken to maintain it, still exist. The University of Toronto – Scarborough Campus Theater Company presented The Crucible. The production followed Arthur Miller's play showing audiences the fear and hysteria that ran through Salem during the witch trail. The importance of religion was evident even as the play opens with the sound of a prayer being spoken. Themes of paranoia, religion and McCarthyism were present throughout the presentation. The entire cast and setting provided the audience with a more intimate view of what happened throughout the Salem witch trails. The Crucible follows the events that occurred before and during the Salem Witch Trials. John Proctor, the protagonist of the play, must combat the hysteria that reigns middle of paper...... Welfare policy from colonial times to the present. South End Press, 1996. web. April 3, 2014. Jenrette, Jerra et al. “Teaching the Salem Witch Trials Across Place and Time.” Massachusetts Historical Journal 40.1-2 (2012): 212+. Academic OneFile. Internet. April 3, 2014. Kocić, Ana. “Salem Witchcraft Trials: The Perception of Women in History, Literature, and Culture.” Facta Universitatis 3.1 (2010): 17. Print. Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. Np, 1953. Print. Miller, Arthur. “Why I Wrote The Crucible: An Artist’s Response to Politics.” The New Yorker October 27, 1996: n. page. Print.Le Creuset. By Miller. Real. Paula Sperdakos. Leigha Lee Browne Theater, UTSC. Friday March 21, 2014. Performance.Schissel, Wendy. “Re(dis)covering the witches in The Crucible: A Feminist Reading by Arthur Miller.” Modern Critical Interpretations of Bloom (2008): 55-67. Print.